Diagnostics for crohns

Colonoscopy is a great test to find out

It doesn't always show up on MRIs or CTs or even colonoscopies, but usually it does.

If you have it in your colon, a colonoscopy almost always catches it. If it's in your small intestine but not in your colon, a colonoscopy can miss it, but an MRI or CT with oral contrast usually will catch it.

In some cases the colonoscopy and MRI or CT all miss it, but a test called a capsule endoscopy, where you swallow a pill with a camera that takes images of the inside of your small intestine, will find things that the other tests missed.

What tests so far have turned up normal?

It took almost 20 years for me, from the first time I got sick until I was finally diagnosed. But that's probably a pretty extreme example.

The colonoscopy and gastroscopy should tell you a lot.

Have you had any blood tests or stool tests?

Fortunately I wasn't suffering the entire 20 years. I had a couple of bad months, then ok for a few years, then a few bad months, then ok for a few years again, etc. During those months I was sick I did go to *many* different doctors (primary care, internal medicine, allergy, gastroenterology), but all they ever did was blood tests, which never showed much.

How much naproxen do you take and how often? That can cause GI problems that may show up on the colonoscopy. NSAIDs like ibuprofen and naproxen can cause ulcers in the small intestine and/or in the colon for some people.

Goood luck with the scopes and let us know what they find.

Ugh! Sorry to hear that you didn't get any answers yet. Do you have any other symptoms besides the pain? When you go back to the GI see if he will do a CT or a pill cam. He may not approve of that though if you don't have either a lot of other symptoms or with the lack of evidence from the blood work and other tests. Hang in there and stay persistent in looking for an answer!

It started off colicky but now it's just a constant pain in my left, basically from my last rib down by about a hand print. It does get worse around 30 mins after meals but I literally have no other symptoms but this pain and constipation, but I'm on strong high pain killers that they could be the cause of the latter. The pain is so intense though and flairs up and comes back down but is always there. It almost feels a bit like a stitch at times. I've always had issues with food, e.g I can't eat any type of bean or legume without getting really bad cramps. I had never considered it could be an ibd until the gastro said he thought it might, now I have no idea, unless the biopsys surprise us! Thing is, it's been going on non stop since the end of December. I've had to be signed off work due to it and have barely worked this year which is really hard. I'm on so may pain killers without a proper diagnosis which I don't think is great

I mentioned a pill cam to him and he said we can discuss when I see him on Wednesday. I just want an answer it's so frustrating. Thanks for your advice.

Yes MRI and I drank something and they injected me. Do you know if even early signs of ibd show up?

For years, neither CTs nor MRIs could catch my disease. Even my colonscopies used to be clean. Only biopsies would show that there was activity. Hope you get an answer on Wednesday. Keep us posted.

That's exactly what happened with me before my diagnosis - found inflammation in colon biopsies, had no explanation, assumed it was an infection despite stool tests being negative....

Ask him what infectious organism he is targeting and what antibiotic he is choosing. Then ask him why he's prescribing an antibiotic despite stool tests showing no infection. Then watch him squirm.

Do you know exactly what the biopsy report says? Ask for a copy. Ask for copies of *everything.*

I was hospitalized. They gave me the antibiotic, I reluctantly took it, and then I had a severe reaction to it. So I got put on a high dose of prednisone. After a few days of that I started feeling a lot better. That was yet another clue that I saw but the doctors didn't see. Once I tapered off the prednisone, I got sick again a few months later and ended up back in the hospital. They tried a capsule endoscopy but it failed (stuck in my stomach until it stopped recording). Tried the capsule endoscopy again a few weeks later and it showed ulcers in the ileum.

First ask for a copy of the biopsy report and tell us exactly what it says, if you can.