24 and hurting. Crohn's is what I have.

[SageFaye]

So I am 24, I first went to the doctor when I was 20 with bleeding. Was told it was hemoroids and sent home. A month later I had been suffering from dizzy spells and more bleeding. Got a colonoscopy, they said it was colitis. They started treating me and it seemed to work. Still lots of blood, still diarrhoea but manageable. Fast forward to last year/this year. New town, new life, new job. Life was going good. I was happy, working, had everything I wanted. Then the bleeding started getting worse, and the bathroom trips got more frequent. Then I lost controls of my bowls. I went on myself in public for the first time, it just hit me and was done. The pain got so bad I couldn't move. Had to go to the hospital. 4 days, 7k later I was out. I had my first major flare up.

Life continues and I start a new job, it's going amazing, up for a promotion. Then it happens again. Flare up, vooooosh. Collapse at work, can barely move. In tears. Go to the hospital. Flare up confirmed but it looks odd, my meds should be working and nothing. Spend a week and the last of my savings. Lose my job while in the hospital. I should be fine, patched me up. See a doctor in three weeks. So my friend pays for and takes me a couple towns over for vacation. First week goes great second week. It starts to come back, the sharp pains. Heavy blood loss, constipation or rapid release, the lottery was there. Throwing up my food. We start to head back, have to stop ever half hour to an hour, making it to my current town to my gi doctor. She has me admitted. 2 weeks, a colonoscopy later.. I have Crohn's, mountain of debt, threat of bill collectors, depression, can't work cause the Crohn's is barely held back. Doing minimum daily stuff and already in pain again. (just left hospital most recently 3 days ago) Blood, stress, thoughts of suicide. No family around, scared, lost and unsure. Got denied for medicade and SSD. The state I live in isn't a big fan of handing it out. I don't know what to do... I can't sleep, I am loosing myself and I feel so... I just don't know...

I like video games, and reading, trying to learn programming. I write in my spare time and just try and enjoy what little happiness I can still find with all these stressors beating down on me. I go by Chase, if you read all this thanks for taking the time to listen.

 

[Jennifer]

Hi SageFaye and welcome to the forum!

I'm sorry to hear everything you went through and that you were basically ignored when you originally went to the doctor. Also sorry to hear about the miss diagnosis. It's happened to many members on the forum yet luckily you were diagnosed properly before your colon was removed (I've seen that mentioned on the forum quite a few times sadly when people are told they have Colitis but later learn that it's Crohn's). The treatments for both are quite different. Are you on any medications at all right now? Prednisone isn't the best for Crohn's but it works really fast, it's cheap and it can help get the inflammation under control for now while you work on getting another form of treatment. There are some programs out there that pay for medications for low income individuals (Remicade has Remistart and there's also the Johnson & Johnson Patient Assistance Foundation).

Hopefully you appealed Social Securities decision as they often tend to deny people their first time applying. Afidz also lives in Texas and has had difficulty getting treatment and has been denied a few times by Social Security yet things have started to get better for her. When she gets back in town from her trip I'm sure she'd be happy to talk to you about getting treatment/help in Texas.

For now what you could do is try a liquid diet to try and reduce some of your symptoms. Liquid diets are almost as effective as taking oral steroids but you need to make sure that you're also getting enough nutrition (there are supplement drinks out there or you could also make your own soups and mainly drink the broth). Always let your doctor know when you're going on a liquid diet.

Again welcome to the forum. I also like video games.

 

[lenny]

I'm sorry about your diagnosis and your financial troubles. Didn't know it was even legal to fire a sick employee after a week.

 

[Cross-stitch gal]

Hi and welcome to the forum! My goodness, I'm sorry to hear all you've been through. I can understand how embarrassing things can be. However, you're definitely not alone!!! Plus, there are many on here who can understand what you're going through and who you can talk to.

I want to invite you to check out our young adult support group. It does have a few of us in our 30's. But, it's mainly for those who are in their 20's. Two of my very good friends SarahBear and afidz are in there as well. There's some postings in there of what I've been through too. Here's the link to help.

