(Don’t read this if you’re eating. I mean it – you have been warned.)
OK, today I finished taking the comprehensive digestive stool analysis (CDSA) test, which checks for little bugs and beasties like unfriendly bacteria and parasites. And it was pretty unpleasant.
Basically, you get a home test kit, and then you have to collect ‘samples’ over three consecutive days. This involves pooping into a small cardboard tray, and then using a little spoon to collect samples of the poop. You place the samples in a small plastic tube which contains some preservative liquid, and you stir the mixture with the spoon. Then you shake the mixture to make sure it has dissolved (I did warn you about the eating thing. Did you think I was kidding? Oh no).
You then write your name on the tubes, put them in plastic bags and send them off in a jiffy envelope to the lab.
As I say it was rather gross, but at least it’s done now and I can wait for the good bit – getting the results. And I also know that if I am ever in a situation where my life depends on my ability to poop into a small cardboard tray, I shall be sorted.
7 responses so far ↓
1 EJ // Feb 7, 2006 at 3:04 am
Hey Sophie, hang in there! I’ve suffered from IBS for five years and I know the hell it can be. Thankfully i only get irregular episodes and can only imagine how hard it must be to deal with it every day. I read one of your blogs about losing some of your friends, people just can’t appreciate what its like but if they themselves could feel the pain and the cramping they’d understand why u cant always be cheerful. It so cool how you can be so positive, hope your tests help to resolve your situation a bit
EJ XXX
2 TW // Feb 7, 2006 at 8:59 pm
I hate those collecting sorts of tests. Really hate them.
3 Robert Phillips // Feb 8, 2006 at 7:33 am
I have completed that test 6 times (6 different Doctors). I had a lot of trouble trying to find a Doc that believed that I have IBS. They kept telling me it was my diet or my imagination, until I had an internist do an exam on one of my bad days of which there are lots. What he saw was enough for him to write a large report on my condition and attach it permanently to my Med. File; Finally!! Nopw if I could just get taxation Canada to accept it, I would have a complete circle.
RP
4 Marilyn // Feb 12, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Hi Sophie – Had this done several times – many years ago, I had it done at the Mayo Clinic and the results were negative, but I was given a course of Flagyl anyway, just in case they “missed” anything! I almost wanted them to find some “beasties” so I could put an end to it once and for all.
Back when I did the test, they called the “collecting device” a top hat! But basically it was just a margarine type plastic tub… I kept thinking to myself, the poor lab technician!
Hang in there Sophie – ((HUGS)) to you. xx
5 Sophie Lee // Feb 12, 2006 at 11:00 pm
Hi guys – thanks very much for the support. I really hated doing this test, I’m so glad it’s over. Hi Marilyn – I didn’t know you read my little blog! I’m with you on the ‘hope they find something’ front, but we’ll soon find out. And I thought the same thing about the poor lab technician. However much I hated collecting my own excrement for three days, at least I don’t have to go into work and open little jars of OTHER PEOPLE’s poop. That cannot be a good job…
6 shoni // Mar 30, 2006 at 8:14 am
Hi. Robert, you said they gave you Flagyl. I’m out in South Korea and my stomach has been on the fritz since I got out here. Some of it, like the spasms, are IBS-I think. I’ve pretty much got that under control for now. But my main problem at the moment….is gas. I dont think It’s milk induced. It just seems to come no matter what I do. Anyways, I have flagyl but I’m worried about it upsetting my intestinal flora even more than it probably already is. How did it affect you?
Anyone have any thoughts?
7 Judith // Jul 12, 2006 at 6:34 pm
Hello, I have been reading your post about cdsa, and I wonder where you get it. I am trying to find a way to do it too, and I have no insurance and no doctor. I have hashimoto hypothyroidism, and I found an article that with that test I can find a type of virus that could be the cause of this chronice desease. I hope you can send me the info to my private email. I really appreciate your help.
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