Stomach Woes (Part 2)

Before I went to see this new doctor, I saw that he wrote a lot of articles about the gut. He also uses the trans-nasal endoscopy method which is scoping the stomach through the nose. I've never heard of this before!

So the appointment day came and I went to see him. 

He was very attentive, patient and thorough. He asked about my gut history and listened like how Mr. Gastro did when I first saw him. 

Not only did he listen, he explained the works of the gut and how he had to do a endoscopy and colonoscopy to make sure nothing was wrong with my gut before moving on to solving my stomach woes. He drew diagrams and explained how the gut works and how all the digestive parts are interlinked to each other and how symptoms in one part could be totally something else instead. 

The best part was he does not want his patients sedated during the endoscopy and colonoscopy because he wants them to be aware and ask him questions! He wants to educate his patients. 

Wow!

This was the first time I was hearing this. 

He was very alert as he noticed that I was wearing a Medic Alert bracelet. He then asked me about the history of my allergies. 

He is also a doctor who does not want his patients to suffer. Thus, the drinking of the gasoline-tasting-diarrhoea-inducing-drink was not to be taken at night. I was to be in the hospital by 7am and I would start the drinking then. He did not want his patients to be up all night shitting their guts out and then be like the Walking Dead in the morning before the scope has even started. 

The day before the scope, I received a phone call from the nurse. She instructed me to only have porridge the whole day and to stop eating after dinner. I was not to have any fruits, vegetables or dairy products. Only fish or chicken porridge. 

I took an Aerius after lunch to safeguard myself since Lydocaine could no longer be found in Malaysia. I had to have a different numbing spray: Cophenylcaine. This was taught by Dr. Yadav my immunologist/allergist. 

When I arrived at the endoscopy department, the nurse took some blood for tests and left the IV needle in my right hand. They said that the doctor had told them about my allergies and they had prepared hydrocortisone just in case I became allergic to the nasal spray. She then instructed me to finish drinking the 1st bottle of Fortrans within 1 hour! And then I was to proceed with the 2nd bottle. 

Before I was even done with the second bottle, my bowels were cleared. And it was done within two hours.

I then went into the room to be scoped. The nurse placed my Epi-Pens on the table next to me (which was a first time!). 

And then I heard heavy metal music! I wondered whether I had shat my guts out to the point that I was hallucinating. It turned out that this gastroenterologist loves heavy metal music and he played Iron Maiden while he scoped me. 

The doctor then started with the colonoscopy first. He uses the pediatric size scope! Less discomfort and the accuracy and function is as good as the dinosaur-sized scope. Halfway through the scope as the colonoscopy tube was turning in my intestines, I suddenly felt a very sharp pain. I immediately grabbed the railing of the bed like I always did back with Rock Star. This doctor immediately stopped and told me to relax and not grab the railings. By doing so, I would clamp up and that would make the scope painful. He then asked me to point to him the location of the pain. He then pulled the scope out and slowly moved in again on the opposite side of the colon. There was no pain and he continued. It took about a bit more than 10 minutes to finish the colonoscopy. He explained a lot and told me what he was looking for as the scope was going on. I asked a lot of questions too. 

And then the nurses turned the bed around while he changed his gloves and gown. 

He then checked which of my nostrils had a clearer passage. After he had determined that my right nostril was the way the scope would go in, he sprayed Cophenylcaine and waited for 5 minutes for any allergy reaction. Once 5 minutes passed with no allergy reaction, he then sprayed 4 to 5 times at an interval of every 5 minutes. The spray was a decongestant and also a numbing agent. 

He then placed the trans-nasal endoscopy (which is less than 6mm in diameter) into my right nose. I could SPEAK as he did this scope. I did not gag. There was no horrible discomfort of the giant tube going down the esophagus. He showed me the back of my nasal cavities, my voice box, my esophagus and my stomach. 

My stomach was inflamed! It looked like I had measles inside my stomach. 

I had no H pylori, no ulcers and no bleeding. He had no idea why my stomach was inflamed too. It could have been triggered by the chicken pox and my stomach just couldn't heal. All biopsies were clear. 

I was placed on two months of Pariet which is a PPI. And he told me to cut down on VEGETABLES! He believed that the amount of vegetables that I was eating was the culprit to my IBS. I was hesitant as I needed the vegetables to poop. He told me to bulk up on fibre and increase my liquid intake. 

"DRINK LOADS OF WATER!" was his advice. 

With nothing else to lose, I embarked on a 'less-vegetable-diet'. The IBS actually settled! I became almost normal. Plus with the PPI, the upper middle abdomen pain which I had 24/7 for 8 months lessened. As the days and weeks went by, I had bigger pockets of pain-free period. I could eat again. The only set-back was going to the toilet, wasn't as smooth and short as before. The doctor said I had to experiment and find out what works best for me. As I experiment, he would guide me and work together with me to help me get back my life on track. Even if it's not 100%, it would at least be better than what I was. Of course I would be lying if I said I wasn't sceptical. But he said one must have hope. I replied that I've been hoping for so many years now that I've reached the stage of complete burnt out. He told me to take it easy and to try again.

And so that's what I have been doing. 

(I did not have any side effects from the spray nor the trans-nasal endoscopy.)

Here is the the LINK to go to if you are in Malaysia and in need of a gastroenterologist.

Click HERE to read his article on 5 Foods You Don't Have to Cut Out From Your Diet in 2018!

Click HERE to read his article on More Than One Way to the Stomach.

Click HERE to read his article on To the Stomach and Beyond - Via the Nostril?

..... to be continued