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=57196

In the meantime. I encourage you to take a look around and feel free to pm me if you have any questions.
Cross-stitch

 

[DustyKat]

Hi SageFaye and :welcome:

I am so very sorry to hear of all you have been through and continue to go through.:ghug:

I am also sorry that I can’t offer any decent advice as I am not familiar with the health system there.

It is good you have found your way here as you will find loads of friendly and knowledgeable folk, many of whom that have faced what you are dealing with now.

I hope you are soon able to get your life back on track and please know you are no longer alone. Any questions don’t hesitate to ask. Good luck mate.

Dusty. xxx

 

[DJBHeat]

Welcome to the forum, so sorry about what you're going through . You came to the right place! Many of the people here have gone through similar situations so you have plenty of support. Like mentioned above, I would try a liquid diet. When I was going through flare ups I would do this and it worked wonders for me!

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Hi SageFaye, welcome to the forum. I'm so sorry to hear about everything you've been through recently. I wanted to concur with what Jennifer said - keep appealing SSD and Medicaid. A lawyer might also be able to help and I believe they don't take any payment until you get approved (I don't know much about this so hopefully someone else can provide more information than I can on this subject).

My point is, don't give up. And I mean that, not just with SSD, but with life in general as well. You mentioned having suicidal thoughts. I think a fair number of us have had thoughts like that, I know I have. It's really difficult to envision a good future for yourself when everything seems horrible and your health is so horrendous and you're in debt, I totally get that and I've been there too. But I just want to say, it can get better. remission is totally possible. It sounds like they haven't found the right med or combo of meds that works for you just yet - so keep trying. If your doctors don't know what to do with you or brush you off, find a new doctor. Just don't give up the fight. I know it's exhausting and frustrating at times and it's okay to want a break from all that, but don't give up. You're very young, and there may yet be a cure within your lifetime. They're doing some very interesting trials right now which seem to hold a lot of promise (for me, the stem cell trials give me a lot of hope - it's not a cure yet but it seems to put a lot of the participants into long-term remission). So I encourage you to read up on that sort of thing as that always gives me hope for the future.

Oh, and as for hospital bills - talk to the financial department at your hospital and see if you can fill out a form for financial aid. The first year I was ill, I racked up about $6000 in debt. Someone from the hospital told me about financial aid, and I filled out the form even though I didn't meet the qualifications (it said something like, you need to be like 500% below the poverty line and your medical debt needs to equal at least half your yearly household income - no, and no). I didn't think I'd get accepted, but I actually did - and they wiped out $6000 and suddenly I had a zero balance overnight. It was pretty wonderful and such a weight off my shoulders. So do try that, even if you don't think you qualify for their criteria. That could help alleviate some of your financial burden so that you can focus more on healing and getting into remission. Good luck and please keep us posted on how you're doing.

 

[araceli]

Welcome to the forum. Just my opinion. Don't worry about the money you owe at the hospital. If they call you tell, them your situation and don't promise any payments you can not make. If you are feeling sick go to the county hospital, they can not refuse to treat you. There should be some clinics in your town that work with low or no income people with little or no charge at all and they will help you. Ask in the churches in your area and they will let you know where you can go. As it was mention above SS in Texas is very hard to work with, get a layer. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.

 

[SarahBear]

Welcome to the forum, Chase!

I'm so, so sorry to hear what you're going through. It must be terrible and so incredibly frustrating. It definitely sounds as if the stress of your situation could be contributing to your symptoms, and that's a terrible cycle to be in.

Everyone above has given some great advice. Hopefully things will get settled down for you soon.

I hope you do check out the support group Cross-stitch has suggested.

:hug:

 

[SageFaye]

Thank you all for the kind words, knowing that there are others who are going through the same thing and that I have a safe place to go.

 

[Cross-stitch gal]

I'm glad to see you've found the young adult group! Feel free to look around in there and when you have the chance, maybe post in there too. Looking forward to seeing you around!