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[buddscreekman]

Someone on here mentioned a hiatal hernia. Just got off the phone with my wife and she tells me in fact long before we even met she had a ct done for another reason and they did incidentally find a hiatal hernia,but said it was small and no big deal. Then I get to thinking,first time this pain happened,she was lying on the couch talking on the phone. Had her feet up on the arm of the couch. She started to cough and then upon sitting up the pain took off. So.....I'm reaching here.....could the position of her body,coupled with the coughing,force the hernia through the opening? Still waiting to hear back from the doctor but that kind of adds up to me.

 

[buddscreekman]

bill is in the mail.

Send it to me. I'll do what I do with all the ones that say "American Radiology" and "LabCorp". Toss em. (I mean pay them promptly)

 

[Roman]

Nitroglycerin tablets come in 0.4 mg per tab, but amazingly it IS used for some G.I. problems, because it is a smooth Muscle Relaxer. Commonly used for Barrets Esophagus I think. She should by-pass all the Doctors, and just go to the G.I Doc, because that's where the problem probably lies. She'll probably need a referal to one.

 

[buddscreekman]

Nitroglycerin tablets come in 0.4 mg per tab, but amazingly it IS used for some G.I. problems, because it is a smooth Muscle Relaxer. Commonly used for Barrets Esophagus I think. She should by-pass all the Doctors, and just go to the G.I Doc, because that's where the problem probably lies. She'll probably need a referal to one.

Our insurance doesn't require a referral but with the way gi docs around here are booked up it would be a faster answer to get an order for the upper gi,and get that done so we have at least an answer as to what it is or isn't and can go from there. Hoping the doc sees it that way too and will just write the order.

 

[Retrodeb54]

Someone on here mentioned a hiatal hernia. Just got off the phone with my wife and she tells me in fact long before we even met she had a ct done for another reason and they did incidentally find a hiatal hernia,but said it was small and no big deal. Then I get to thinking,first time this pain happened,she was lying on the couch talking on the phone. Had her feet up on the arm of the couch. She started to cough and then upon sitting up the pain took off. So.....I'm reaching here.....could the position of her body,coupled with the coughing,force the hernia through the opening? Still waiting to hear back from the doctor but that kind of adds up to me.

Googled it...most everything I read said they are for the most part not symptomatic.

I checked further this morning on Google.

Here is more info. How to Identify Symptoms of a Strangulated Hiatal Hernia | eHow.com

Good luck, whatever it is I do hope she is diagnosed pronto and feels well soon.

 

[buddscreekman]

Well,still no answers. Went to the dr.,called them again to say it was still bad,wife had another attack last night. They said to go to Walmart or Target,get some Pepcid and give it two weeks to work. BS. Taking her up to see a gastro in Annapolis - have an appointment for next week,and waiting for a call back to see if we will do some tests before then.Up until now we've always liked our doctors but now I'm not so sure. I feel like they've really dropped the ball here. There is a real shortage of good doctors in this area - or should I say we have good doctors,but they rely too much on NP's and PA's.

 

[Roman]

Well,still no answers. Went to the dr.,called them again to say it was still bad,wife had another attack last night. They said to go to Walmart or Target,get some Pepcid and give it two weeks to work. BS. Taking her up to see a gastro in Annapolis - have an appointment for next week,and waiting for a call back to see if we will do some tests before then.Up until now we've always liked our doctors but now I'm not so sure. I feel like they've really dropped the ball here. There is a real shortage of good doctors in this area - or should I say we have good doctors,but they rely too much on NP's and PA's.

In the mean time, go get some of that Pepcid (Omeprazole) just like they asked you to do. Hopefully, this will help a little bit. I wish your Wife well. Thanks for keeping us posted.

 

[buddscreekman]

What a difference a new doctor makes - doc from Annapolis called in a stat order for a chest xray which we've done and also ordered an upper gi,which we had to schedule. All without even seeing her yet.

 

[Roman]

What a difference a new doctor makes - doc from Annapolis called in a stat order for a chest xray which we've done and also ordered an upper gi,which we had to schedule. All without even seeing her yet.

That's good to hear. Most Doctor's want to see you first, then send you for tests. This way, maybe some answers will be there for you on your first visit.

 

[buddscreekman]

That's good to hear. Most Doctor's want to see you first, then send you for tests. This way, maybe some answers will be there for you on your first visit.

The guy called us promptly after hearing her symptoms,and offered the testing so that once we got there we could have an immediate course of action,and also so that we could knock it all out with only one trip up the road. This doctor is really the best in my book. It's Dr. Thomas Cattano,with Anne Arundel Gastro.

 

[luvscats]

Interesting. Hiatal hernias and GI problems are nothing to mess with. Glad you found a responsive doc and have appts in place to get some resolution. I hope you'll post what the outcomes are. I have some similar problems going on and have an appt for an endoscopy soon. I'd love to hear what your doc finds.

Good luck and I'm sure all will turn out just fine.

 

[Misfit]

Hiatal Hernia? ...

Sliding Hiatal Hernia.

 

[buddscreekman]

Sliding Hiatal Hernia.

After some googling it sounds like that is the good kind to have. Paraesophageal,not so much.

 

[buddscreekman]

Interesting. Hiatal hernias and GI problems are nothing to mess with. Glad you found a responsive doc and have appts in place to get some resolution. I hope you'll post what the outcomes are. I have some similar problems going on and have an appt for an endoscopy soon. I'd love to hear what your doc finds.

