23 Years old and diagnosed for 1 year.

[rickcash26]

Hi, everyone. Noticed that I should make a "Your Story" post so figured I will go ahead and do that. I've had Crohn's diagnosed for little over a year but have had complications for almost 8-9 years. When I was a freshman in High School I started experiencing horribly painful stomach pains, diarrhea, bloody stool, vomiting, and everything food wise seemed unappetizing. Went to the several hospitals, several times, and noone could tell me anything. They tried to tell me it was IBS. Gave me some temporary perscriptions and after a month or two of taking it, my symtoms went into remission. After that I only had a handful of outbreaks and nothing too bad to require a hospital visit. Fastforward to 08/2010 and I began experiencing the extremely painful stomach pains, diarrhea, and vomiting again. Put up with it for a few weeks then decided to find a G.I. Dr. inwhich he started doing mulitple tests to determine what was going on on the inside. Then one morning I woke up with excrutiating pain in my abdominal area and was rushed to the hospital from hurting so horrible. A CT Scan later determined my intestines were littered with perferated holes and that fecal matter was leaking into my body. Tried treating with antibiotics with no results and about a week later(all of which I stayed in the hospital) I was rushed into surgery for an emergency Laparotomy/partial Colectomy and removed 2-3 feet of perferated intestines. After that I spent another week and a half in the hospital recovering and have been good ever since. Was put on the Humira Injectable Pen. Been taking it for about 6 months but I have been on 0 medication for about 3 months now and I am starting to get moderate pain in my left and right abdominal area. Not a big fan of my current G.I. Dr. So I have found a new one today and will be making an appt to see him tomorrow morning. This is my story

 

[Crohn's Mom]

Hi Rick and welcome

Sure sounds like you have really been through a lot.
Im curious as to why you stopped taking Humira if it was working so well? Was it for financial reasons, or did you GI suggest it ?

 

[rickcash26]

Hi Rick and welcome

Sure sounds like you have really been through a lot.
Im curious as to why you stopped taking Humira if it was working so well? Was it for financial reasons, or did you GI suggest it ?

Thanks and yes I have but I am sure many on here have had similarly horrible experiences as well.

I stopped taking Humira because of financial reasons. I was taking it for the 4 months left in 2010 and never recieved a bill then when the new year started I was getting my shipments every month for the first 3-4 months. Then the pharmacy called saying I had an outstanding balance due, I proceeded to tell them I have never recieved any bill for anything. Once I finally recieved a bill I owed almost $1800.00 and told them I couldn't pay it in full and I could make monthly payments. I've been sending monthly payments ever since and they refuse to send me my perscription until I pay the amount in full. I told my G.I. about this and was told he would look into it, never heard back and that was 3 months ago. The G.I. I was seeing, as you can probably tell, am not very happy with and the lack of communication between him and me is what prompted me to look for a new G.I. Dr.

 

[xJillx]

Welcome to the forum, Rick! It's such a shame you had to stop taking Humira. It sounds like it was working for you. Do you have insurance or is $1800 your co-pay?

I hope your appointment with your new GI goes well today. Hopefully, he can put you in the right direction as to where you can get some assistance with covering your medication.

 

[rickcash26]

$1600 is my co-pay. I called my GI today and had to get permission to transfer and scheduled an appointment for Wednesday. Thanks for the welcomes everyone.