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treehugger1
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« on: August 21, 2009, 04:09:15 PM » |
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How many threads am I allowed to have at once in the health forum?
Well, I just got done worrying about brain cancer, pregnancy and now, I have this.
I've been feeling those tell-tale left quadrant pains for about 5 hours now. It's getting slowly worse and I think I'm just starting to get the fever.
OK, big whoop. I might have diverticulitis. But ..... but, but, but. I had major surgery (partial colectomy) for this condition just a year ago. I was told (by my surgeon himself) that there was almost no chance I'd have a recurrence. I had mentionned the stats that 10% of patients did have a recurrence and that this was one reason that I was hesitant about surgery. But no, my surgeon had never once had this problem, he had so much experience, blah blah blah.
Looks like he lied!
Or I'm the hypochondriac par excellence.
We'll see.
I'd ask if anyone else has had this problem, but I'm in a relatively rare position here (surgergy, then possible recurrence), so instead, feel free to a) rant on about surgeons (and their boastful lies) or b) comment on my possible hypochondria ...
OK, I'll go calm down now.
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gennimom
Somewhat Southern (Have I really posted that much?)
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 16,983
Let's get summer over with! Me want snow!
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« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2009, 04:22:35 PM » |
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You might just have IBS as well. Sounds like one of my attacks. Or not. I don't know.
But I will rant about surgeons. I had one once tell me that my problem with my knee was all in my head. He'd ordered an MRI that only showed some "roughness on the miniscus." Duh. It probably outlined the piece of torn cartilage that was laying in the spot it was torn from. Amazingly enough, another surgeon a few months later removed said piece of cartilage from my knee.
So, yeah. They CAN be wrong!
Oh, and we had docs tell us that GD had (in order) epilepsy, panic attacks, migraines, and panic attacks. About a month and a half after the last one, a surgeon removed an abscess the size of a large grape from his brain.
I'm not real fond of some docs.
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...only after reading gm's post, my new mantra is "always listen to gennimom".
Monday reeks! - Garfield The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person (or something like that). |
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treehugger1
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« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2009, 10:28:05 PM » |
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You might just have IBS as well. Sounds like one of my attacks. Or not. I don't know.
Well, as it turns out, I am not a hypochondriac and I did indeed have another severe bout of diverticulitis. In fact, I've just returned from a three-day hospitalization. < Sigh> I don't understand this and neither do my specialist or my surgeon. I'm still relatively young. I am and I've always been health-conscious. I'm fit, slim, and follow a healthy, mostly vegetarian high fiber diet. I lead a relatively low-stress existence. I have no other health problems. And, yet, here I am at 45 with a total of six serious attacks, four hospitalizations, and half of my colon already gone for good. I simply do not know what to do. I will see my GI guy later on this week. But I have little doubt that I won't be hearing anything new. Ideas, all you brilliant forumites out there? |
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« Last Edit: August 25, 2009, 10:30:08 PM by treehugger1 »
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gennimom
Somewhat Southern (Have I really posted that much?)
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 16,983
Let's get summer over with! Me want snow!
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« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2009, 10:35:36 PM » |
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I'm so sorry, treehugger! Have they considered Crohns, and other conditions? (I'm sure they have. I'm shooting in the dark here.)
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...only after reading gm's post, my new mantra is "always listen to gennimom".
Monday reeks! - Garfield The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person (or something like that). |
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frogfactory
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« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2009, 10:48:29 PM » |
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I'm so sorry, treehugger! Have they considered Crohns, and other conditions? (I'm sure they have. I'm shooting in the dark here.)
I can't imagine Crohns would lead to diverticuli. Sorry, though, to hear you're going through this, treehugger. |
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At the end of the day, sometimes you just have to masturbate in the bathroom.
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msparticularity
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« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2009, 12:39:16 AM » |
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More sympathy from me. I understand your frustration, too, since you've done everything right!
And I have no idea how legit this site is, but colondisease.com claims that repeat episodes of diverticulitis, either in adjacent or remote areas, requiring further surgery occur in 10% of patients after surgery--which is the figure you said you discussed with your surgeon. I looked at a couple of other pages on Google, including a couple of medical articles, and all refer to a risk of repeat episodes after surgery--as you suspected, I think your surgeon may have been a little less than honest with you.
