I have Crohn's Disease; diagnosed 2 years ago at age 28. I have not been in remission yet. I was prescribed prednisone, pentasa, and Imuran. I have weened off the prednisone again, but just as soon as I do it flares up again. Now I'm only taking pentasa and imuran. I feel really sore in the upper middle portion and extremely tender in my entire lower portion of my gut. It hurts to stand straight, it hurts to walk, or move in any way. It hurts to press on the area. I have waves of pain that keep me awake at night. I feel like I really need to pass gas but when I do its only a little. When I have a bowel movement, its hurts slightly in my lower gut, and its like I can feel it moving out of my intestines. All my Doctor tells me is that if the imuran doesn't work my only two options left is humira or some other really expensive medication that I know I won't be able to take because I can't afford it. Anyways, this feeling I am now having is different than my normal crohn's pains. Sometimes it is tolerable so long as I lay or sit absolutely still but I still have random spasms. I am wondering if something else is going on besides inflammation. I'm hoping someone here may have an idea.
Do I have a obstruction, blockage, gas, or something else?
- Thread starter bleigh
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Your description sounds quite similar to when I had my partial obstruction. The problem was it was bad enough to make my life miserable, but not bad enough to warrant any "emergent surgery". I finally just had to make to decision to get a resection. Not fun, but my life wasn't much fun at that point either. I put up with it for quite a while 1-2 years.
Keep us posted. Rooting for you.
I'm going thru the same thing at the min. Can't keep food down an getting severe pains in my bowels. Even on a liquid diet for 3 weeks I went a bit better but now even drinkin water hurts. I'm seeing the specialist in the morn an I've got a feeling they goin to keep me in as I'm extremely under weight an from reading stuff on here I think I've got sum kind of blockage. The docs seem like they dnt want to operate but it's got to the point where my life is to hard to get by so I'm hoping for surgery but scared in the long run as I've read it can just come bac. How have you been since your surgery?
13 yrs since my resection! I know I will need another one a some point....
Good luck with your appointment, let us know how it goes
Just an update. I've been kept in hospital as my weight is down to 8 stone 2 which is about a stone and half under weight. They hav put me on a liquid diet called modulen which I hav to be monitored on hence the reason they are keeping me in for a bit. It seems like they want to avoid surgery as much as they can do so hoping my bowel inflammation goes down. I will just hav see how things go I think but not looking forward to at least 6 weeks on a liquid diet I must admit. It's hard already watching every1 else around me eating but supose it's for the best 
hey Bleigh…sorry to hear you are struggling….i have had 3 obstructions and they always end up in hospital, on morphine and intensive care with a drip in the arm….very very painful, your abdomen blows up like a watermelon as the food backs up and can't get through the obstruction….i would suggest you dont have one of them? or if you do it is partial, but these days you can get it checked through modern X-rays/barium meals etc to see the extent of any obstruction….if your gut 'strictures' then you are prone to obstructions….some people get strictures-narrowing, others dont…..so good idea to work out what 'type' of crohns you have, is it in the large bowel, the small, both etc.
prednisone.
ahhh predisone.
the double edged sword.
works amazingly well to reduce inflammation, but really messes your bodys internal balances up, big time…..see, the active ingredient, (cortisol) is produced naturally by your body……it is basically a hormone that assists in all kinds of functions in the body…..so when you take prednisone your body is basically saying 'ok i dont need to make this stuff anymore' and it slows down its own making of cortisol…….this adds to the reason it is hard to get off prednisone, for when you taper down and eventually get off it, a day later you feel ROUGH and then even more ROUGH because you dont have cortisol to assist with digestion and other functions, you can expect headaches, pains, gut problems etc by simply getting off prednisone, this could last a week or even two weeks until your body starts making the required cortisol itself…..moreover, prednisone is NOT a long term maintenence drug for crohns, you have to get off it……you have to find something else friend…..i was on it for 8 years….every day….it took me 2 years to get off it….but i remember it well and so glad i got off it. What was so strange, each time i did get off it and the crohns symptoms came back, i naturally just started taking prednisone again and the symptoms went away…..every time i went to get off it, was like the crohns came back - but with hindsight, it wasnt the crohns flaring up, it was my body freaking out because it had no cortisol to use…….think of cortisol like oil for an engine….your engine makes it naturally.
good luck getting off it and good luck finding something that stabilises you - peace and quiet + infliximab helped me a lot at that time.
good luck friend
prednisone.
ahhh predisone.
the double edged sword.
