- Joined
- Sep 12, 2011
- Messages
- 29
Hi, I'm Heather. I'm a 34 year old single mom of 2 little boys. I was recently diagnosed in January of 2011.
I think I've had Crohn's forever. I never had the typical symptoms of weight loss and diarrhea so i think my other symptoms were always just overlooked. They blamed the horrendous occasional cramping on ovarian cysts and such and started me on birth control at 18 (even though the timing of the cramping and such never necessarily correlated with my period or ovulation or whatever). I had problems here and there but in general did better when on birth control and when pregnant. It wasn't until my yongest son quit breastfeeding that I really started to have trouble again. At least once every month or more I'd have horrible cramping that would keep me up all night, and the best I could describe it would be to equate it to labor pains. I now know that it was most likely a partial bowel obstruction. I'd throw up a few times, not eat for a couple days, and then be okay.
Like I said, I had always been told it was something to do with my ovaries or something. In January of 2011 I knew that I'd be divorced soon and losing my insurance, so I figured I'd go to my primary care to see if they'd refer me to a gynecologist to see if there was anything more they could do for me. Upon examination and urinalysis she knew there was something more going on. She sent me for an immediate CTscan (with and without contrast) and they called me into the back and told me that, without a doubt in their mind, I had Crohn's disease. I managed not to be admitted to the hospital, but got sent the next morning to a GI doctor who confirmed the diagnosis. I later had a colonoscopy and all that good stuff just to be 100% sure. I'm lucky that, once they took me seriously, my diagnosis was easy. I woke up thinking I had an ovarian cyst and knew that night that it was crohns.
I've now been on various drugs (steroids, antibiotics, pentasa, humira, entocort, apriso, and probably others) and I don't seem to respond to them. I continue to have partial bowel obstructions at least monthly. So after a lot of research (a lot of it done reading stories on here..so thank you!) I agreed to see a surgeon. I met with him yesterday and really like him. He wants to do a regular bowel resection (not laparoscopic) so he can really feel/see the bowel to make sure he removes all the damaged part (they think there is a lot of scar tissue from having dealt with this so long). Apparently my crohn's is severe, but in a limited area. So they said they're a little more hopeful than normal that this surgery could give me some relief.
Anyway, sorry for the really long intro. I have been reading on this site for a while but hadn't wanted to post. I think I was partially in denial and part of me felt a little guilty about posting when I feel like my crohn's isn't as bad (or at least presents differently than most people)? Don't know if that makes sense. Anyway, thanks for all of the knowledge and opinions. It's incredibly helpful and comforting.
I think I've had Crohn's forever. I never had the typical symptoms of weight loss and diarrhea so i think my other symptoms were always just overlooked. They blamed the horrendous occasional cramping on ovarian cysts and such and started me on birth control at 18 (even though the timing of the cramping and such never necessarily correlated with my period or ovulation or whatever). I had problems here and there but in general did better when on birth control and when pregnant. It wasn't until my yongest son quit breastfeeding that I really started to have trouble again. At least once every month or more I'd have horrible cramping that would keep me up all night, and the best I could describe it would be to equate it to labor pains. I now know that it was most likely a partial bowel obstruction. I'd throw up a few times, not eat for a couple days, and then be okay.
Like I said, I had always been told it was something to do with my ovaries or something. In January of 2011 I knew that I'd be divorced soon and losing my insurance, so I figured I'd go to my primary care to see if they'd refer me to a gynecologist to see if there was anything more they could do for me. Upon examination and urinalysis she knew there was something more going on. She sent me for an immediate CTscan (with and without contrast) and they called me into the back and told me that, without a doubt in their mind, I had Crohn's disease. I managed not to be admitted to the hospital, but got sent the next morning to a GI doctor who confirmed the diagnosis. I later had a colonoscopy and all that good stuff just to be 100% sure. I'm lucky that, once they took me seriously, my diagnosis was easy. I woke up thinking I had an ovarian cyst and knew that night that it was crohns.
I've now been on various drugs (steroids, antibiotics, pentasa, humira, entocort, apriso, and probably others) and I don't seem to respond to them. I continue to have partial bowel obstructions at least monthly. So after a lot of research (a lot of it done reading stories on here..so thank you!) I agreed to see a surgeon. I met with him yesterday and really like him. He wants to do a regular bowel resection (not laparoscopic) so he can really feel/see the bowel to make sure he removes all the damaged part (they think there is a lot of scar tissue from having dealt with this so long). Apparently my crohn's is severe, but in a limited area. So they said they're a little more hopeful than normal that this surgery could give me some relief.
Anyway, sorry for the really long intro. I have been reading on this site for a while but hadn't wanted to post. I think I was partially in denial and part of me felt a little guilty about posting when I feel like my crohn's isn't as bad (or at least presents differently than most people)? Don't know if that makes sense. Anyway, thanks for all of the knowledge and opinions. It's incredibly helpful and comforting.
