Hi All,
After about 12 years of going from doctor to doctor being told I was nuts, I was diagnosed with Crohn's in January. My symptoms are a bit less conventional. I did not have much trouble with diarrhea. I was much more often constipated with EXTREME abdominal bloating and pressure. I could barely drink a sip of water without my GI tract responding negatively. After tests revealed that my problems appeared isolated to the terminal ileum and I did not respond to steroids, I underwent a colon resection at which time the surgeon found that I had almost a full blockage. I'm 6wks post-op and pretty much feel 100% relative to how I did before in my daily activities, BUT my Crohn's symptoms are EXACTLY the same. No change. No improvement. I'm still having major bloating and cannot eat more than about 200 calories at a time (every 2 hours or so) or I become extremely bloated.
I'm a distance runner/racer and was very active before and am back able to workout now, slowly building up my mileage again. From what I've learned, I think that partially my Crohn's is less severe than most and partially having been a high level athlete for a long time, I was pretty used to always being in pain, so in some ways I dealt with my symptoms and it made me hard to diagnose.
I'm super frustrated that I went through a major surgery after 10+years of struggle and that there is no improvement. I'm doing the capsule endoscopy on Monday to see if there are spots that they missed somewhere else. Even if there are, though, my doctor is really confused about how the removal of a near obstruction could result in no improvement.... :/
I can't seem to find anything online about lack of improvement post-surgery. Anyone had this experience?? I'd also love to connect with someone who has the constipation and bloating Crohn's as opposed to the diarrhea type.
Thanks so much,
K
After about 12 years of going from doctor to doctor being told I was nuts, I was diagnosed with Crohn's in January. My symptoms are a bit less conventional. I did not have much trouble with diarrhea. I was much more often constipated with EXTREME abdominal bloating and pressure. I could barely drink a sip of water without my GI tract responding negatively. After tests revealed that my problems appeared isolated to the terminal ileum and I did not respond to steroids, I underwent a colon resection at which time the surgeon found that I had almost a full blockage. I'm 6wks post-op and pretty much feel 100% relative to how I did before in my daily activities, BUT my Crohn's symptoms are EXACTLY the same. No change. No improvement. I'm still having major bloating and cannot eat more than about 200 calories at a time (every 2 hours or so) or I become extremely bloated.
I'm a distance runner/racer and was very active before and am back able to workout now, slowly building up my mileage again. From what I've learned, I think that partially my Crohn's is less severe than most and partially having been a high level athlete for a long time, I was pretty used to always being in pain, so in some ways I dealt with my symptoms and it made me hard to diagnose.
I'm super frustrated that I went through a major surgery after 10+years of struggle and that there is no improvement. I'm doing the capsule endoscopy on Monday to see if there are spots that they missed somewhere else. Even if there are, though, my doctor is really confused about how the removal of a near obstruction could result in no improvement.... :/
I can't seem to find anything online about lack of improvement post-surgery. Anyone had this experience?? I'd also love to connect with someone who has the constipation and bloating Crohn's as opposed to the diarrhea type.
Thanks so much,
K
