Gcvmom

[flutterby]

How long does it take Miralax to work?

My doctor gave me a script. If I take it by 3pm today, will I be safe to go to an appointment at 1pm tomorrow?

 

[gcvmom]

Safe as in safe to go to a GI appointment? Or safe as in safe to not need to run to the bathroom?

It probably depends on how much you take. difficult child 1 takes a capful daily and it just keeps him regular. Two capfuls and it keeps his stool pretty loose (as in runny). Any more than that and you're probably going to be inconvenienced, if you know what I mean.

 

[mstang67chic]

And if you take the whole bottle....there won't be any worries tomorrow as everything will have been evacuated within hours.

 

[gcvmom]

And if you take the whole bottle....there won't be any worries tomorrow as everything will have been evacuated within hours.

... including stuff you haven't even eaten yet!

 

[flutterby]

It's not a GI appointment - it's another appointment that is probably going to be hours long.

After the prep, I felt fine. All that stuff went away - well, out, actually. It started again yesterday.

I decided to wait until after the appointment tomorrow. Ugh.

 

[gcvmom]

Have you had a small bowel follow-through? The fact that they didn't get past your IC valve means they still don't know if there's something going on above your colon.

 

[flutterby]

No. My doctor was kind of...I don't know. And I hadn't slept and am tired of not very pleasant tests that find nothing. And I was feeling better. I was hoping it was just a fluke. Apparently, it's not.

She did say based on my description of things that it sounds like there could be a malabsorption issue.

What's interesting is that when this starts up, I have breakthrough GERD - and I doubled my GERD medication a few months ago.

I guess I'll be calling her on Monday and asking for a GI referral. I just get tired of the tests, but I just need to hoover it up.

I need to try a girlfriend diet, too. I've had a lot of various appointments and it's not letting up until the end of next week. Things that normally shouldn't be an issue, but I'm wiped out. Went to the dentist, Arby's, Verizon store and humane society today - and easy child drove - and I had to take a 3 hour nap. I'm still tired. This is after sleeping the night before last, then from 10am to 6pm yesterday and back in bed at 1am this morning til 8am. So, when I have the energy and the brain power, I'm going to be looking into a girlfriend diet.

 

[gcvmom]

If you are FOS (full of stool) because things are backing up, I would not be surprised that GERD symptoms could be worse (but again, I'm not a doctor). difficult child 1 gets nauseous when he is fos.

I know I'm dancing around this, so I'll just cone out and ask if you think it could be Crohn's?

 

[flutterby]

I've wondered. Especially with all of my other physical symptoms that can be directly related to Crohn's.

I'm afraid to think about it too much. Every time we've thought we might be close to a diagnosis, it's not happened. With every test I take I get my hopes up that we'll have answers and it's hard to keep doing that just to be back at square one, Know what I mean??

 

[gcvmom]

So they haven't ruled it out then?

Okay, here's my questions:

Have you been checked for Crohn's antibodies?
Are you anemic?
Do you have an elevated SED rate or CRP?
Is your white cell count elevated?
Are your platelets elevated?
Are you fatigued?
Do you have unexplained fevers (low grade or otherwise)?
Have you experienced weight loss?
Do you have constipation?
Diarrhea?
Cramping?
Nausea/vomiting?
Reduced appetite?
Abdominal pain? Where?
Are you deficient in any nutrients (zinc especially)?
Have you experienced bone loss (osteopenia or osteoporosis)?
Eye inflammation?
Mouth sores?
Blood in stool, either occult or frank?
Did they take biopsies?
Are your fingernails clubbed?
Do you have arthritis?
Kidney or gallstones?
Skin rashes?

Have you looked here:

http://www.ccfa.org/

Of course, having a kid with Crohn's makes me look at some of your symptoms through that lense. I hope that's not what it is. But I especially hope you are seeing someone who can give you an ANSWER.

 

[flutterby]

Have you been checked for Crohn's antibodies? Not that I'm aware of.
Are you anemic? No.
Do you have an elevated SED rate or CRP? Mildly elevated - both
Is your white cell count elevated? Yes, always
Are your platelets elevated? No - low end of normal
Are you fatigued? YES YES YES
Do you have unexplained fevers (low grade or otherwise)? probably 70% of the time
Have you experienced weight loss? I have, but could be do to decrease in steroid shots. Was anorexic in my teens and early twenties. Could eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight. Had to fight to keep weight on.
Do you have constipation? Recently, yes. Some in the past, but it hasn't been a real issue til the last 2 months.
Diarrhea? Yes
Cramping? YES - at times intense enough that if it were any worse I think I would pass out.
Nausea/vomiting? Lots of nausea
Reduced appetite? Definitely. I eat about once a day.
Abdominal pain? Where? Lower right abdomen. However, I really can't stand any kind of pressure on any of my abdomen. It's been that way since my early twenties.
Are you deficient in any nutrients (zinc especially)? B12 and Folic Acid. Don't know if my zinc has been tested.
Have you experienced bone loss (osteopenia or osteoporosis)? Not that I'm aware of.
Eye inflammation? Yes. Sensitivity to light, very dry, itchy and gritty. Had to stop wearing contacts in Dec 2006 cause they would dry up on my eye. Have been prescribed restasis and after the eye doctor checked my eyes a couple times he wrote me more than just the normal pre-printed scripts he had.
Mouth sores? No.
Blood in stool, either occult or frank? No.
Did they take biopsies? Of the colon, yes. Normal.
Are your fingernails clubbed? I don't know what you mean by this.
Do you have arthritis? I have arthritic symptoms, but no joint damage as measured by x-rays. It sure feels like arthritis, though, with inflammation and swelling, limited range of motion, and things like weakness in grip, etc.
Kidney or gallstones? History of multiple kidney infections and one instance of kidney stones.
Skin rashes? Discoloration on my calves - it's impossible to get that area smooth when I shave, but no itching or pain. Acne has been a HUGE problem starting in my early to mid twenties.

How's that.

 

[gcvmom]

Wow, you DO have a lot of the symptoms.

FWIW, having or not having the Crohn's antibodies doesn't mean a whole lot. It mainly serves to confirm an already suspected diagnosis.

Clubbed fingernails happens in a number of diseases, not just Crohn's, and it can also be familial and not be related to disease. But in Crohn's it's a side-effect of the malabsorption.

And you don't have to have ALL of those symptoms to have Crohn's. It presents in many different ways.

I really, really think you should consider the upper GI barium study. That's how we found out how extensive difficult child 1's Crohn's was (although he did have some inflammation in his colon, but nowhere near what he had in his small bowel). He had multiple areas of inflammation, distended bowel loops, scarring and stricturing in the small bowel. It completely explained his nausea, fatigue, weight loss, abnormal bloodwork, diarrhea, constipation, pain, cramping, yada, yada, yada. And he did not have all of the symptoms you have!

 

[flutterby]

The problem is my symptoms seem to be so generic that they can go with just about anything. But, I will look into a GI.