works amazingly well to reduce inflammation, but really messes your bodys internal balances up, big time…..see, the active ingredient, (cortisol) is produced naturally by your body……it is basically a hormone that assists in all kinds of functions in the body…..so when you take prednisone your body is basically saying 'ok i dont need to make this stuff anymore' and it slows down its own making of cortisol…….this adds to the reason it is hard to get off prednisone, for when you taper down and eventually get off it, a day later you feel ROUGH and then even more ROUGH because you dont have cortisol to assist with digestion and other functions, you can expect headaches, pains, gut problems etc by simply getting off prednisone, this could last a week or even two weeks until your body starts making the required cortisol itself…..moreover, prednisone is NOT a long term maintenence drug for crohns, you have to get off it……you have to find something else friend…..i was on it for 8 years….every day….it took me 2 years to get off it….but i remember it well and so glad i got off it. What was so strange, each time i did get off it and the crohns symptoms came back, i naturally just started taking prednisone again and the symptoms went away…..every time i went to get off it, was like the crohns came back - but with hindsight, it wasnt the crohns flaring up, it was my body freaking out because it had no cortisol to use…….think of cortisol like oil for an engine….your engine makes it naturally.
good luck getting off it and good luck finding something that stabilises you - peace and quiet + infliximab helped me a lot at that time.
good luck friend
Thanks for the reply. I do believe you are correct about the prednisone. I have been back to the Doctor and I do not have a blockage or anything. Apparently, this is a part of whole having Crohn's Disease experience. I think it did have a lot to do with tapering off the prednisone. Now I am down to 10mg daily for the next two more weeks then I should be off. I think the prednisone messes with my eyes sometimes too. But I just remember how wonderful and fast the prednisone worked when I was in so much pain I couldn't do anything at all but lay in bed and moan. Now I am having pressure in my rectum and for some reason I just want to blame that on the tapering off prednisone too.
pressure in rectum could be anything… can you describe it in more detail?
is it when you go to the loo, after the loo, during eating, while sitting down? etc.
I went from 10mg a day - for a week.
then 5 mg
then 2.5
then 2.5 every other day…
then every 3 days, 4 days...
it really was a scientific process, to wean correctly….
once you stop stop, you WILL feel like **** for at least 3 or 4 days…your guts will hurt, you will have the runs and others things…..just push through brother!
good luck.
is it when you go to the loo, after the loo, during eating, while sitting down? etc.
I went from 10mg a day - for a week.
then 5 mg
then 2.5
then 2.5 every other day…
then every 3 days, 4 days...
it really was a scientific process, to wean correctly….
once you stop stop, you WILL feel like **** for at least 3 or 4 days…your guts will hurt, you will have the runs and others things…..just push through brother!
good luck.
I am a female and the only way I can describe the pressure is to say it feels similar to when I was pregnant and close to my due date. But I know for sure it ain't that! lol. Kind of like I need to take a big poo. It comes and goes. Passing gas, and/or bowel doesn't make it better. It's just really discomforting. It does seem to occur not long after eating, at bedtime, and early in the morning as soon as I wake up.
Last time I posted anything on this thread was back in Jan of 2015. Here it is Dec 2017. Just wanted to fill in the blank space in time. May 2017 I had a partial blockage so I now know what its like and it was horrible. Vomitting, diahrea, and feeling like I am going to die is the best description I can give. ER ran a tube down my nose into my stomach where they pumped everything out over several days. Then after that ordeal I get a scan and a fistula has appeared but the GI Doc expresses no concern about that and puts me on Humira. July 2017 I start experiencing shooting pain in my buttock area near my tailbone, that shoots down my leg. So I go to my regular Doc and they suspect its Sciatica but unknown cause. They do nothing. They made me wait several weeks for a referral to a physical therapist. Like 2 months went by and it hurts so bad I can't stand it so I start calling the DR office everyday, asking where is the referral, why isn't anyone calling me back. You see the Doc said that before they could put in the order for a scan that I must go through physcial therapy first in order to be covered by my insurance. After not hearing back in months and my constant calling them I decided to call my insurance company. The Doc was mistaken and when I informed the Doc office that I contacted my insurance company about it then they scheduled for my scan within a few days. The results come back and my Doc calls me and tells me to go to ER right away because I had a pelvic abscess and it was extremely inflammed. Wow!! That explains why it hurt so much and why there is a large mass in my butt cheek. I have since been in the hospital several times having drains put in. Im on my third JP drain. Lost my job, been denied by Social security, and still can't work. May need surgery. Colorectal surgeon believes the fistula is whats causing the abscess. Im toughing it out best I can. Really would love to be able to sit on my rump painfree. Thanks for all the advice. I come here when I need answers that my Docs don't seem know. Its been very helpful.
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I hope you get relief soon. Keep us informed.
Sending my support, I have a colostomy and it has provided a big improvement in the quality of my life.
