Been suffering with a peculiar pain in my abdomen this past week, which I seem to get periodically and no one has been able to diagnose. One doctor thought it might be a hernia. Another thought it might be diverticulitis, or a kidney stone. I, being something of a pessimist and phobic hypochondriac was thinking "cancer! gangrene! invulnerable flesh-eating parasites! that thing from Alien! you're going to die!" (I really, really need to work on my optimism and positive mental imaging, don't I?)
Went for a CT scan on Friday at the hospital. I just got a phone call from my doctor with what seems to be an exceedingly rare, and benign, diagnosis. So, the universe doesn't hate me after all! And, I might have been right to mistrust going to a local for-profit radiology lab, and head for a teaching hospital. My doctor told me that he didn't think any local lab (like the one he wanted to send me to) would have got this one right. It's too rare and needs the best CT scanners to see it and the most experienced radiologists to look for it. It's not an infection. It's not gangrene, or a tumor or even a hernia. It's just a twisted or inflamed attachment on the outside of the colon, a self-limiting thing that recurs periodically, lasts a week or two and goes away on its own again. The only known complications are unnecessary surgery due to misdiagnosis! It's not like appendicitis or diverticulitis, and it doesn't get worse or cause other problems. No antibiotics, no chemo, no surgery. Treatment turns out just to be "Take advil for a few days until you feel better." Of course, it'll come back, like it always does, every couple of months, but if this is the treatment, I think I can cope.
What a relief! I think I'll practice being happy all day today! No negative thoughts!
Comments
Lucky girl!
Glad to hear it!
Phew
Not sure if congratulations are in order, but you must be so relieved. The last time I was waiting on a diagnosis I convinced myself that was suffering from parkinson's, a tumour, premature alzheimer's, leprosy, syphilis and mad cow disease. The doctors are still out on the last one :)
Mad Cow disease
Is that when you act like Pamela Anderson?
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Huzzah!
Great news, Pippa. Has to be the most optimistic sounding medical blog I've read at BCTS.
I've done more praying for people since I got here than I ever had before in my life.
And you know what? I'm gonna pray for you anyway. Why wait 'til we get sick
or some other miserable stuff?
~~~hugs, Laika
.
[By the way, it's nice to see Shalimar is back and commenting...]
What borders on pure insanity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
You see what happens
When you get an author or reader with an overactive imagination in the hospital. I'm so glad it wasn't anything serious. I can laugh because of all the things I've imagined about my own medical problems and have them turn out to be relatively minor. Painful yes, but not life threatening. Kidney stones.... (shudder)
Happy hugs for Pippa!
grover
Problems
When I was in the third grade or about age 8, I was diagnosed with an ulcer. It almost perforated on me back then. treatment was in its infancy and I suffered more from it than the ulcer. Imagine that age, carrying baby food to school, and having to drink half and half twice a day at school, plus worse.
When I was 45, I started having problems again. It was like someone stuck a knife in my belly and twisted. It lasted 10 minutes or so and went away a bit. I was eating two rolls of tums or rolaids a day. Upper and lower scans were negative. Gall bladder was okay. They could not figure it out. I suffered like this for 2 years. A new family doc ran a simple blood test, which showed an infection of the stomach lining. Two courses of a simple antibiotic later, I was fine. I get heart burn once in a while now, but I know it will happen cause of what I ate. (anything tomato based like spaghetti sauce, or citrus fruit juice) Jalapeno peppers don't bother me at all.
I was treated for 10 years for tendonitis, and related problems. The same new doc, listened to the symptoms, ran a simple blood test, and diagnosed Gout, and a simple cheap pill once a day. Now thats its under control, I haven't had an attack in 6 years, and they can now even break one up if necessary.
The specialists out there get so tied up in themselves, they forget to see the simple things anymore. Keep an eye on them.
One neurologist referred my spouse to a rheumatologist for treatment beyond her speciality. He prescribed meds for her. They caused even more seizure problems than she had been having, and he knew she was being treated for uncontrolled seizures at the time. They can be idiots at times.