IBD and the immediate family

My father was just admitted to the hospital this past Sunday due to throwing up blood. I called the hospital and the nurse told me his esophagus was inflamed. I did some research and found out one of the causes could be Crohn's disease as it can show up anywhere from the month down to the colon, so I called back to let the nurse know that I was recently diagnosed with IBD/UC and learned that Crohn's could be a cause.

She immediately dismissed this due to his age (88 years old) and "there was no blood in the stools". I also mentioned that my dad never had a colonoscopy. My mom doesn't believe in colonoscopies and refuses to get one done for herself.

I would think that if a close family member had and IBD that this would change the protocol for diagnosing immediate family members with GI problems.

I just spoke to my mom and the doc ruled out a lower GI because "there was no blood in the stools". I doubt my mom even mentioned my IBD to the doctors. My family is still in denial that this is genetic as so far I'm the only one in my family that has been diagnosed. I'm thinking possibly others were just mis-diagnosed as there were family members with "other" GI issues. I starting to understand just how little doctor really know about IBD. My co-workers husband was recently diagnosed with Crohn's through his normal preventative colonoscopy. He didn't have any symptoms...they just found spotty inflammation in his colon. The doc said he probably had a flare when he was younger and it just came back.

Am I just over reacting or should the docs take this more seriously and do a colonoscopy just to be safe? How does your doc react to GI problems with your immediate family member?

I'm sorry to hear that your father is in the hospital. Are you over reacting? Maybe just a tad....the reason I say this is because you said your father is 88 years old. When people get to be that age, things just go bad with the body. It's the fact of life unfortunately. However, doctors would probably take a family history of IBD a bit more seriously if he was younger. When people get to a certain age, it seems doctors tend to give up or just not care as much. I found this out with my Gma.....yes she has blood in her urine, but she's 90 years old....yes she has an aortic aneurysm, but she's 90 years old......and so on and so on - frustrating for sure because you want them to be taken seriously, you want them to get better, you want them healed....

Having a colonoscopy is rough, but it is rougher on the geriatric crowd. You have to weigh the pros and cons of your father having such a procedure. It may be that he just has the inflammed esophagus due to years of acid reflux or it is just giving out on him and nothing to do with an IBD. If he has no other symptoms associated with IBD, would you really want to put him thru that?

Endoscopy should be first thing I would think.
Does your dad have reflux? Damage to the esophagus can be great if it continues without treatment.

The other thing I ws thinking is varices... Does your dad have any liver problems?

I've never thought to jump to CD as initial diagnosis.

Keep us posted as to what tests, results, etc.

q

Well, don't make it about you...sometimes that can blind you to all the options.

Your dad seems to have lots of health problems...hope the docs do the pertinent testing. Is he on reflux meds?
What meds exactly is he on? and for what?

It's sad his health is declining, especially his sight and hearing...that all is connections to people. What's going on with his heart? Does he have congestive heart failure?

q

So sorry you dad is not doing well. It is tough as a child to see our parents quality of life decrease. I do think that the nurse should have taken the time to explain more and talk to you about his condition. It sounds like he has multiple issues going on and sometimes diagnostic tests such as a colonoscopy are more stressful to an elderly patient than they are helpful. Age and general health does play into the decisions physcians make. As you stated UC or other GI issues may run in your family but it is very unlikely (although not unheard of) to develop UC or Crohns at the age of 88. Due to the fact that the odds of developing UC and Crohns are very low for an 88 year old, his advanced age, and his general poor health conditions they most likely do not want to put him through a colonoscopy. Again sorry to hear you are dealing with this on top of not getting much support from your family related to your own UC.

Peace&H - I am so sorry you are having all this with your father! Illness is a family member... never fun.

I don't blame you for wanting to know if he might have IBD, - would be good to know, family medical history wise, but... I'm not sure it will help him a whole lot; the first thing would be to stop this bleeding.

Are you the family GI expert? I am, for my family (and the colonoscopy coach for all my friends - lol!) But seriously, I bet your UC experience puts you in a better place to understand a lot of the terms and issues better than some other family members.

Hang in there and keep us posted. Hospitals and holidays aren't fun - been there, done that.

Interesting and it seems your insistence has weight.

I would be concerned about varices, which can happen anywhere in the digestive tract...get a copy of the report from the doc as well as copied from the other tests your dad had done.

Keep us posted.

Regarding not making it personal...I meant your comments about accepting you have UC, etc. Not meaning that your push for tests wasn't appropriate. All ends should be covered.

q

I don't mean records, I mean copies of the results from specific tests. You could ask your mom if she'd request that. Be clear in what you want...not the records. At least you'll know what tests were done and what the outcome of them are.

Regarding your issues with your sister...they're far deeper and probably come up more than just with UC.  Some people aren't supportive for various reasons..you might want to just ask her one day and not be confrontational...just needing to know so that the air can be cleared.  It doesn't matter if she understands UC...but do you understand where she's coming from?

Keep us posted.

q

That sucks that they couldn't find what it was....Hope his bleeding doesn't continue, however.

Was he possibly on dosages of ibuprofen previously?

Was the blood bright red or dark?

too bad about your sister....but some siblings are just better off to not be together when raw emotions rule the relationship.

Hope you get more answers regarding your dad.

q

Finally got to talk with the GI doc today. They know for certain that the blood was coming from his lower colon as there was some dried blood still present but with seeing the active bleeding they ere unable to locate the course. His colon seem to get clearing the further they went in. I was assured this was not IBD. Could have been some internal hemrroids or exposed capilaries.

My dad was also taking coumadin AND aspirin for several year at the same time. He's off the coumadin now. Don't think he can take that anymore. I also asked my mom to asked about the aspirin too as this an also cause bleeding.

Well at least I'm relieve it's not IBD.... would still be better knowing for sure where the leak was but sometimes the body just heals itself...which is a good thing!

No Biospies taken. Was told there was no need.