Hi. My name is Paul - 36 years old. I was just officially diagnosed with crohn's in November. I have been lurking on this site for awhile and have learned a lot. Here is my saga:
I have mainly been battling peri-anal crohn's. It all started with my first anal fissure in 2005. I tried all the conservative treatments - high fiber, ointments, nitro paste, etc. to heal it. I got the thing healed to the point where it was bearable and lived that way for many years. I got another fissure in the fall of 09. That is what finally pushed me into having surgery.
So in Jan 2010 I went in for a lateral internal sphincterotomy (LIS) to treat the chronic fissure. The first thing I heard from the surgeon when I woke up was "Do you have a family history of crohn's?" Nope. He also removed a skin tag, cleaned both fissures up(fissurotomy), and he found a shallow fistula that he layed open. To say the least recovery from this was not fun. He was worried about crohn's after he got a good look at my fissures since they looked more like ulcers. He thought I had peri-anal crohn's. He told me 2-5% of people only have crohn's isolated to that region. I have never had the typical GI symptoms. My CRS took a wait and see approach with things at this point.
September 2010 I had an abscess that I suffered with for about 3 weeks before I finally got it drained. My CRS found another fistula. This time it involved about half the sphincter muscle. A draining seton was installed. And he referred me to a GI doc this time since he was now 97% sure I had crohn's.
The GI finally performed a colonoscopy in Nov - my first. He found my ileocecal valve showed signs of chronic inflammation. I do get mild abdominal pains in that area. So that kind of explained it. They diagnosed me with "mild" crohn's since it is localized - peri-anal region and the valve.
I started Azathioprine - not a lot of fun so far. The main goal is to try to the fistula to close. I also have another fissure that isn't to bad. They may add remicade to the mix in the near future.
Well that is my story. Basically battling peri-anal disease with mild GI symptoms. I have really learned a lot so far from reading this site and hope to learn more as I begin my journey into treatment with medication.
-Paul
I have mainly been battling peri-anal crohn's. It all started with my first anal fissure in 2005. I tried all the conservative treatments - high fiber, ointments, nitro paste, etc. to heal it. I got the thing healed to the point where it was bearable and lived that way for many years. I got another fissure in the fall of 09. That is what finally pushed me into having surgery.
So in Jan 2010 I went in for a lateral internal sphincterotomy (LIS) to treat the chronic fissure. The first thing I heard from the surgeon when I woke up was "Do you have a family history of crohn's?" Nope. He also removed a skin tag, cleaned both fissures up(fissurotomy), and he found a shallow fistula that he layed open. To say the least recovery from this was not fun. He was worried about crohn's after he got a good look at my fissures since they looked more like ulcers. He thought I had peri-anal crohn's. He told me 2-5% of people only have crohn's isolated to that region. I have never had the typical GI symptoms. My CRS took a wait and see approach with things at this point.
September 2010 I had an abscess that I suffered with for about 3 weeks before I finally got it drained. My CRS found another fistula. This time it involved about half the sphincter muscle. A draining seton was installed. And he referred me to a GI doc this time since he was now 97% sure I had crohn's.
The GI finally performed a colonoscopy in Nov - my first. He found my ileocecal valve showed signs of chronic inflammation. I do get mild abdominal pains in that area. So that kind of explained it. They diagnosed me with "mild" crohn's since it is localized - peri-anal region and the valve.
I started Azathioprine - not a lot of fun so far. The main goal is to try to the fistula to close. I also have another fissure that isn't to bad. They may add remicade to the mix in the near future.
Well that is my story. Basically battling peri-anal disease with mild GI symptoms. I have really learned a lot so far from reading this site and hope to learn more as I begin my journey into treatment with medication.
-Paul
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