Inflammatory Bowel?

Bertrand looking enthusiastic.

"You poke my belly and now you want to do WHAT to my butt?!"

At Bertrand's GI appointment today, the doctor told us to stop his medication ursodiol/actigall because his liver enzymes have normalized. (Bertrand was on 180mg 3 times a day for over a year and a half.) At the follow-up appointment in 6 months, if Bertrand's liver enzymes have risen again, he will reinstate the ursodiol. But for now, that's one less medication! Yippee!

Also, Bertrand's faecal calprotectin test came back elevated. This usually calls for a colonoscopy. But, because this test has some false positives and the colonoscopy is a sedated procedure, the doctor ordered a repeat of the test, which is just a fecal sample. The reason this test was ordered in the first place was to check for inflammatory bowel (not to be confused with irritable bowel). The bowel is where many vitamins are absorbed, and chronic inflammation interferes with vitamin absorption. Causes could be anything from Crohn's disease (not likely) to metabolic disorder (duh), so now that's on the table. Fingers crossed for a normal result!

P.S. - Bertrand's weight is much better but the doctor still wants him to lose more. :(