Should I get the rest?

[Lemonslemonslemons]

Hi folks, longtime HA sufferer here…

I’ve been having some abdominal discomfort for a couple of months. Not pain per se, just pressure and bloating/gas and hyperactive digestion. I’ve tried a lot - digestive enzymes (I don’t have a gallbladder), peppermint, diet modifications, etc. Still working on managing anxiety and stress. Finally saw the Gi nurse yesterday (my MD is on vacation) she recommended increasing fiber and taking omeprazole… so I was a bit discouraged. I had a colonoscopy in Sept. I’m high risk (lots of polyps and adenomas on my index so I have to go back every 3 years… follow revealed another high risk polyp). Nurse ordered endoscopy but first available was end of December. I mentioned my concern this could be pancreas and she did Lipase blood work which she wrote me was “stable”. She said we could do a CT. I dismissed it because I’ve had an abdominal CT years ago when I was having issues with my gallbladder (that was just what the MD ordered-wasn’t health anxiety related). I’m worried about the radiation if this is in fact my HA. I couldn’t sleep last night worrying now that this is actually stomach or colon cancer. Read a ton of journal articles last night about how much higher my risk is since I’ve had both colon and stomach polyps. Now I kind of want to get the CT. In part because I’m freaking out and also because waiting until end of December if something is wrong seems awful. But again, I’m not in pain. I have some worrisome symptoms (loose stools for 2 months now) but I know how anxiety impacts that as well. I feel like I’ve put an expiration date on myself and I’m losing my mind (39 female for reference… married with 2 young children). So I’m torn… if there was no radiation risk, I would absolutely get the CT. But receiving radiation just to put my fears to bed (hopefully) seems irresponsible even though I am truly concerned about my symptoms. In total, I’ve had 2 CTs of my head/neck and 1 of my abdomen. Am I arranged in wanting to do the CT or is this just my ugly HA taking over?

[Deepseathree]

Everything in medicine comes with risks. But the procedures, medicines, etc are weighed against the risk of not getting the treatment. If the medical professionals think a CT may be warranted then I don’t see a problem against it. But will getting a CT out your worries aside or will it just divert you anxiety to something else?

From a radiation standpoint you’re still pretty low. There is a website that you can put in your CT info and see how much it raises your chance of cancer. Your chance probably doesn’t even change a percent with the small amount of testing you’ve had. At the height of my anxiety I’ve had way more than you. Some warranted and some not. I’m in the double digits. I wouldn’t put too much worry into the test if you feel like it’s something you need.

[ErinKC]

If I was in your position I would probably just get the CT. The chances it's something serious are low, but it's not unreasonable for you to get it to assuage your fears. I would not worry terribly about the radiation. I've had 7 CT scans I believe (I'm 40) because of true health problems (fibroids, emergency surgery, etc...) I've done a lot of research on the radiation and corresponding risks and years ago read an extensive piece explaining that all the data used to predict the increased risk of cancer from CT scans is derived from studies of people exposed to high levels of radiation all at one time (like after Hiroshima, etc...). But, researchers suspect that there's actually a major difference in one huge dose of radiation and many tiny ones over long periods of time. The latter allows the body to repair itself from any damage done so there is likely not a compounding effect. Because there is no actual data on people who go on to have cancer after getting many scans, the predictions are merely extrapolations and modeling, not hard evidence.