Gastritis

We finally, possibly, have discovered something wrong. I met with the GI clinic’s PA about 2 weeks ago, a really pleasant person who was very helpful, considerate, and understanding. A week ago, at his suggestion, I had an EGD (the prep was so much better this time around), and I called today to see if the results were back. I couldn’t hear the receptionist too well when she gave me the results—only really picking out the word “negative”—but she said that the PA wanted me to schedule a follow-up appointment and some additional blood work, so I did.

Fast forward to 15 minutes later, when I checked the mail and—lo and behold—a letter from the clinic with my scoping and biopsy results. I actually read the first sentence of the letter wrong, and thought that once again, everything was negative—force of habit. After reading halfway through, however, I learned that they did discover chronic gastritis in my stomach mucosa (stomach lining).

It took me reading the sentence over a few times before I finally understood that it was not a negative result again. The biopsies showed that I am negative for h. Pylori, so there’s no bad bacteria swimming around in there. There’s nothing going on in the section of the small intestine that they scoped either, so it’s all just in the gastric region. The letter outlines a couple of more tests that they need to do at my follow-up appointment as well, just to rule out more bacterial issues. It also mentioned that, although it was a long shot, I did not test positive for celiac either, so praise the Bread Gods for that.

I did a little bit of research, but have decided that I will just wait to talk with the PA about treatment courses. He mentioned at our appointment that we would likely end up building a new diet for me, to help with symptom control and now, I guess, inflammation as well. Even if this ends up being just part of the overall problem, I’m glad we finally have something to work with.