CT Scan

[Zamalek]

I have to have a CT scan on my bowel tomorrow Friday. I have had

to take gastrografin each day since Wednesday finishing Friday morning just hours before the scan. Nobody has mentioned INR

or Warfarin at all. I believe the procedure is for the most part

non-invasive. However experience tells me that anything new changes

the INR. Has anybody had this procedure done, and do you remember

if it raised or lowered your INR or blood pressure.

[Barnclown]

Hello zamalek: just want to wish you all the best for this procedure. I hope you've got an answer to your question. Sorry, but I can't answer it. I just want to thank you for asking this question, because I think a contrast CT scan of my lower GI is in my not too distant future, so I'm interested in the debate re barium vs gastrografin. I hope you'll let us know how you get on today

🍀🌻 coco

[Zamalek in reply to Barnclown]

Hi there Barnclown. Thanks for your note, I am just back from the CT scan on my bowels/abdomen. I had to drink more gastrografin

prior to the procedure. The scanner is like a large

polo mint which you go through. The contrast is

injected into the vein just prior to the machine

starting. Completely painless, and not claustrophic

like an MRI scan. Are you on Warfarin, I think that

is why I was sent for the CT scan as it is non-

invasive. The actual time the machine was

working was about 10 minutes.

Take care

[Barnclown in reply to Zamalek]

Glad it went smoothly! Thanks for letting us know what it was like.

No I'm not on warfarin. Over the decades, I've had what you may have meant by 'invasive' investigations (colonoscopy 2x, gastroscopy 2x, all with biopsy): are these what you mean? The NHS has never hesitated to investigate because I have immediate family history of GI cancers.

My lupus is infant onset, and my sjogrens is also relatively early onset + I'm ehlers danlos hypermobile, all of which seem involved in my GI issues. Daily systemic prescription treatment for lupus etc only started 5 years ago when my infant diagnosis was recovered. So, I've been managing my chronic upper & lower GI symptoms & conditions from childhood via conscientious lifestyle techniques & gastrolgy's prescription meds. am now 62. Things GI-wise have been very reactive, and a constant preoccupation all my life, but also relatively bearable & cooperative to management...until these past few months when quite severe lower GI symptoms have set in. As usual, am coping via lifestyle stuff, and I do think my daily systemic prescription lupus meds are helping up to a point....but, due to these past few months of recurring flares of severe lower GI pain followed by more persistent symptoms, my GP has organised an abdominal ultrasound scan. Meanwhile, I recently tested neg via my 2nd 2 yearly BM smear postal lab test.

My husband has early onset crohns, so I have my lower GI stuff firmly in perscpective. The main reason I'm push ring my stuff now is that he is alarmed by my symptoms, which he feels are down to inflammation. And he is a very stoic guy who knows my health patterns well and has good judgement.

anyway, I saw my Urologist last week, and she doesn't think my urological/renal system is involved in my current stuff. So, now it's on to checking gyn & vascular (for AAA) organs via this UltraSound scan in early jan. Am expecting everything will be normal. Then I'll ask for referral to gastroenterology, intending to lobby for a CT.

Meanwhile my urologist suggested I see the specialst gyn physio again to review my long standing pelvic floor exercise routine in case there is any chance I need to change how that's going. But she wrote to my GP & me that she suspects my pelvic floor isn't actually involved in this lower GI stuff (I was trained in the early 2000s by NHS gyn physios, and reviewed ok after 10 years). Whatever, I'm glad she brought pelvic floor dysfunction up, because I had no idea this can be relevant in the sort of lower GI symptoms I get. I'm wondering if my rulers danlos hypermobility could make this type of dysfunction more of a possibility. Have you encountered this?

Apologies for going on about myself at such length in your thread! But I suspect you have more gastroenterology experience than me...

I'd be very interested to learn more about your version of lower GI stuff - am hoping you'll keep us updated. Is lupus your primary condition? Do you also have sjogrens?

Take care

[Zamalek]

Hello Barnclown, what an awful lot you have to cope with.

My GI problems I believe are high up. There seems to be very slow motility in the

bowel, and my G.P. has advised me to eat small amounts and often. I was hypothyroid

and have been on thyroxine for about 10 years. I was diagnosed with Hughes Syndrome

by Prof.Khamashta back in 2007/8 after a retinal vein occlusion, and have been on

Warfarin every since. Unfortunately earlier this year I had a 2nd R.V.O. in the same

eye. At the time Prof.Khamashta said I probably had mixed connective tissue disease

which included Hughes, Sjogrens and thyroid? not sure about that. However blood

tests are always neg. for Sjogrens although I have the usual sicca symptoms.My health

has deteriorated this last year, and the bowel problem is constant now. I also had

a couple of thunderclap headaches, and had a brain scan, which was clear. The

Neurologist said that Hughes Syndrome was way down on the list of causes for

thunderclap headaches, but that he didn't believe this theory. However brain scan

was clear thankfully. My blood pressure is swinging around all over the place, which

I find concerning, but at the moment no treatment. Hope you are stable at least over

Christmas.