I am Melissa. I am 33 years old and I was diagnosed when I was 30. It all started one day when I went to the bathroom and there was blood in the toilet. Ugh. The sad thing is I took a picture of it and sent it to my husband and asked him if that was normal. Really! Of course his response was "No". I was diagnosed with a colonoscopy about 1 month later. At first my doctor put me on Lialda which was amazing but it increased my liver enzymes so he took me off of that and put me on humira and prednisone. Unfortunately I don't do well with prednisone. I yelled at my husband, boss and co workers within 1 day of taking the prednisone and told my dr that unless he wanted me to be homeless, jobless and divorced then we needed to switch to something other than prednisone. He took me off of that and didn't add anything. I was also told that I needed to change everything I ate. At this time I had just worked my butt off to lose 40 lbs so now that I couldn't eat vegetables or fruits I put on 50lbs. I tried gluten free, I tried cutting everything out and adding things and taking away things. It seemed that one day one food was okay but then 2 days later it was horrible for me. I have switched doctors to a physician that is 3.5 hrs away because I felt that the local one didn't care. The new dr has added medications and taken away meds. Nothing seems to be helping and I have never been in remission the entire time I have had this. At this point I am depressed all the time because of the weight gain and the feeling that I can't go anywhere without having to go to the bathroom all of the time. I have had accidents around family and friends and now I have anxiety every time I go anywhere. I am always worried whether or not I will make it and be okay. The pain is ridiculous and the not sleeping at night is horrible. I am up at least 3-4 times a night going to the bathroom. My poor husband is being as understanding as he can be but when I'm tired all the time and not in the mood for "married" stuff he gets frustrated which is understandable. Does it ever get better? Thank you for the opportunity to tell my story.