Related to surgeons being unable to confess to anything but perfection, I had a similar experience with my cataract surgery--surgeon swore he never had any implant surgeries come out not absolutely perfect. Well, mine went pretty drastically wrong and he still denied that there was a problem! I was told by a couple of people that this is a common thing among surgeons: on the one hand we want them to be total perfectionists since it's us they're working on, but this also means they simply cannot and will not recognize any failures.
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"Once admit that the sole verifiable or fruitful object of knowledge is the particular set of changes that generate the object of study...and no intelligible question can be asked about what, by assumption, lies outside." John Dewey
"Be particular." Jill Conner Browne
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treehugger1
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« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2009, 08:57:01 AM » |
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And I have no idea how legit this site is, but colondisease.com claims that repeat episodes of diverticulitis, either in adjacent or remote areas, requiring further surgery occur in 10% of patients after surgery--which is the figure you said you discussed with your surgeon. I looked at a couple of other pages on Google, including a couple of medical articles, and all refer to a risk of repeat episodes after surgery--as you suspected, I think your surgeon may have been a little less than honest with you.
Thanks for looking that up! Yeah, I'm sure that's what I'm going to hear on Friday when I see the GI specialist. But (at the moment at least) I'm pretty sure I don't want to have repeat surgery. I've already done a fair bit of reading and found out (to my dismay) that even patients who have had their entire colons removed and have had colostomies have still had serious recurrences afterwards! I think I'm going to try to seriously experimenting with my diet (and other variables) to find a non-surgical way to manage the problem. One hypothesis: I need to have neither too little nor too much fiber in my diet. (And I'm not talking about the "No popcorn. No nuts." thing.) The week before I had the problem, I had beans (lentils, chickpeas, etc) at every lunch and dinner and was feeling a little bit gassy and bloated. I am going to try and have the same (moderate) amount of fiber every day. Related to surgeons being unable to confess to anything but perfection, I had a similar experience with my cataract surgery--surgeon swore he never had any implant surgeries come out not absolutely perfect. Well, mine went pretty drastically wrong and he still denied that there was a problem! I was told by a couple of people that this is a common thing among surgeons: on the one hand we want them to be total perfectionists since it's us they're working on, but this also means they simply cannot and will not recognize any failures.
Sorry to hear about the cataract surgery. Did you get it fixed up in the end? Or are you still suffering? Interesting analysis of the Surgeon-in-Denial Syndrome. I've also had the experience of one surgeon calling another out. "Oh yeah him. He always says that all his procedures are successes. Let me tell you, it's more like 50%" Or some other interesting revelation. I tell you, they should have a RateMySurgeon.com. Now, that would be a useful site. |
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Not a member of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. May we live long and not die out.
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gennimom
Somewhat Southern (Have I really posted that much?)
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 16,983
Let's get summer over with! Me want snow!
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« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2009, 09:03:03 AM » |
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I don't know about the RateMySurgeon idea. You would have mostly dissatisfied people signing in. Just before I had my surgery for WPW, I found a website dedicated to preventing people from having the surgery just because the guy had a bad experience. He told people, "Just stay on the medication!" Uh, yeah, right. I'm glad I took my chances.
There is however, your local state medical board. You can contact them and find out if there is anything egregious against your surgeon.
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...only after reading gm's post, my new mantra is "always listen to gennimom".
Monday reeks! - Garfield The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person (or something like that). |
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treehugger1
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« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2009, 10:08:43 AM » |
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I don't know about the RateMySurgeon idea. You would have mostly dissatisfied people signing in. Just before I had my surgery for WPW, I found a website dedicated to preventing people from having the surgery just because the guy had a bad experience. He told people, "Just stay on the medication!" Uh, yeah, right. I'm glad I took my chances.
There is however, your local state medical board. You can contact them and find out if there is anything egregious against your surgeon.
Yeah, I know that kind of site would in reality be problematic. Sorry, I was just joking being sarcastic. |
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Not a member of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement. May we live long and not die out.
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gennimom
Somewhat Southern (Have I really posted that much?)
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 16,983
Let's get summer over with! Me want snow!
