What next?

[Kloggy]

So, at my husbands insistence I finally went to my GP this week. It was really difficult as I felt like a fraud for taking up his time but managed to tell him that apart from my continuing stomach problems I may have developed an eating disorder. He asked a few questions and weighed me. He agreed that I have lost a lot of weight but said the first step was blood tests to rule out any other reasons for this. So these were done and came back abnormal showing a low white blood cell count.This means the test needs to be redone in a couple of weeks so we are back to waiting. Has anyone else encountered this when trying to get a referral to an ED clinic? I don't know if that result is linked but feel that maybe the whole effort was a waste of time as I am no further forward. On the other hand at least I don't have to face up to this for another couple of weeks at least!

[Iesgobdafydd]

I don't think I ever had a low white blood cell count, but for sure I wouldn't take getting one as no progress. The problem with tests coming back positive is, it can mean there's something really serious wrong as the tests they choose to do are designed to look for the most life-threatening conditions. BUT, the tests also pick up a lot of other problems that aren't life-threatening, and the good thing about tests picking things up is it means the doctors are more likely to be able to figure out exactly what's wrong with you and to have medical solutions for you. When the tests don't show anything, like with IBS, then they're pushed back to guessing what's wrong with you based on your symptoms, which is less satisfactory because the same symptoms can in principle be produced by a whole range of health different problems. So fingers crossed your tests will end up finding something that's not too serious and is easy to treat!

You know best whether or not you've developed an eating disorder, but I wouldn't necessarily take weight loss on its own as meaning you have, given that you've got continuing stomach problems. I've lost weight since I had IBS, not so much or so quickly that it's seriously worried the doctors but they have kept weighing me repeatedly and keeping an eye on it; I was never in my life overweight, so I'm thin now but not ridiculously so. It's hard to eat a normal amount when your stomach or gut is in mild discomfort a lot of the time, and I'm sure many other people with IBS will agree on that. I've seen other people with IBS comment about being advised to eat more calories, and my own dietitian suggested I do that at one point, even if it was "junk" food. That seems poor advice to me - yes we need to burn a certain number of calories per day to live and go about our business, and if you think you're not getting enough calories then you need to eat more of something, but it should be as nutritious and healthy as possible. What I've found is that my weight did stabilize, just at a lower level than when I was able to eat whatever I wanted whenever I felt like.

[Hidden]

When you are clearly not right do not think you are wasting your GP's time, your health is important. If you don't go to the doctors and continue with problems then possibly they could develop into something more serious. I'm glad you've had a test but see that you have yet to have another one.