Frustrated

[akpatti]

Somewhat venting while looking for ideas. I had surgery in January and had 8" of my jejunum removed and about 18" of my ilium. It was a open surgery and I went through all the recovery, being dedicated to get back in shape and be healthy, unfortunately I have not figured out how to manage stress as well as I can. I have to work a lot, but have been getting so frustrated I am flaring again. I have and am trying so hard to remember to breathe and try not to obsess over things and I am better, but still need to learn how to manage it better. Do I need to go to a shrink or are there methods or sites that anyone can point me to? I want to learn how to get a better handle on this, so I can avoid having as much scar tissue as I had before...if possible.
Anyway any suggestions would be appreciate. I work about 50 hours per week and spend 2-3 days a week driving two hours and training dogs for about and hour to two each time when I am not trialing them on weekends. In other words my world has stress and challenges and I need to figure out how to manage them. I have spent the entire of today running to the restroom, trying not to hurl, and dealing with off and on pain do to allowing the stress to get to me yesterday

 

[Jennifer]

What maintenance meds (if any) are you on now? Makes me wonder if they missed something during the resection or left a section in there in hopes that it was salvageable and would treat it with meds after surgery. Perhaps those meds aren't working as well as they should be (again, assuming you're on any, I haven't read your history).

As for the heavy work load, is it possible to remove something from the things you do for work/anything that's not for relaxation or pleasure and replace it with some "you" time? Often times reducing the work load helps tremendously with reducing stress.

You could try yoga, medication, listening to music, watching TV or just plain laying flat on your face for a while but the point is that you need more time for YOU. Even if you did see a therapist (nothing wrong with that, they do have tons of different tools they can share with you on how to cope with stress) its more time out of YOUR time. If you feel like you're dealing with anxiety and or depression (they do tend to come hand in hand) then yes definitely seek out a psychologist to help you through this rough time.

In the mean time while you try to figure out your schedule on what's really important and what can wait (priorities) you really need to make sure your health stays near the top of that priority list starting with contacting your GI and letting them know that your symptoms have changed (if you haven't already). They can help manage the medication side of things while you try to manage what you can nix out of your daily routine so you have more time to relax.

 

[akpatti]

I am just on Pentesa. I do take imodium and anti-nausea meds as needed. Need to work the two jobs to finish paying off the medical bills and resave up for another semester of school. Dog stuff takes a lot of time, but is usually my zen. I guess it is time to talk to my Doctor again, I just really hoped I would have more remission time. When they removed my strictures the surgeon was so positive about it because he had removed all the scarring. I just wanted relief for awhile longer, I never expected it to just go away, just remission for awhile would have been nice. I will try and make time for some gym time since I haven't since presurgery...that may be part of it as well.