Michael Silpa

Since being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis 30 years ago, I have seen dozens of GI docs. In the 1980s I participated in a trial at UCSF, with Dr. Cello, of Pentasa, which is a non-​steroid anti inflammatory oral drug used to treat ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s diseases, which are both inflammatory and had required steroids (like prednisone) to keep under control. Pentasa (literally 5-​Amino salacylic acid, which is close to asprin) has no side effects and can be taken in doses up to 4 grams per day.
For years I was stable on Pentasa. Things to flare up occasionally. The problem is that it works so well, that after five years on Pentasa, when you have a colonoscopy, it looks like you never had ulcerative colitis. Many docs assume you never had it and start talking about irritable bowel syndrome. Ulcerative Colitis is an easy diagnosis, and very obvious when seen through the scope. No one will diagnose you with ulcerative colitis if you don’t have it. m
Now Docs seem know that Pentasa and other drugs like it can erase the long term effects of inflammation, which prednisone could never do.
I started seeing Dr Silpa and he agreed to take me on — I have a complicated medical situation. He is very organized and focused during your appointment, and the upside to this is that he runs on time. He has to run on time because he has to perform procedures often and doesn’t want t o be late. He has an agenda and goes through it so nothing will be left out. He is open to suggestions. His solutions are reasonable. He may be less of a warm-​fuzzy doc, but I appreciate his respect for your time and his time. His assistant, Nicole, is awesome. I even saw him in his Alameda office once. I have seen so many GI docs and I like Dr. Silpa a lot. Good communication. Good ideas. Respectful of your time.

Was incredibly grateful when the doc squeezed me in as an urgent patient, but after waiting a week in urgency and terror, the doc cancelled my appt because I’m running 10 min late. For a regular appt, sure! but an urgent one right before the weekend? Give me a break! We all know how public transit works in the bay. Have a little empathy and wait 10 minutes to start your weekend, doc. Trust me, if I had another option right now, I’d be rescheduling to see someone else. Beyond disappointed.

Dr. Silpa was my GI for a very short period of time when I first moved back to the East Bay. I came to him when I was going through another Ulcerative Colitis flare and he preformed an endoscopy/​colonoscopy on me to see what was going on. The results came back as a-​okay and he took it as me not having UC, rather than the copious amounts of steroids I was on knocking me into remission. He never looked at the previous sonogram or colonoscopy results that I had done prior that said I had UC, but instead went with the results of one he preformed.
He diagnosed me with IBS and took me off all my UC medications except for one, not that it matters. I went through terrible Prednisone withdrawals, due to a very fast taper, dropping 10mg every week (which made me feel like my heart was going to explode and like I was dying since my body wasn’t producing cortisone anymore.) On top of taking me off of all my UC medications, he scheduled my next appointment FOUR MONTHS later. I guess he must of thought it was all in my head.
Right after our last appointment, I got a second opinion with another GI in the area. She did a blood test that checks if you either have Ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s and guess what? Right there in black and white: IBD test is consistent with Ulcerative colitis. I’m in the midst of another flare now and I have no idea what would have happened if I was still under Dr. Silpa’s «care».
I am so sick of these doctors treating me as a «hysterical female» and writing me off. It’s absolutely disgusting. Just because I don’t look sick and can handle myself, doesn’t mean I’m not suffering.

So far, so good. After 10 years of minor gastro problems, it finally got to an acute stage. Only my first visit, but he ordered tests that seem thorough and appropriate (according to my vast Googling on the matter).
So far so good, and he has a decent sense of humor, which is a big plus to me.

Have to give him props for being professional and not wasting a lot of my time. Dr Silpa told me that he didn’t feel comfortable treating me because of my extensive and complexed medical history.
I wish he would have told me on the phone when I made the phone call and saved me a week of waiting to see a doctor when I could have gone else where.