Hi everyone.
I’m 43 years old, and I have been diagnosed with Crohns for 2 years officially, although my symptoms build up gradually from around 35. Things kicked off a few weeks before my 40th birthday. I attribute it to a bad kidney infection which took 2 antibiotics to clear, along with a genetic tendency towards developing Crohns. Getting a diagnosis was quite quick compared to a lot of people here - 2 months from attending my GP, positive QFIT results and colonoscopy, including a one month postponement to the colonoscopy because I tested positive for Covid during pre-screening. I was diagnosed as mild to moderate indeterminate colitis initially, with biopsies taken for assessment.
Referral to a gastroenterologist was slow unfortunately. Wished I had private health insurance to speed things up as it took 11 months from colonoscopy to 1st appointment. My GP put me on 2g Pentasa as I was struggling with symptoms, which was increased to 4g by the gastroenterologist. The 4g dose worked well enough for a while, though it took me a good while to build myself back up again, and I had to accept that life looked different - no more going out in the evening or eating later than 6pm, falling asleep on the sofa at 9pm and carefully watching trigger foods and managing my energy.
Unfortunately things have deteriorated significantly in the last 3 or 4 months. I tend to ignore things and hope they resolve themselves, so by the time I contacted the nurse specialist for help, I was having diarrhoea multiple times a day with obvious bleeding. Calprotectin came back at 2600+, along with some elevation of CRP (7), so I am now on 40mg steroids for 8 weeks. I’m 5 days in, and I had hoped for a more dramatic improvement, but it feels very slow. Diarrhoea has decreased for 10+ times a day to 3-5 times, but I’m exhausted all the time. I’m off work at the minute - hard hoped to be back next week, but beginning to wonder if that’s realistic given my 2 hour commute and patient facing role. So that’s where I am now. Waiting to see how things pan out.
I’m 43 years old, and I have been diagnosed with Crohns for 2 years officially, although my symptoms build up gradually from around 35. Things kicked off a few weeks before my 40th birthday. I attribute it to a bad kidney infection which took 2 antibiotics to clear, along with a genetic tendency towards developing Crohns. Getting a diagnosis was quite quick compared to a lot of people here - 2 months from attending my GP, positive QFIT results and colonoscopy, including a one month postponement to the colonoscopy because I tested positive for Covid during pre-screening. I was diagnosed as mild to moderate indeterminate colitis initially, with biopsies taken for assessment.
Referral to a gastroenterologist was slow unfortunately. Wished I had private health insurance to speed things up as it took 11 months from colonoscopy to 1st appointment. My GP put me on 2g Pentasa as I was struggling with symptoms, which was increased to 4g by the gastroenterologist. The 4g dose worked well enough for a while, though it took me a good while to build myself back up again, and I had to accept that life looked different - no more going out in the evening or eating later than 6pm, falling asleep on the sofa at 9pm and carefully watching trigger foods and managing my energy.
Unfortunately things have deteriorated significantly in the last 3 or 4 months. I tend to ignore things and hope they resolve themselves, so by the time I contacted the nurse specialist for help, I was having diarrhoea multiple times a day with obvious bleeding. Calprotectin came back at 2600+, along with some elevation of CRP (7), so I am now on 40mg steroids for 8 weeks. I’m 5 days in, and I had hoped for a more dramatic improvement, but it feels very slow. Diarrhoea has decreased for 10+ times a day to 3-5 times, but I’m exhausted all the time. I’m off work at the minute - hard hoped to be back next week, but beginning to wonder if that’s realistic given my 2 hour commute and patient facing role. So that’s where I am now. Waiting to see how things pan out.