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« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2009, 10:13:29 AM » |
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That's okay. For some reason, my sensitivity meter isn't working today. I think I had a clue when I stopped at light that is normally a red light, but it was flashing yellow. People were looking at me strange. Maybe I need to not reply to those until I get it working a little better.
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...only after reading gm's post, my new mantra is "always listen to gennimom".
Monday reeks! - Garfield The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person (or something like that). |
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unspoiled
Non-Native English Speaker Quoting Ideagirl: "You don't have to buy into a given doctrine in order to join a particular profession."
Senior member
Posts: 446
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« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2009, 02:07:37 PM » |
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I tell you, they should have a RateMySurgeon.com. Now, that would be a useful site.
Oh, but they do have it: http://www.vitals.com/doctor/rate |
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« Last Edit: August 26, 2009, 02:10:14 PM by unspoiled »
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A true teacher would mentor the student instead of trashing them to others.
Be a scholar. Just be something else as well. Communism is DEAD.
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gennimom
Somewhat Southern (Have I really posted that much?)
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 16,983
Let's get summer over with! Me want snow!
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« Reply #11 on: August 26, 2009, 02:34:05 PM » |
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...only after reading gm's post, my new mantra is "always listen to gennimom".
Monday reeks! - Garfield The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person (or something like that). |
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unspoiled
Non-Native English Speaker Quoting Ideagirl: "You don't have to buy into a given doctrine in order to join a particular profession."
Senior member
Posts: 446
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« Reply #12 on: August 26, 2009, 03:29:44 PM » |
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Grief is the right word. You're supposed to be sick, aren't you? And want to get better. It's part of the biopsychosocial model of health and illness, no? Here's another one http://www.ratemds.com/You're not supposed to use these sites to preselect, no. Your insurance network preselects for you in phase 0, even if you're in a PPO plan, and then you narrow it down by zip code, and (at least I) in phase 1 pick rationally based on credentials (med school, residency program, hospital affiliation). If they have a faculty page, or a personal page (phase 2), I look at the photo if they included one, and see if I can picture the bedside manner mentally and bond with that doctor a bit. If they have publications, I browse through publications for fun but I don't select based on them. Only in (phase 3) do I resort to rating sites which are the equivalent of what used to be word of mouth. I weigh the patients' narratives against my background (medical school graduate) and decide whether it makes sense or not. Not if it's true or not, since I can't know any of that. Finally, in phase 4 I call their office, renegotiate insurance matters, and check on the receptionist's "desk-side manner". If the doctor, as a package, is a 3 out of 4 in my book (actually a 4 out of 5 since the insurance took care of the bulk of selection for me in phase 0), then I go see this doctor in person, and most of the time I stay with that doctor until I move out of town, which is when I ask for a referral, and most of the time s/he refers me to someone who doesn't take my insurance, or lives in a different city, or both. So I have to start again. Our grandmothers used to pick a doctor via referrals from another doctor, or by word of mouth. Nowadays you still have referrals, and you also have fora and blogs and rating sites. It's really not that different, as long as you don't rely exclusively on the latter. |
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« Last Edit: August 26, 2009, 03:33:11 PM by unspoiled »
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A true teacher would mentor the student instead of trashing them to others.
Be a scholar. Just be something else as well. Communism is DEAD.
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00151009
New member
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« Reply #13 on: July 13, 2010, 07:54:24 PM » |
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Treehugger, sorry to hear the news. I ran across your post as I was searching online for this very thing.
I'm 38, and I fear I too have a recurrence of diverticulitis. Had a sigmoid resection six years ago.
I was wondering what happened. I would like to ask you some questions as I am really scared. I had a horrible time with the first set of flare-ups, subsequent surgery, and eventually massive hernia repair.
Recurrence has been a big fear of mine and now I think it's staring me in the face.
I have an appointment tomorrow with the GI. If you still check this forum, please respond.
Hope all is well with you now....
Thanks
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mizzzd3
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« Reply #14 on: December 04, 2011, 05:55:38 PM » |
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Anything further about Treehugger's or 00151009's situations? I'm apparently in the same situation and wonder if there are any new treatments. I've read that there's a treatment to prevent diverticulitis using an anti-inflammatory plus an antibiotic and probiotics, but I'm going to have to get my dr on board.
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