Endoscopy Report

[Deanna in CO]

Hi all,

I was finally able to have the endoscopy today. Here are the "high points":

1) When the GI came in (same GI I've had, though I asked my PCP to refer me this time rather than consulting him directly), he told me he had looked over my file very carefully. In December of 2010, I apparently told him I was having 1-2 episodes of soft/WD per day. He asked me if things had gotten worse - boy, have they ever! By Thanksgiving of last year, I was having 10-12 episodes per day. Now I'm wondering whether I was minimizing back in December or just didn't realize how quickly I got worse. But he spent a lot of time talking with me about what was going on now.

2) I told him about my visit with Dr. Lewey (told him he was a "specialist in MC" - not sure if that's quite accurate but it made the point and got his attention!). He was very interested and asked me a number of questions about what Dr. Lewey had said and what he recommended. I was impressed by my GI's willingness to learn and to work with Dr. Lewey - apparently he recognizes that he doesn't know much about MC, which I guess is a step in the right direction. He didn't tell me not to be gluten-free, etc., especially since I told him a) Dr. Lewey recommended it, and b) I was seeing some improvement.

3) I told him Dr. Lewey wanted esophageal, gastric, and duodenal biopsies, whether or not anything was visible, because with MC there tends to be microscopic inflammation throughout the digestive system. Originally the plan had been not to biopsy unless something was visible, but he was very willing to go ahead and do the biopsies as long as he was in there, since that's what Dr. Lewey wanted and recommended.

4) He saw nothing visible in my stomach or duodenum, but took biopsies anyway. He found four visible spots that could be Barrett's in my esophagus - it takes microscopic analysis to diagnose those definitively, so I won't know that for at least a few more days. He also found a small hiatal hernia. I find this interesting since my research on Barrett's indicates it's usually caused by/related to GERD, and I've never had any sign of that other than the pain right below my breastbone, which is new since my MC diagnosis in January and goes away when I take Betaine HCl.

He produced a printed report for me of what he found today, and he is going to email me a full pathology report so I can take or forward that to Dr. Lewey. Again, I was really impressed with his interest and cooperation - very different from the attitude of his office staff, who have really not been much help.

I'm having abdominal pain that wasn't there before the biopsies - I'm thinking it's tenderness from the biopsies. Anybody know how long pain from those might last? Joe, as I recall you had a whole bunch done at once recently - how long did it take for you to feel better?

Any thoughts on the issue of Barrett's when I've never really thought I had GERD? Anybody know of any other causes for that kind of spots, other than Barrett's?

I'll let you all know when the biopsy results come back. The GI is going on vacation next week, so either I will have the results by Friday, or I won't have them for a couple of weeks (about the time my Enterolab results are due back too).

Thanks for the support!

Deanna

[beni]

Hi I also had an endoscopy 2 weeks ago , they said I had inflammation in my stomach and duodenum they took biopsys and I am still waiting for results, I had a little discomfort after which lasted about 3 days but I felt nausius for at least a week, I have L.C. but think I am getting better afer nearly a year on endocort and no gluten, hope you feel better soon, Beni

[tex]

Hi Deanna,

That's certainly interesting how much respect your doctor showed for Dr. Lewey. That's surely a good sign.

I don't know what to think about the Barrett's issue. Like you, I would think that chronic acid reflux would be pretty obvious to you. Maybe the spots are due to something else. The pathology report should clarify the situation.

Thanks for the update,
Tex

[Joefnh]

Hi Leah, I'm glad you had such a thorough exam, it's good to check all of those areas carefully and it's great news that your GI doc respected Dr Leweys opinion.

As fas as feeling better, it took me about 3 days for the pain/burning sensations to subside and then another 3 or 4 days for things to sort of return to normal. For me though that's when my current flare started, but that was due to a few other issues. I need to put together a summary post as well as to the findings including the mast cell tests.

I hope you are feeling better soon and I'm glad you were able to have all of these areas checked out

Take care