Are there common early symptoms?

[sloshywalnut]

34 years old, started seeing blood and mucus in stool 4 months ago. Colonoscopy and MRI showed inflammation, doc suspects crohns. Tried antibiotics. Still bleeding.

Im confused because I'm almost positive this entire experience was stress induced so I'm still having trouble coming to grips it is Crohns since my symptoms seem mild.

So my question for those with crohns, what were your earliest symptoms? Did it progress? And what was the timeline of the progression?

I'm trying to see how much time I should try self healing through diet and stress relief before panicking...it might be too late for the panicking

 

[Katrina77]

Hi! Thanks for sharing your story! Stress can definitely cause you flare up or get your symptoms worse with anything really. I'm not officially diagnosed with Crohn's but I'm still under suspicion and have been diagnosed with RA.

Last year when the docs were suspecting it, they gave me a light steroid to try out, called Entocort to see if that helps at all. And it just made a huge difference and I was feeling great. So maybe you should ask your doc about that?

Self treating through diet and stress relief is not always good, cause you don't wanna wait if you really have Crohn's. The sooner you start the treatment, then more you can guarantee that your mild Crohn's won't turn into a moderate or severe case. It's always good to try to heal yourself naturally but there is medication out there that's very light and could help your situation not to become worse over the years.

I still try to stay away from stress and junk food cause that's what causes my RA flares and my abdominal pain. So it's definitely good to also heal yourself with a diet and stress relief at the same time with medication.

 

[sloshywalnut]

What is RA?

 

[ronroush7]

Rheumatoid arthritis.

 

[scottsma]

Mine began with blood and mucus too.I was dx'd with Proctitis 11yrs ago,(inflammation in the rectum area) and it has gradually progressed to crohns colitis (inflammation in the large bowel) It's a good idea to avoid stress if you can,and to be careful with your diet.But you will need meds to get things under control at first and then maybe a maintenance dose to keep it stable.Most of us have been on predisolne/prednisone at first to stop bleeding and lower inflammation.

 

[Bufford]

My experience with Crohn's started when I was 18. I endured an extremely stressful time in Highschool. It started as a boil on my rectum. Little was known about Crohn's and IBS back then. The doctor simply said, I don't think its much more than a hemmoroid.
Time went on, I left home, moved across the country and started life. In my early 20's I started getting a bit of blood in the toilet and pain with BMs. I ignored the symptoms as my father dealt with bloody hemmorhoids, and I thought it was the same thing.
In my late 20's came the dreaded abscesses on my rectum. Surgery was more rudimentary back then. I had them lanced without anything more than a local anesthetic. The pain was indescribable when the surgeon squeezed and lanced these abscesses that were golf ball sized. These healed over poorly and turned into two nasty fistulas.
Time went on, bloody mucos stools with frequent BMs. At work I would plan my day around the toilet, my supervisor helped me by letting me work late whenever possible. Early shifts were agony as I was chronically fatigued, and never felt rested.

Life was all about pain, trying to keep up my end of the job without booking more time off than needed. I never got married, never had a family, and basically dragged my self through life to the finishing line of retirement.
I went through the 1990's without any abscess surgery, but had the big one in 2001 that left me with a stoma which forced me into taking early retirement. Glad I had that option, I could not imagine having to work and live with in this condition. Retirement itself has its challenges at this point with my health.
Honestly, for me life did not start until I got a stoma and retirement. My life was a journey through long valleys of darkness,,, and pain.

 

[ronroush7]

I had both a hemorrhoid and a fistula that took long times in healing after surgery.

 

[mtseeg]

Honestly, for me life did not start until I got a stoma and retirement. My life was a journey through long valleys of darkness,,, and pain.

My god, Bufford, what an awful story. I'm glad you're finding relief in your retirement. What a journey, indeed!

 

[Bufford]

Thanks, looking back I feel as if my real life started with recovery from the colostomy surgery. All those decades prior was something else entirely, and I try not to think too much about them.

 

[Scipio]

Mine began with a nagging pain in the lower right abdomen. It was mild enough that I never went to the doctor about it. It came and went for years - for over ten years at least. I would also have unexplained fevers once or twice a year that would last for 24 hours. What finally led to a diagnosis was severe case of anemia that was discovered through a routine blood test. When they got the result back from the lab the doc's office started frantically calling me and ordering me to go to the ER immediately. I did and they admitted me and gave me an emergency blood transfusion of three units to get my hemoglobin up to a still low but safer range.

That started the hunt for the cause of the anemia, and the GI eventually diagnosed ileal Crohn's.

 

[teeny5]

Mine started after getting promoted to a stressful position at work. I was working all the time and exhausted. I had some pain and blood only like once or twice when I went to the bathroom. Then I started having pain after eating...felt like I had eaten glass or knives! Called the nurse she suggested a mild diet and call back in two weeks if I didn't improve. I tried it and felt a little better. Once I tried to add other foods I had pain again...pain after eating, lower right side and behind my belly button. Then, I started to throw up after eating so I called off work that morning and got into the dr right away.

I thought it was stress and had some type of ulcer. I had symptoms for a couple months before seeing the dr since I kept thinking it was just stress. He had me do a CT scan. At the follow up visit he said the scan showed inflammation and referred me to a gastroenterologist. Before I even saw that dr they had me scheduled for a colonoscopy. That dr also diagnosed me with general anxiety disorder.

After the colonoscopy they told me in recovery they thought it was Crohns and started me on meds that day. At my first appointment with the gastroenterologist he scheduled me for an upper GI series MRI scan to see if I had inflammation anywhere other than the colon...I did not. I believe within 6 months I had all the tests done. Took 2 years to get out of the flare with several medication changes. While flaring I was also anemic and within the first couple of visits to the gastroenterologist he diagnosed me with GERD and put me on meds for that. I have been in remission now 7 years. I take meds everyday for GERD and Crohns.