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Feeling Bloated And Have Bowel Issues After Thyroid Removal. CT Scan And Colonoscopy Done. Any Thoughts?

Posted on Fri, 19 Apr 2013

Question: In January I had thyroid removed and had been having bowel issues since then which I had attributed to not getting the TSH and t3 in the right range yet. Then got an attack of acute diverticu,lites been off the antibiotics for four days and so far no pain. But when I do eliminate still mostly pencil thin. My question is when CT was done it also suggested to have a colonoscopy because of sigmoid wall thickening which I understand is common with diverticulitis. My gastro guy wants to wait till end of May to do the scope to make sure diverticulitis is healed. Do you think a scope is necessary and if so how soon can I have one. I just found out I have no health insurance XXXXXXX 1. Mother died of colon cancer but I am generally pretty healthy. What symptoms would warrant a colonoscopy Pain, mucus and bloody watery elimination is gone but still have bloating

Answered by Dr. Abhijit Deshmukh (4 hours later)

Hi XXXXXXX

I agree with your gastroenterologist. Since diverticulitis is an acute inflammatory condition and doing colonoscopy before the inflammation heals may cause complications like perforation which could be life threatening.

Also if your symptoms and CT findings suggest diverticulitis then you should wait at least 6 weeks; may be till your insurance is done.

In the interim, it may be worthwhile getting a stool occult blood examination done after 2 weeks for three days. If positive, it strongly warrants a colonoscopy. Also if you have recurrence of bleeding, loss of appetite, loss of weight along with altered bowel habits and stool occult blood positive strongly warrants colonoscopy.

Bloating may go away with time. Avoid constipation and can try probiotic supplements.

Hope this answers your query. Let me know if you have other concerns.

Wish you a speedy recovery.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad

Follow up: Dr. Abhijit Deshmukh (11 hours later)

Stool occult test is done at home with a paper that turns blue if there is blood in stool or do I have to go to Drs those three days? Stool is starting to form although ribbon like I have always taken probiotics but will up them because of strong ten day antibiotics. If occult is negative and only symptoms is changing bowel habits and full feeling wouldn't another CT scan be enough to see if sigmoid wall is no longer thickened.

Answered by Dr. Abhijit Deshmukh (10 hours later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Below are my response:

1. You can do the stool occult blood by card test or send it to laboratory. Both are okay.

2. Another CT scan may help in knowing whether or not the swelling has come down. But you may need to go through a colonoscopy as CT scan by itself may not change the management especially when you have a family history of colon cancer.

Hope this answers your query. Let me know if you need clarifications.

Wish you a speedy recovery...

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad