I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy today. Didn't think I would survive the prep! The doctor said the endoscopy showed gastrtitis and the colonoscopy showed hemorrhoids and a thickening of the wall or something like that. Anyway he said he took several biopsies to check for microscopic colitis and other stuff. Should I be worried?

Not sure what you mean by "should I be worried?"

I think gastritis is pretty typical for us. I have it, though eliminating the milk I'm allergic to and starting Humira have helped it, symptom wise at least.

And hemorrhoids are pretty common after years of alternating constipation and diarrhea. I guess it depends how bad they are, but even then, surgery is available. My stepfather had surgery on his; he has crohn's. Mine are "moderate" according to the report.

Not sure about "thickening of the wall" as I've never had that on my reports.

Did they go up into the ileum? What did they find there? Its pretty typical to have inflammation and crohn's like ulcers up there if one has a spondyloarthropathy. That's what they found for me, but I wasn't flaring at the time, no GI symptoms at the time, so no surprise it wasn't too bad at that point. Now on Humira so hoping its healing it up even more.

Thanks, I wasn't worried about the gastritis or the hemorrhoids, it was the "thickening" that concerned me. Googling it resulted in colon cancer hits. I believe he said he took biopsies to check for microscopic colitis. I'm sure it's probably nothing to worry about.
As far as the gastritis goes I'm a little confused how to treat it. He really pushes PPI''s like prilosec etc, but I have read they can do more harm than good. Low acid can actually be the cause of gastritis. I tried supplementing with HCL for this reason but just one pill burned like crazy so I was afraid to try it again.

I know of the controversy of PPIs, but I've been on daily prilosec since 1993, so has my husband, and it makes life livable for us. I have the gastritis, he has the GERD.

There have been times when I've tried to do without it, but doctors and I came to the conclusion that I need it.

I do have the various things checked that the literature says can be depleted….

Several here have cautioned its use.

I guess its like with any med, gotta weigh the pros and the cons.

As I said, staying away from the foods that i'm allergic / sensitive to, taking Humira, those things help, but so does the prilosec.

I also drink a lot of ginger and mint herbal teas, ginger and mint both help as well.

Methylprednisone when I take it for flares also helps my stomach too.

Basically anything that lowers the inflammation and the prilosec.

But too, when I had a bunch of tests done in 1993, one of the test reports said that I produced too much acid, so maybe for me, maybe prilosec just lowers the acid to a "normal" level?

Hi Sue. At the risk of derailing this thread can you please tell me which things can be depleted by long term PPIs? I think I've seen mention of b12 and magnesium but are there others?

Thickening of the walls just means it looks inflammed.

Lulu I wish you the best. Don't worry until you know you have something to be worried about. It is hard enough dealing with disease without the stress. It sounds like a pretty normal result to me. I have thinning though from steroids instead of thickening.

Hugs.

PPIs have depleted iron for my husband. He has to take supplements now but it still doesn't help enough. Still low iron and hemoglobin.

Supplementing with HCl!?? I bet it hurt!!!!!!!!! Who told you to do that? If it's internet, then don't read anymore of it. Ever.

As for PPIs, if you take them while eating or taking pills, no need to wonder where the depletion comes from....!