ERCPs, SCALPELS, and EAGER DOCS

[Guest guest]

, once you have dipped into the well of good information here, read

THE AMAZING LIVER CLEANSE (by s Moritz) cover-to-cover, and

then done a bit of the cleansing you will understand the insanity of jerking out

GBs willy-nilly. Probably only a few thousand people per year should actually

have the surgery, the other 490,000 per year should have counseling,

nutritional advice, lifestyle advice, and good medical care. Of course, the

patient needs to WANT to get better and needs to be willing to ACCEPT

CHANGES FOREVER otherwise they will have to settle for this crude,

antiquated, inadequate and violent option. Poor devils.

Before the situation changes, doctors would also have to get a better

education and become somehow divorced from the quick profits of

surgerizing everything that walks in the door. The gastro-enterologists and

surgeons I've met only know one " solution " to all problems. C-U-T. I have yet

to meet one who knows anything about nutrition, cleansing, dissolving, or

even basic physiology. My latest GE doc told me, and this is 2004 (!!), that I

" was lucky to be sick in one of the many 'extra organs' we have, such as the

appendix and the gall bladder, that basically have no purpose " . She explained

several other cockamamie notions about bile flow to me that haven't been

taught in medical school since the '40's, if ever! RUN AWAY!!

I'm not against the ERCP technology per se, they were just proposing doing it

to me at the wrong time. I was clearly not blocked on day 3 as one could

accurately deduce by the blood tests. Had they thought of doing the

procedure when I first came into the ER --very likely to be blocked-- I would

have said " bring it on " . God knows why they blew that opportunity. Perhaps

because it was 2 am on a weekend? Ha ha ha.

The ERCP is a modern invention that saves lives when used properly. Before

this instrument, the doctors had to slice you open to see inside. Here's the

basics as I understand it, the gastroscopic tube is passed down your gullet

under light anesthesia and it has a small light and camera to diagnose, as

well as various Swiss Army gizmos and grabbers to nip, snip, stent, or,

hopefully pluck out whatever ails you. The devise is moved mechanically by

the GE doc from the outside like they are running a video game. It's sort of

like colonoscopy only they get to look at patients FACES all day.

Here's the DOWN SIDE for the victim, I mean, patient, though:

!) All patients risk the chance of a perforated intestine, bile duct or gall

bladder from damage done by moving the instrument around. They told me I

had an inflammed system and therefore had a much greater chance of

perforation, about a 1:5 chance! Super bad odds if you ask me. Perforations

oftentimes require surgery to patch things up and you could end up with

peritonitis or dead. Wait till you read the list of " fine print " in the surgical

release. Yipes!

2) They almost always snip the sphincter of Oddi on their way in

(sphincterotomy) telling you that's a " good thing " and will make things " flow

better " . If you read back in our archives you will find some nightmarish stories

of people who have been snipped and have lost sphincter control and worse.

It's like letting the camel's nose into the tent, and you could be on your way

to

many more surgeries.

3) It's expensive. I don't have insurance and I pay for every pill, shot or box

of

kleenex with hard-earned bucks. This sucker costs several thousand bucks

and I'll only get one if I'm sure I need it.

4) I don't like sedation or anesthesia if I can avoid it and I certainly don't

want

a big hose crammed down my throat. Call me silly, that's just me.

5) The gastroscope can only go so far and certainly can't get up into the bile

ducts to see what may be lodged way up there. Sometimes they can't get into

the common bile duct at all. Bummer.

6) Unless the GE doc does 500-1000 of these procedures a year or more,

there is a great chance of failure or clumsy, bumbling damage. My last GE

said she used to do 120-150 per year and enjoyed doing them but hung it up

because she didn't have the chops. (at least she was honest with me!). Now

3 GEs here travel around and do ALL the ERCPs for every hospital in our

metro area of 4 million GBs. Those guys are sharp, pray for someone like this

if you have to be 'scoped.

Thanks for reading along, this is how I see it here, your results may vary.

Will in Minneapolis