It's not lupus!
Posted on 01/03/2010 11:20:33 AM PST by nickcarraway
When doctors didn't give a Washington state high school student the answers she wanted, she took matters into her own hands.
Eighteen-year-old Jessica Terry, brought slides of her own intestinal tissue into her AP science class and correctly diagnosed herself with Crohn's disease. "It's weird I had to solve my own medical problem," Terry told CNN affiliate KOMO. "There were just no answers anywhere ... I was always sick."
For years she went from doctor to doctor complaining of vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss and stomach pains. They said she had irritable bowel syndrome. They said she had colitis. They said the slides of her intestinal tissue were fine, but she knew that wasn't right.
"Not knowing much about a disease you're growing up with is not only nerve-wracking, but it's confusing," Terry told the Sammamish Reporter.
So when local pathologists stopped in to teach students in her Biomedical Problems class how to analyze slides, the high school senior decided to give her own intestines a look.
What she found? A large dark area showing inflammation, otherwise known as a granuloma--a sure sign of the intestinal disease.
To confirm her suspicion, she checked in with her teacher.
"'Ms. Welch! Ms. Welch! Come over here. I think I've got something!" she shouted.
Mary Margaret Welch, who has spent 17 years teaching science at Eastside Catholic School, had a feeling Terry was on to something.
"I snapped a picture of it on the microscope and e-mailed it to the pathologist," Welch said. "Within 24 hours, he sent back an e-mail saying yes, this is a granuloma."
The finding impressed doctors.
"Granulomas are oftentimes very hard to find and not always even present at all," said Dr. Corey Siegel, a bowel disease specialist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. "I commend Jessica for her meticulous work." While Terry's glad to finally have answers, she now knows she'll have a tough road ahead.
Crohn's disease is an incurable, though treatable condition caused by inflammation in the intestines. It can cause malnutrition, ulcers, pain and discomfort. Still, she looks towards the future with optimism. She'll begin nursing school in the fall and hopes to have a kid's book on Crohn's disease published.
I correctly diagnosed myself with CRS.
what a gutsy thing to do.....and so young already.
It's not lupus!
What a girl! Great story to post! Especially since with rationed healthcare, we all might be sent home with slides to perform the analysis at home. Who needs steenkin’ doctors when the One is in charge?
I suppose she must have had the slides in her medical records at home from a previous biopsy, or more likely digital images?
Because getting a snippet of your own intestine is really gutsy.
Excellent pun!
Exactly how did she get samples of her intestines?
You have to credit tenthirteen for it. Intentionally or unintentionally
If "things" change you are on the track of Celiac or other gluten sensitivity problem. Once you pin that down you can get a gene test to see if you have the gene for Celiac ~ of course you could have any one of 11 other genes for Celiac for which there is no test (yet).
Celiac can also be associated with Autism (due to the victim having a thin intestinal wall ~ in whole or in part ~ which allows "leakage" into the blood stream.
Glad she caught that particular sympton though. Lot of these guys have been trained to not worry about it unless there's a lesion or glioma somewhere ~ and sometimes there's not.
I had to check the picture link to see if that was a picture of her. Apparently it is. Wow. Beauty and Brains.
Hope she goes far in the medical field. She can certainly think for herself. Her parents certainly raised a fine daughter, and have every right to be proud.
When I was in my early twenties I spent years going doctor to doctor telling me a certain pain I had that was debilitating was in my head. I never believed this and continued to pursue new opinions. It took two to three years to find the right doctor who immediately knew what I had, went in and did the surgery to get rid of the extensive connective tissue that had wrapped around my main nerve and compressed it and had caused my problem. This surgery changed my life forever because I no longer had to live with extraordinary pain.
I trusted my instincts and did my research, while keeping an open mind and realizing doctor's are just humans too. Sometimes really arrogant humans.
Another reason we don't need socialized medicine in this country.
Well I am no expert, but do you remember that guy at the County fair that swallows swords?
I don't have to explain any further do I, becasue it makes me kind of squeamish....
She will be thrown in jail for practicing medicine without a license, and failure to carry medical malpractice insurance!
Hypochondriacs everywhere are smiling.
Seriously.
There is a hereditary version called HFI - Hereditary Fructose Intolerance.
And there is what is today called Fructose Malabsorption. - AND in Europe there are indications that as many as 45% of caucasians have FA - although only about half exhibit any symptoms.
Anyway, the Mayo Clinic is concerned that so few people have any understanding of Fructose Malabsorption - because IF it is the reason behind a persons IBS, even life long symptoms can disappear if one eats meat/fish and rice/potatoes/cornmeal for a week or so....
Last year at some point the American Dietic Association OR the American Journal of Nutrition --- some biggie ol' journal that all the professional dieticians subscribe to, did their ENTIRE ISSUE on FRUCTOSE --- because even the professionals are clueless as to its impact on susceptible individuals and it's strong association with gout & obesity & diabetes.
AND NO -- I mean FRUCTOSE, I'm not talking about the HFCS, although of course high fructose corn syrup becomes a "no no," too. I mean the fructose that almost everybody believes is "easy" to digest, and which dieticians USED to tell their diabetic clients to use in baking.
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