What’s now…ct scan shows Gastrointestinal inflammation

amother

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 7:31 am

We were admitted,,, I am terrified. Never had GI issues before and now suddenly due to high stress, postCovid, and not so nutritious diet BAMM. Digestive inflammation

My child is admitted for further GI evaluation. What tests might they do next. ? I really don’t want anymore radiation.

Anyone went through similar situation. Did you make full recovery. Do you need to follow specific diet for life?

dena613

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 8:28 am

Likely colonoscopy.

For short term relief right now, can they give her an anti diuretic?

Can you open this link for food suggestions?
https://www.crohnscolitisfound.....I-eat
Since she's doing so badly, id try the diet strictly too just to see iv it alleviates a little of the issue. (no raw fruits and veg, etc)

If she is diagnosed with crohns, they will prescribe her medication or another protocol, depending on how severe it is.

MyUsername

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 9:03 am

Don't make changes to her diet now, you don't want to throw off her digestive or body systems while there is already something wrong and they are doing tests.

They'll probably do endoscopy/colonoscopy next (no radiation).

If it is an upper GI issue, they might do a swallow/stomach test with barium. This uses x-rays, but really it isn't a lot of radiation, don't worry.

amother

Blushpink

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 9:13 am

amother OP wrote:

She was already dairy free
Is Sugar from fruits problematic??
Thankyou

As others said, I wouldn't make any dietary changes until they finish diagnostic testing. Let them get a picture of what her body is like with her "normal" then when you have clarity as to what is going on, you can figure out direction for treatment. Right now you are totally shooting in the dark

amother

Hunter

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 10:07 am

While you are scared of radiation it would be better to identify and solve the issues than let it continue on as is. Think bigger picture.
It was bad enough to be admitted.
And definitely don't make any changes now. They want to see the body AS IS with all the issues. I have a friend who was diagnosed as celiac but was told before the final test to make sure to eat gluten. Because if she went off gluten early- they wouldn't be able to see if that was the issue.

anonymrs

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 10:25 am

amother Hunter wrote:

If they already did a ct scan, they will prob want to do a scope. But I don't think additional radiation should be necessary. If they want to do an mri, you can request to skip the contrast fluid which is behavior, or ask to hold off on the mri altogether, it shouldn't be necessary if all other testing was done.

I'm posting under my screen name so you can pm. I have experience with this.

amother

Periwinkle

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 6:29 pm

It sounds like the CAT scan ruled out lots of issues and it's not shocking that there's inflammation, considering the symptoms.
My preteen had similar issues last year (not so much diarrhea but there was vomiting, pain, dehydration, and extreme weight loss).
This began shortly after a viral illness, most likely covid but not confirmed.
I did not worry about the minimal radiation from very necessary tests to help determine how to help my very ill child. The CAT scan (and ultrasounds) ruled out a lot possible diagnoses, and did show inflammation throughout the intestines.
The doctors then did upper and lower endoscopies, and the biopsies confirmed inflammation in many areas of the small and large intestines. However, the inflammation was all acute, something they could only see on biopsies from the scopes. That meant that it could have been the result of the previous virus, any other infection, or the beginning of more chronic issues like IBD - specifically Crohn's in my child's case. Stool cultures and celiac tests were all negative; fecal calprotectin was elevated as were inflammatory markers in the blood (CRP and ESR). Due to the severity of symptoms, my child was treated with IBD meds- a burst of prednisone, plus several months of mesalamine and budesonide.
Our GI recommended VSL, a (more expensive) probiotic that specifically supports GI health, which we used. Supportive therapy included Zofran for nausea, bentyl for painful spasms, and IV fluids when needed.
We were told that 1/3 people with acute GI inflammation on colonoscopy would go on to develop IBD like Crohn's or Ulcerative Colitis, but we'd only know if a repeat scope showed chronic inflammation.
Anyway, after several months of symptoms my child was doing much better and the scopes were clean- No inflammation! Boruch Hashem there is no chronic IBD!
The assumption is that all the symptoms were due to inflammation that was caused by the initial virus and reactivated several times after that when she got even a slight cold, until it healed completely.

May your dd have a refuah sheleima quickly!

momX4

Sun, Feb 18 2024, 6:38 pm

amother OP wrote:

Did they test for Lactose intolerance?