Re: Infection from a colonoscopy

From: Howard McCollister (nospam_at_nospam.net)
Date: 03/08/05 

Date: 7 Mar 2005 21:51:05 -0600

"Bob Jones" <no-email@bogus-address.com> wrote in message
news:oj3Xd.11344$5T6.1892@bignews4.bellsouth.net...
> "Mark & Steven Bornfeld" <bornfeldmung@dentaltwins.com> wrote in message
> news:SD2Xd.94743$QS5.19957@trndny06...
>> Bob Jones wrote:
>>
>> > If I got an infection from a colonoscopy, how long would it take for me
> to
>> > see the symptoms?
>> >
>> > I'm a 40 year old healthy male... A few weeks ago I had a colonoscopy
>> > to
>> > investigate some blood I was seeing in my stool. I didn't have any
> other
>> > symptoms at the time. The procedure supposedly went fine and I was
>> > told
>> > that I was the proud owner of some (bleeding) hemorroids.
>> >
>> > About 3 weeks after the procedure I noticed that my stool was getting
>> > harder, it was sometimes (mildly) painful, and the frequency that I had
> to
>> > go increased. I kind of ignored it until a week later when I began
> having
>> > sharp pains in my lower abdomin. I was also having to urinate and
>> > empty
> my
>> > bowels frequently and if I strained, it was painful. There was
> definitely
>> > something going on down there. So.... I went to my doc - his best
>> > guess
> was
>> > that I had a case of Prostatitis so he put me on 500mg Cipro twice a
>> > day
> and
>> > wanted to see me again in 2 weeks.
>> >
>> > My appointment is tomorrow. The abdominal pain has gone away, but I
> still
>> > have to poop and pee very frequently. Also, unlike 2 weeks ago, I'm
>> > experiencing some pretty major pain any time I take a dump or pass gas.
> I
>> > haven't had any other symptoms like blood in my urine, a fever, pain
>> > ejaculating or any of the other things you commonly read about.
>> >
>> > I'm asking this question here because I'm not entirely convinced that
>> > my
>> > primary doc would point the finger at one of his colleagues... It juest
>> > seems terribly coincidental that all these problems are happening on
>> > the
>> > heels of having the colonoscopy.
>> >
>> >
>>
>> I'm sure Dr. McCollister would respond, but to me 3 weeks later is not
>> "on the heels of" the colonoscopy. On the heels of would be over the
>> next couple of days.
>> Have you had any suggestive symptoms in the intervening 3 weeks?
>
> The first symptoms I noticed began 3 weeks after the colonoscopy.
> Everything was fine until then.
>
>

Do you have diverticulitis? 40 years old is not the most common age group
for that, but it's certainly possible, and if so, is not likely to be
related to the colonoscopy.What were the results of the urine culture? Blood
in stool? Mucus? White blood cell count elevated? Do you have abdominal
tenderness? And if so, where?

I can't think what infection you might have contracted from a colonscopy,
especially where the symptoms show up three weeks later.

HMc