"Took me a while to work it all out. I researched the hell out it and pretty quickly felt like I knew more about IBD than the specialists, especially how the di

"Took me a while to work it all out. I researched the hell out it and pretty quickly felt like I knew more about IBD than the specialists, especially how the disease manifested in me." Exactly this... doing this was the only way that I found any solace. In all of the confusion, I decided that I had to become nearly as educated as the doctors I was talking to. I didn't have to be an expert in the disease, but I did have to be an expert in "how it manifested in me" (great way of putting that). After that, my discussions with doctors were so much more productive. My 20-30 minutes with a specialist wasn't spent on them explaining to me what I had, I already knew that part. We instead got to spend it on insightful discussions of treatment options, side effects, risks, and contingency plans. That was when I felt like I finally had some control in the matter. I'm sorry you were treated so skeptically as a hypochondriac, I fortunately never had to deal with that. (I think it's because all of my GIs saw me at my worst at some point) I hope you stay healthy.