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Maybe I was misunderstood—my suggestion was simply that if someone is dealing with abdominal pain, we should probably start with the less invasive methods before jumping straight to the most intense procedures. Since the pains were described as being essentially identical, I thought it made sense. Plus, providing a stool sample isn't exactly a major ordeal, is it? If that comes back clear and doesn't show any parasites, then I'd suggest moving on to more comprehensive testing, especially since those results are usually ready within a day or two anyway.
I'll try to keep this brief—I went through a similar ordeal myself with stomach pains and irregular bowel movements, sometimes going three times a day, sometimes normal, but the abdominal pain was constant. It led to a whole marathon of tests: procedures like rectoscopies, colonoscopies, and gastroscopies... they were looking for everything from colon cancer and stomach ulcers to Crohn's disease. Honestly, if I tried to list every single thing they suspected, we’d be here all day at the Mayo Clinic. To make a long story short, I ended up being perfectly healthy, yet the pain just kept getting worse. I can't even describe how hungry and exhausted I felt from all those endless investigations. Then, an internist I saw privately suggested I send a stool sample over to Star. Interestingly, I had already submitted the exact same sample to my local Labcorp back home, and they found absolutely nothing. But once I took it to Star, they actually discovered something. I guess the reason I'm telling you this is because I was feeling too lazy to drive all the way to Washington, D.C., and the labs near me just couldn't find anything—likely because their equipment isn't quite up to par. Yet, at Star, they miraculously found Lamblie parasites. I had to go through the outpatient process where they give you a collection cup, you take some saline laxatives, head straight to the restroom, and then hand the sample back to the nurse—I did that three times before they confirmed the parasites. The point is, I feel like I went through the diagnostic process in reverse order. With symptoms like yours, you really ought to rule out parasites first before jumping to much more serious diagnoses. You wouldn't believe the kind of pain those tiny little monsters can cause in your gut, your intestines, or even your stomach. I truly hope things turn out for the best for you. Best, fadedmoose11. PS—I forgot the most important part: a round of antibiotics fixed everything, and now I feel like a new person.