Hello all...I'm posting for the first time and was hoping from some guidance from people who have experience with what I'm facing.
I've been very healthy for most of my life. Approximately 3 years ago, I began having bouts of extreme bloating and upper abdominal pressure. These bouts occur every 4 months or so and I have no symptoms other than these episodes (I don't have bloody stools, diarrhea, fatigue, pain with BM, etc.) Also...these episodes only seem to happen at times when I'm outside of my normal rountine (business trip, weekend, etc).
The pain from the pressure is significant enough that I finally went to the doctor. My doctor eventually referred me to a PA who works in the digestive health clinic at the hospital. She had me do an upper and lower scope, an H Pylori breath test, blood work, and small bowel follow through (drink barium w/ x-ray). My H Pylori test was negative, my small bowel follow through showed no narrowing or thickness etc with my intestine. On my scopes everything was normal except that I had a hyperplastic polyp in my colon and had mild ileitis (ulcer type lesions near my small intestine.)
Anyway, the PA initially figured the lesions were due to NSAIDs, however I almost never take NSAID's (probably once per year or less). So, by default, she believes I have Crohn's.
Right now, the next steps for me are to do a camera follow through to get a look at the inside of my small intestine and then to determine treatment from there. I asked about treatment for Crohn's and she mentioned steroids initially followed by taking immune suppressors. She indicated that immune suppressors could lead to more infections and also increase my risk of developing cancers.
Anyway, I feel pretty apprehensive about taking the steroids or immune suppressors. I have symptoms only a few times per year and they only last for a day. I experience almost none of the typical symptoms of Crohn's disease and I'm skeptical of whether that's the correct diagnosis. I would prefer to deal with a few days of bloating than to be sick more frequently.
In evaluating my options I feel like there's a number of factors I need to weigh, but I don't know the liklihood that any of them are true or false...
1. Does one scope that shows mild ileitis mean I have Crohn's for sure...despite almost none of the symptoms (or intestinal damage) manifesting?
2. If it is indeed Crohn's...will the disease/damage get worse if I do not treat it?
3. If the disease does get worse untreated...will I experince symptoms that would serve as indicators that I should begin treatment or could things get sifnificantly worse while I am oblivious to it?
I guess I'm extremely hesitant to begin taking drugs that suppress my immune system when I'm experiencing almost no symptoms and my tests did not show any damage/scarring beyond what was presently there (mild ileitis). I will be very interested to see if anything else appears with the camera follow through. Anyway, I would greatly appreciate anyone's insight into my options.
I've been very healthy for most of my life. Approximately 3 years ago, I began having bouts of extreme bloating and upper abdominal pressure. These bouts occur every 4 months or so and I have no symptoms other than these episodes (I don't have bloody stools, diarrhea, fatigue, pain with BM, etc.) Also...these episodes only seem to happen at times when I'm outside of my normal rountine (business trip, weekend, etc).
The pain from the pressure is significant enough that I finally went to the doctor. My doctor eventually referred me to a PA who works in the digestive health clinic at the hospital. She had me do an upper and lower scope, an H Pylori breath test, blood work, and small bowel follow through (drink barium w/ x-ray). My H Pylori test was negative, my small bowel follow through showed no narrowing or thickness etc with my intestine. On my scopes everything was normal except that I had a hyperplastic polyp in my colon and had mild ileitis (ulcer type lesions near my small intestine.)
Anyway, the PA initially figured the lesions were due to NSAIDs, however I almost never take NSAID's (probably once per year or less). So, by default, she believes I have Crohn's.
Right now, the next steps for me are to do a camera follow through to get a look at the inside of my small intestine and then to determine treatment from there. I asked about treatment for Crohn's and she mentioned steroids initially followed by taking immune suppressors. She indicated that immune suppressors could lead to more infections and also increase my risk of developing cancers.
Anyway, I feel pretty apprehensive about taking the steroids or immune suppressors. I have symptoms only a few times per year and they only last for a day. I experience almost none of the typical symptoms of Crohn's disease and I'm skeptical of whether that's the correct diagnosis. I would prefer to deal with a few days of bloating than to be sick more frequently.
In evaluating my options I feel like there's a number of factors I need to weigh, but I don't know the liklihood that any of them are true or false...
1. Does one scope that shows mild ileitis mean I have Crohn's for sure...despite almost none of the symptoms (or intestinal damage) manifesting?
2. If it is indeed Crohn's...will the disease/damage get worse if I do not treat it?
3. If the disease does get worse untreated...will I experince symptoms that would serve as indicators that I should begin treatment or could things get sifnificantly worse while I am oblivious to it?
I guess I'm extremely hesitant to begin taking drugs that suppress my immune system when I'm experiencing almost no symptoms and my tests did not show any damage/scarring beyond what was presently there (mild ileitis). I will be very interested to see if anything else appears with the camera follow through. Anyway, I would greatly appreciate anyone's insight into my options.
