Undiagnosed Illness - My First Gastroenterologist Appointment

My Medical Conditions

Excruciating Pain
Sphincter of Oddi
Found during a Hida Scan. Sphincter of oddi is situated in the upper intestine, or duodenum, at the site where the pancreatic and bile ducts enter. Normally, this sphincter functions as a one-way valve to allow bile and pancreatic secretions to enter the bowel, while preventing the contents of the bowel from backing up into these ducts.

When the sphincter malfunctions, it becomes overly tight and does not allow adequate drainage of the pancreatic and bile ducts. The result is a pressure build-up in the ducts, leading to recurrent episodes of pancreatitis or biliary pain mimicking gallstone disease.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Bad Stomach
Most people have Irritable Bowel Syndrome !

Endometriosis
Endometriosis Symptoms
2 Surgeries so far on my Endometriosis. Last surgery showed Endo has completely gone. Gyno said my Pelvis was crystal clear.

Costochondritis
Very Painful
Costochondritis is a form of inflammation of the cartilage where ribs attach to the breastbone. Pain caused by Costochondritis may mimic that of a heart attack or other heart condition.

Adenomyosis
Benign Condition
Adenomyosis is the growth of uterine tissue from one particular layer of the uterus (the endometrial glands) into the wrong layer (the muscle layer, called the myometrium). It is a benign condition, but it can enlarge the uterus presenting as a growth.

Splenic Flexure Syndrome
Very Painful
Splenic flexure syndrome refers to the trapping of gas at the splenic flexure causing distension and bloating.

Anal Sphincter Dysfunction
Constipation
I suffer extreme bouts of Constipation. Daily doses of Movicol and Normacol.

Neuropathic Pain
Damaged Nerves
Neuropathic pain is a complex, chronic pain state that usually is accompanied by tissue injury. With neuropathic pain, the nerve fibers themselves may be damaged, dysfunctional or injured. These damaged nerve fibers send incorrect signals to other pain centers. The impact of nerve fiber injury includes a change in nerve function both at the site of injury and areas around the injury. Symptoms may include shooting and burning pain, tingling and numbness or electrical pain.

Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
Cause of Constipation
Pelvic floor dysfunction, or obstructed defecation, results when the external anal sphincter and/or puborectalis muscles do not relax appropriately when defecation is initiated. People with pelvic floor dysfunction strain excessively in a feeble attempt to eliminate stool from the rectum.

Undiagnosed Illness

My First Gastroenterologist Appointment

I won't name doctors/specialist here. I don't want a law suit. If I could name names and not face legal problems I would definitely name names !

My first visit to a gastroenterologist was a complete waste of time. I really don't know how these people obtain their medical certificates.

The gastroenterologist gave me a brief psychical examination (no rectal exam which apparently most gastroenterologist do on a first visit) but I didn't get one (I'm not complaining though! lol) I'm sure no one likes it done, it's so undignifying (something I have became accustomed to over the years, exposing body parts and not having a care in the world who sees ).
Gastroenterologist Questions

I inquired about a colonoscopy just to be sure, but he said it would be a waste of time, more blood tests run to rule out allergies, (gluten, dairy etc etc), many tests, but they all came back normal. The one thing I always remember about this exam is the gastroenterologist asking if I had any marks on my legs, which I did develop around the same time my illness did, odd brown patches on both my calves, in almost the exact same positions, but I never asked him why he wanted to know about them, and to this day have never found an answer.

Undiagnosed Illness Continues

End of the psychical, he advised me (agreeing with the Doctor who had referred me, that Anti depressants were a great idea. Pointing out they were not prescribing for Depression, this particular brand are used for people who have pain and trouble sleeping. So I tried them, having so much pain, I was prepared to try almost anything doctors recommended.

First Prescription My first prescription was Endep. I have since tried other forms of anti depressants all having bad side effects. At the time I thought Endep was awful. I stopped taking them within roughly two weeks. The doped out feeling was awful, wanting to sleep all the time was awful, I felt sick, and received no pain relief (I didn't allow enough time) but side effects were too much to handle. The Endep was nothing compared to other medications I was prescribed (more on that later).

Different drugs affect people differently, and Endep, didn't agree with me.

The Story Continues ....... If you would like to continue reading:

read my story

Come and join my Undiagnosed Illness Forum If you have any suggestion's or comments I would love to hear from you.

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Medical Tests So Far

I've had some of these procedures more then once

Ultrasound

CT Scan

MRI

X-Ray

Colonoscopy

Gastroscopy

Sigmoidscopy

Hida Scan

Barium Meal

Laparoscopy

Ultrasound

I know alot of people can relate. I hope you all have close families because they really do make a difference.

Exhausted From Pain

It's been 3 years and 4 months, and yep still undiagnosed. I'm extremely exhausted.

Exhausted

Journal

This website is meant to be therapeutic.. A place for me to vent and express my feelings. Somedays I find it frustrating because it brings back memories when doctor's gave up, saying it was all in my head, nothing wrong with me, yet I pushed on with different doctor's and GUESS WHAT ? they found more medical conditions!

Pain....Pain...Pain....Pain.....