Colonoscopy Aftermath

A week after the upper endoscopy/colonoscopy procedure I felt absolutely terrible! I was having terrible pains in my stomach, I had barely pooped in a week, and it hurt to breath. I called the doctor that did the procedure to inquire about my stomach pain and her response was "You should feel better by now, I think you just have irritable bowel. Your results all came back normal. I think you just need to let your body rest and if you are still having troubles in a few months then call me back." I thought to myself, "Well that's great... I don't know anything about irritable bowel and you have not helped me in any way, shape, or form". A few days later, I still had the pain and I decided to call my primary care doctor and schedule an appointment. I could not get in to the APRN so had to make an appointment to see a Dr. that I have never met before. Given my experience with health care providers I was not thrilled with this idea, but needed some advice on what to do.

Upon meeting this doctor, I explained my current situation and the recent procedure. Upon pressing on my stomach the Dr. told me that I was clearly backed up and he could tell by looking at my stomach never mind feeling it. He instructed me to follow a very strict BRAT diet (bananas, rice pudding, applesauce, and toast) for one week, drink 1 liter of water a day, stressed the importance of not taking any laxatives or stool softeners, and suggested that I come back for a follow up. Though it did not sound appetizing at all, I agreed to follow the diet because I was desperate to feel better.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and picked up some bananas, applesauce, water, and bread (there was no way I was going to eat rice pudding). I went home and began to google and research BRAT diets. Much to my surprise all of the information I found stated that the BRAT diet was binding and was most commonly used for diarrhea. Confused I called my aunt who is a nurse to ask her about it. She was quite conflicted as to why I would be put on that diet as well considering I am in pain and can not poop. I felt really frustrated and completely confused, but I tried it anyway.

A week of watching the people around me eat pizza and real meals while I spend most of my time peeing out the ridiculous amount of water I was drinking, was absolute torture. In addition to the diet, I tried everything to help myself go to the bathroom, including strange positions on the toilet and hot baths... nothing worked. Again I felt frustrated... and completely SICK of eating applesauce and bananas.

I went back to the doctor in a week for a follow up. This time the appointment was with my normal APRN. I pretty much told her that the diet didn't really change anything for me. The pain in my stomach had started to go away, and a I had pooped (though very minimally). I told her I was tired of being tortured with food so I was officially giving up on the diet.

It took my a good three to four weeks to feel like myself again after those procedures. And it took me almost two months to have "normal" bowel movements again. And in the end I did not have any more answers than I did before the procedure... but at least we were able to rule some things out (Crohn's Disease).