Colonoscopy during bowel inflammation

I had multiple colonoscopies while having active Ulcerative Colitis/Crohn's Disease without incident. Also my sister, also my brother (inflammatory bowel disease "runs in families" and it definitely runs in mine).

It appears that the GI doctor thinks your symptoms are concerning enough to do both types of tests in order to make a diagnosis. While you can have other types of studies and images, they can't get a biopsy. For some conditions - like inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, diverticulitis, and others - you need to have a biopsy for diagnosis. For some things, like colon polyps, the polyp can be removed before it develops into something.

You definitely want a doctor who does a lot of these procedures to do yours, and that would be a GI doctor. You would certainly want a definitive diagnosis before starting any kind of treatment, traditional or functional. You may want to be treated by a functional medicine doctor once you know what is going on, but I expect they would also need to know what you have for effective treatment.

Thank you so much for the info. I really need to find out what’s going on, so I guess I had better follow through. If I don’t, I’m going to starve to death anyway, so I guess the risk is worth it. Again, thanks for letting me know that you have experienced that and it was okay. I’m sorry you have to go through this - it runs in my family also, but I seem to have it the worst, although my grandfather died of colon cancer. Take care.

I have IBS-D so always have GI inflammation, but I still have both upper endoscopy and colonoscopies. My grandson who has Crohns also has had both even during a flare up.

@blessedwildapplegirl
I don’t think it is a problem getting an endoscopy and colonoscopy with inflammation. That is exactly why you need it done. They need to see with a scope what is going on in the lining of your esophagus/stomach/duodenum and colon. They will biopsy some cells/tissue to test for abnormalities or infection. I have had both done and was able to learn I had erosions in my esophagus and stomach (esophagitis and gastritis which is inflammation) due to taking to many NSAIDs (Motrin, Advil, etc.) for pain. I was told to stop taking or reduce significantly and take omeprazole to reduce stomach acid.

I don’t think they would recommend these procedures if they weren’t needed to properly diagnose you.

@blessedwildapplegirl
Also keep in mind the endoscopy and colonoscopy are lower risk procedures than some and having too many CT scans exposes you to a lot of radiation which wouldn't be good for your abdomen.

When I had my first colonoscopy (early 40s), they found a polyp and removed it which made me really glad I had it done early. My grandfather also had colon cancer and died.

Sorry you are going through this. BUT, yes you must heave the inflammation in control to have the colonoscopy and take what they give you to get it in control before you have it.
At least they can check through blood test to make sure it is good before procedure.