I tried it all: diets, medication, therapies. But nothing relieved the pain

As told to Faigy Peritzman

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ou don’t know me, but I’m a very polite and respectful person. Standing up for myself isn’t my strong point. I was raised to think that people in the medical field know it all, and if a doctor says something, you do as he suggests because he knows best.

But I’ve learned the hard way that this doesn’t always work.

As a teen, I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. By the time I reached high school, I was in the borderline gray zone for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, with some complications that needed to be taken care of surgically.

Thus began a very long medical journey.

I live in Canada where there’s universal healthcare. There are long waiting lists to be seen by a specialist. In my case, I even had to deal with personal issues between two medical professionals (who shared offices in the same building), who would let out their frustrations on me, the patient stuck in the middle. One even told me, “Go back to Dr. So and So. He got you into this mess.” Subjected to such ridiculous byplays affected my health and overall wellbeing.

A few months after graduating high-school, I experienced the culture shock of transitioning from the children’s hospital to the adult hospital where the care and nursing ratio was very different. My pediatric gastroenterologist referred me to a colorectal surgeon.

Just a few months earlier, at the children’s hospital, the staff surgeon of the gastroenterology team tried to avoid subjecting me to surgery by performing a non-invasive surgical procedure — sclerotherapy injections into my intestines — but they left me with long-term nerve and muscle damage.

At the consultation in the adult hospital, the colorectal surgeon informed me that the procedure I’d undergone is actually one designated for toddlers, whose muscles are still developing, and that after that age, it’s considered to be harmful. In her words, “They botched you up.”