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Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS)

Digestive Health | Last Active: 2 days ago | Replies (1169)

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@astaingegerdm

@annief
Thank you for your kind words.
I’m very happy that you have recovered from your surgery!
When I first started my journey to find help for my abdominal symptoms I was a mess! Nothing made sense. Doctors locally could not help me so I went to Mayo Clinic. Even there they were confused, but knew something was wrong. Eventually, it turned out that I had two unusual problems. One was MALS and the other was an autoimmune unusual condition. I had the MALS surgery first and later I was treated for the autoimmune condition.
I was fine for some years until a couple of years ago when I thought the autoimmune illness was back. I guess it was a coincidence that MALS symptoms also returned.
I now have an amazing internist- he helps me plan what to do to get better. I tried another GI in a neighboring city, but it didn’t work out- ended up seeing PAs all the time.
My internist then referred me to another GI with excellent credentials- equals long waiting time. It was worth the wait- I just had an endoscopy. A few days before I had a vascular procedure to place another stent in the celiac artery- seems to work well.
My internist also referred me to this vascular surgeon.
As you see, I started over with new specialists.
If you have new GI symptoms try to find an excellent gastroenterologist. Do you have a primary care doctor that can help you search? Your best bet is to go to a university medical center. Many doctors, specialists too, don’t know much about MALS. They have to be able to know what might be new MALS symptoms vs other GI problems. For example, my new GI doctor recognized that many of my symptoms may clear up after the stent was placed. However, one symptom worried him and it did not belong in the MALS related symptoms. The concern was cancer, that’s why the endoscopy. Results good, still waiting for pathology.
I hope I have encouraged you to find new doctors, either by yourself or with a primary care doctor helping you.
Either way I think you should go to a university medical center- your best chance of finding competent specialists.
Let me know what you plan to do!

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Replies to "@annief Thank you for your kind words. I’m very happy that you have recovered from your..."

Thanks for the encouragement. Thankfully my GP was determined the first time around. I will still need her but I would like to get with an experienced team if I have to go down that road. Going out of state does not seem feasible for me financially. I’ll keep you posted.

The stent option sounds so encouraging. Just read on one of the FB groups of someone who is remarkably better after a stent. Is your still working? That sounds like such an easy solution compared to the surgeries. Did they go through your groin to do the stent? Had a colonoscopy yesterday and things could not look better. Cleared for another 10 years which is great news. But my symptoms are blamed on IBS. I have had IBS flares but not like this. So I will follow the doctors orders and see him in a month.