Good luck and I'm sure all will turn out just fine.

I can understand all the symptoms and how they might tie together but the facial pain really gets me. I don't see how that fits. Every time this happens she's got one hand covering the right side of her face.

She's having the upper gi on Monday - a bit nervous since she has had allergic reactions to meds before and she doesn't like the idea of the contrast.

 

[SoMDGirl42]

I can understand all the symptoms and how they might tie together but the facial pain really gets me. I don't see how that fits. Every time this happens she's got one hand covering the right side of her face.

She's having the upper gi on Monday - a bit nervous since she has had allergic reactions to meds before and she doesn't like the idea of the contrast.

Contrast for an UGI?

Should be barium. It's like drinking chalk.

 

[buddscreekman]

Contrast for an UGI?

Should be barium. It's like drinking chalk.

Barium is a contrast agent. If it wasn't providing a contrast between what is seen with/without it,there would be no use for it. You've had this,I take it - she is expecting to be there about two hours according to SMH. Sound right?

 

[SoMDGirl42]

Barium is a contrast agent. If it wasn't providing a contrast between what is seen with/without it,there would be no use for it. You've had this,I take it - she is expecting to be there about two hours according to SMH. Sound right?

at least. I would say longer.

Tell her to follow the directions they give her. It's very important that she not burp or when drinking the barium (altough the test they gave me may have also been a barium swallow and that might be where the burping comes into play) It's very difficult to swallow that barium laying down and not be able to burp or Save it for later, I splattered that barium all over the bathroom and then the inside of my vehicle. It was a mess to clean up. Basically white liquid chalk.

 

[buddscreekman]

Hi everyone-this is bcm's wife. I had the UGI today and wow did it test my anxiety endurance. I did fine during the test itself - that barium was horrible tasting,one watery and ok but the other very thick and nasty like plaster of paris- but it was the little things that got to me. Like when the tech came to get me she mentioned how excited she was since this was her very first day on the job! We went into the room where she had the barium out,thin stuff with a big straw in it and next to it was a smaller bottle of barium as well,only this was opened and had a barium-y fingerprint on the outside. I start to drink the thin stuff and the radiologist tells her no,that is the wrong stuff,to give me the "thick". She grabs the aforementioned fingerprinty one. I try to keep my ocd quiet and tell myself she just opened it prior to me coming in. Then another tech comes in and sees me on the table and asks her if she checked to see if I'm pregnant. Whoopsie. Scramble for the forms. After everything was done,I felt nauseous and like throwing up,but I didn't. I did however have to make two stops on the way home to run like hell for a bathroom and I don't know where they got idea that constipation would be a problem. In Target my feet left the floor and I was whispering to myself oh my god...oh my god..what IS that. I heard the door shut very quietly and I can only assume someone else heard that and took off.

Anywho for my mental issues sake,I'm curious to know do techs set the radiation levels or are they pre-set? I ask because this girl was utterly clueless. Made me wonder if I had just gotten fried.


I don't follow up with my doctor until the 23rd since he is away but I think since I feel so crappy I'll just swing by medical records and get a copy of the report and see whats what. Hopefully nothing bad but something to explain how I've been feeling. Thanks to all of you who posted in this thread,it helped encourage me to go do this and I've needed it for a long time.

 

[daylily]

Hi everyone-this is bcm's wife. I had the UGI today and wow did it test my anxiety endurance. I did fine during the test itself - that barium was horrible tasting,one watery and ok but the other very thick and nasty like plaster of paris- but it was the little things that got to me. Like when the tech came to get me she mentioned how excited she was since this was her very first day on the job! We went into the room where she had the barium out,thin stuff with a big straw in it and next to it was a smaller bottle of barium as well,only this was opened and had a barium-y fingerprint on the outside. I start to drink the thin stuff and the radiologist tells her no,that is the wrong stuff,to give me the "thick". She grabs the aforementioned fingerprinty one. I try to keep my ocd quiet and tell myself she just opened it prior to me coming in. Then another tech comes in and sees me on the table and asks her if she checked to see if I'm pregnant. Whoopsie. Scramble for the forms. After everything was done,I felt nauseous and like throwing up,but I didn't. I did however have to make two stops on the way home to run like hell for a bathroom and I don't know where they got idea that constipation would be a problem. In Target my feet left the floor and I was whispering to myself oh my god...oh my god..what IS that. I heard the door shut very quietly and I can only assume someone else heard that and took off.

Anywho for my mental issues sake,I'm curious to know do techs set the radiation levels or are they pre-set? I ask because this girl was utterly clueless. Made me wonder if I had just gotten fried.


I don't follow up with my doctor until the 23rd since he is away but I think since I feel so crappy I'll just swing by medical records and get a copy of the report and see whats what. Hopefully nothing bad but something to explain how I've been feeling. Thanks to all of you who posted in this thread,it helped encourage me to go do this and I've needed it for a long time.

Hope you get the answers and relief you need quickly. What a nightmare!

 

[Retrodeb54]

Hope you feel better soon. I know its hard to feel bad and run around having tests and doing the leg work yourself. Ahhh... for the good old days when they would admit you for a day or two, schedule needed tests and roll you downstairs to have them.