# Dr not listening to me



## lily352 (Aug 25, 2010)

All summer I've had incredibly difficult digestive problems. I went to my general dr who sent me to a specialist. She and I have discussed my weight before. I'm 5'5" and started the summer around 305. My digestive problems got so bad, that I was only able to process egg whites, cooked veggies, no dairy, not much of anything else. I started losing weight, something I haven't done in my adult life. I went to the specialist's office. I had numerous tests run that were set up by the p.a. She was wonderful and listened to me. Then I needed a colonoscopy and endoscopy. 
I met with the GI dr before it. He pretty much told me that I was fairly overweight. (279 at the time) He said I probably had IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) BECAUSE I'm a woman and women worry a lot. I was stunned. I went ahead and had the procedures. 
After them, he came to talk to me and my mom. (she's a tiny woman, btw) He said everything looked fine. All that really mattered was that I was morbidly obese anyway. I needed gastric bypass surgery. I could never lose so much weight on my own. Even if I did, someone like me could never keep it off. He wanted to recommend surgeons in the area. I was still out of it and hooked up to iv's or i would've run out of there. My mom didn't speak up at all. She said later she was confused, but honestly I don't know. I do know that I'm not going to have gastric bypass. For me, right now, that is simply not an option. 
At this point, I've lost nearly 40 lbs, which for me is just crazy. I don't feel like myself at all. I'm still barely able to digest food. The biopsies didn't show anything bad. I need a dr who will help me determine what is wrong.
I called the clinic back. I was so kind. I said I needed to make an appointment with a different dr. I didn't explain why. I said someone from work had recommended a diff dr there, which is true. I'm waiting to hear back. 
I'm so afraid they're not going to let me switch. I don't live in a big town. This really is my best option. I'm so insanely frustrated by this whole thing!!!! I'm trying so hard to do everything I can. I just need a dr who will listen to me and not just see me as fat and write me off. 
Thanks for reading this long thing!


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## Tad (Aug 25, 2010)

So sorry to hear of your various struggles, Lily. I've had what is probably low level IBS issues for the last couple of years, nothing like what you've been going through, but enough to give me maybe imagine what that would be like....  

And the Doctor, ugh! If anything is wrong with a fat person it must be because of their weight, and gettign the weight off of them is the most important thing! *doh* never mind if they are suffering malnutrition from inability to keep anything in their digestive track, you blithering idiot!

For what it is worth, my probably IBS tends to be triggered by anything high in sulfur, most particularly dehydrated onions and dehydrated garlic which are in all sorts of prepared foods....also eggs are high in them (things I can't tolerate well stretch out to include beer, wine, some yoghurts, some sausages, too much leafy greens.....lots of otherwise great foods are high in sulfur). I doubt you have the same issues I have, but it is another thing to keep in mind. Also....it was actually a nutritionist who helped me figure this out, not the doctor. the doctor was pretty useless actually, believed I was in pain but didn't seem to consider things in a very broad way. So another you could try doing is talk to a nutritionist, see if that helps you at all. If nothing else, she or he is apt to help raise some alarm bells at how restricted your current diet is.


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## imfree (Aug 25, 2010)

Oh my God, Lilly, that's very much like what 
happened to me from late September of last 
year to sometime in January of this year. I
knew I was in trouble in late September
when I found blood in my stools. By mid
November I had a capsule-cam study of my
lower GI after colonoscopy and endoscopy 
were negative. I went the whole month of
December scarcely having any BM's at all
and the few I did have were goddawful
bloody messes. I was fairly sure the camera
capsule had blocked my colon and if I had
eaten normally, my colon would have burst
and taken my life by septic infection. I had
lost 130 lbs in about 2 months. My digestive
system began to recover by about mid 
January and after that, amazing things
happened. Stasis ulcers on my legs began to
heal and my blood-oxygen saturation started
to improve to the point that I was able to go
off oxygen therapy about 2 months ago.

Thank you very much, Lily for posting, 
as you have given me valuable insight into 
what had been going on inside of me. I've
been worried that I could have cancer, but
your post gives me encouragement that I
more probably don't. I'm glad to see you 
back.

*off topic: Google WM-61A and if you're
ever interested in getting some, they
are under $2.00 ea at Digi-Key


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