Rerun: diagnosis
January 23, 2010This is the first video I made for this site, and if you’ve watched my most recent videos, you can see I’ve changed up the style slightly and (hopefully) have improved the quality. For one, I would never allow that kind of wind to get in my videos again, so I apologize for those sound spikes.
After speaking with so many people this past year, I’ve found that many peoples’ diagnosis stories are very similar, in that it often takes many months or longer to figure out why they are having problems.
Surprising, though, is how many people have symptoms of IBD for a year or two before they even consider going to the doctor and checking it out. Something I cannot urge people more is that if they have any sort of bowel problems, check it out with a doctor!
In my personal life I don’t meet many people with IBD, but occasionally a friend or coworker will tell me about bowel problems they are having. Usually it’s something less serious, but the thing I always tell everybody is to see a doctor if they have any problems or if their symptoms get worse. It might be embarrassing, but it’s better than living with unjustified shame.
Finally, in this video I mention an early diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC. This issue is actually almost nonexistent. My liver enzyme levels are all within the normal range, and my last MRI showed the liver scarring decreased in intensity. We still monitor it, but not seriously. For now, this issue turned out to be relatively minor compared to the colitis.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
