Hello there!
I found the forum while searching the internet for ways to emotionally cope.
After a very long year last Monday I got diagnosed with Crohn's. I was filled with relief and fear, here's my story.
To start off, I have never had normal bowel movements so whenever anything changed I wasn't surprised. First month of working as an au pair in Ireland I start getting severe abdominal pain which as being a female I assumed had something to do with my period, the thing was that I was nowhere near my period, first red flag. As I was in a foreign country all on my own I decided to wait to go to the doctor as it is the norm for me not to feel great at any given time.
A month later my travel insurance sent me to two different hospitals, the first one a public one in which I spent 12 hours in the waiting room to be sent home because they where completely sure I was looking for drugs. The second one, a private one where they decided I needed a colonoscopy which my insurance wouldn't cover. 1400 euros. So obviously a plane ticket home was way cheaper and I got back to Argentina.
But oh dear, things where going to get rough. I wasn't able to leave the house in case I needed a toilet. My pain was so bad I was scared to eat, I lost 15 kilos (33 pounds according to google) in three months. Seven different doctors diagnosed me with IBS, by this time I had droped out of college as I couldn't attend and had no social life.
They had had ruled everything out because blood tests were okay (not perfect though),no bacteria overgrowth, endoscopy and colonoscopy were also both okay. But the thing was that they never reached the ileum or the end (start?) of the colon. A new doctor (my saviour) realized this and asked for an MRI. It showed that my intestines where thicker, specifically around my ileum and colon. Another colonoscopy showed way too much inflamation exactly where the last one didn't reach.
So after a year of feeling like crap, being treated as a drug addict, hypocondriac, etc I got to put a name on my mysterious disease.
I haven't got any meds yet as my doctor wants to use a smart pill (again according to google as I have no idea the translation for this) (a camera in form of a pill basically) to assess the damage in my small intestine first.
I'm sorry if anything is not clear enough, for many of the medical terms translations are hard to find.
I found the forum while searching the internet for ways to emotionally cope.
After a very long year last Monday I got diagnosed with Crohn's. I was filled with relief and fear, here's my story.
To start off, I have never had normal bowel movements so whenever anything changed I wasn't surprised. First month of working as an au pair in Ireland I start getting severe abdominal pain which as being a female I assumed had something to do with my period, the thing was that I was nowhere near my period, first red flag. As I was in a foreign country all on my own I decided to wait to go to the doctor as it is the norm for me not to feel great at any given time.
A month later my travel insurance sent me to two different hospitals, the first one a public one in which I spent 12 hours in the waiting room to be sent home because they where completely sure I was looking for drugs. The second one, a private one where they decided I needed a colonoscopy which my insurance wouldn't cover. 1400 euros. So obviously a plane ticket home was way cheaper and I got back to Argentina.
But oh dear, things where going to get rough. I wasn't able to leave the house in case I needed a toilet. My pain was so bad I was scared to eat, I lost 15 kilos (33 pounds according to google) in three months. Seven different doctors diagnosed me with IBS, by this time I had droped out of college as I couldn't attend and had no social life.
They had had ruled everything out because blood tests were okay (not perfect though),no bacteria overgrowth, endoscopy and colonoscopy were also both okay. But the thing was that they never reached the ileum or the end (start?) of the colon. A new doctor (my saviour) realized this and asked for an MRI. It showed that my intestines where thicker, specifically around my ileum and colon. Another colonoscopy showed way too much inflamation exactly where the last one didn't reach.
So after a year of feeling like crap, being treated as a drug addict, hypocondriac, etc I got to put a name on my mysterious disease.
I haven't got any meds yet as my doctor wants to use a smart pill (again according to google as I have no idea the translation for this) (a camera in form of a pill basically) to assess the damage in my small intestine first.
I'm sorry if anything is not clear enough, for many of the medical terms translations are hard to find.
Last edited:
