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Diagnosed with Crohns but No symptoms

Hello - I am new to the forum and was just diagnosed with Crohn's disease. My story is a little different because I do not really have any symptoms. I had been having some muscle twitching and noticed difficulty taking a deep breath so I started paying closer attention to everything to discuss with my doctor. I started paying attention to my stool and noticed some mucous around my stool and wasn't sure if that was normal for me or not. A couple of times (maybe once every 2 months) I would notice a red blood strand within some of the mucous. Also noticed some undigested food after digging pretty deep some days. I mentioned this to my family doctor and he said since I mentioned blood I should get a colonoscopy. I went for my colonoscopy a couple of weeks ago and afterwards the doctor said he saw some inflammation at the beginning of my small intestines and said that is indicative of Crohn's. He took a biopsy and called on Friday and said he thought it was Crohn's still. I am very bad with medical terms and only spoke for to him for a few minutes, but I remember him saying that he thought it was Crohn's and they tested something else to confirm it but that did not show Crohn's. I have never met with this Gastroenterologist except for a minute before my colonoscopy and he recommended that I get on Budesonide. I am a little hesitant because I really don't have any symptoms of Crohn's disease. I do not have diarrhea, very rarely have blood, don't really have abdominal pain (sometimes my stomach feels weird but nothing major or new really and sometimes bloated). I have lost some weight over the last few years, but I have always attributed it to not working out as much and loss of muscle. I was wondering if there is any other tests that should be run to confirm Crohn's without any major symptoms. Without every meeting with the doctor I think it was a rash decision by him. I think another contributing factor was that I check weight loss and abdominal pain on my form because I always forget to mention things with I go to the doctor and I figured we would discuss what I checked. I would have mentioned the weight loss that is probably due to not working out and the abdominal pain is very rare. I think those were major factors to him diagnosing Crohn's so quickly. I have an appointment with him in 6 weeks and he wanted me to start the medicine so we can discuss how it is working, but I won't be able to know if it is working or not because I don't have symptoms and the only way to tell would be to see if the inflammation is down. Any suggestions or additional tests or thoughts or ways to know if medicine is helping would be great.
 
Welcome to this forum. There could be damage going on that you are not aware of
I would go along with what your doctor wants. There is a stool test called fecal calprotectin that measures inflammation. Ask your doctor about it.
 

fuzzy butterfly

Well-known member
Hi I also think that you should take the meds for now as as Ron says damage can be going on with out symptoms its known as being asymptomatic. Crohn's can cause a lot of damage pretty quickly if left untreated. Keep your doctor fully informed of every thing you notice going on with your body and stool. The feacl calprotectin test is a good one to check out inflammation, so do ask for that if its not already been done. Best wishes 💕
 
Thank you both. I have my first appointment with the Gastroenterologist in the middle of March. Should I start taking the Budesonide prior to the appointment or do you think it would be okay to wait until then to start? I am just really concerned that is could be something else and I would hate to start taking medicine that could cause other side effects. Since I haven't even spoke with the doctor about my symptoms or even had a conversation with him other than a colonoscopy, I am worried that he just diagnosed Crohn's because of inflammation when there could be other causes. I have read that the use of steroids could negatively impact a lot of other areas so I want to be cautious. This is all so new to me and very confusing. I guess I have no idea how long the inflammation has been going on since I still don't have symptoms and there is inflammation.
 

fuzzy butterfly

Well-known member
Hi budesonide the is a mild steroid. I dont think it will cause you any problems b4 you see your doctor. But it could help get the inflammation down for you and help stop things getting any worse. I suggest that if you are very concerned about taking it, ring your doctor and ask to speak with him /her about taking it. 💕
 
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