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Hello and a question

charlottevet

charlottevet

Hallo :)

My name is Charlotte, i'm 21 years old and about to begin my penultimate year of study at Veterinary School in the uk :)

I am currently un-diagnosed, but I have a suspicion that i may have Crohn's, as my Dr (a GI) saw me and said she thought I just had IBS, but did a colonic transit study, bloods and stool samples, the bloods were ok but i never heard about the stool samples- she explicitly said she would not have me in for invasive endoscopies or colonoscopies unless she felt my results indicated the need- low and behold a cryptic NHS letter on my mat today telling me I need a colonoscopy on monday (a little nevous :z ). I assume either the xa or stool sample threw up something she wanted to check.

Ever since I was 13 I have had bad Guts. I get intermittent pain, particularly in my lower right quadrant, random bouts of diarrhoea... i seem to have developed an intolerance to fatty foods, milk and yeasty foods?! If I touch anything like that Im glued to the loo for hour with agonizing stomach pain and the big D. I will have some good days and then terrible terrible days where I cant even get out of bed for feeling so sickly and weak.

recently I had some traumatic personal issues occur, and following this things have gotten SO much worse. Daily nausea, fatigue, stomach bloating and discomfort, intestinal pain pain, switching between D and Constipation - oh and very bad weight loss - i CANNOT gain weight, Im just under 6 foot and weigh just under 8 stone!! I eat as much as I can but nothing will stay on...

Im not afraid of being diagnosed at all, Id love to know exactly what is wrong with me :) as I study Medicine I have faith in the drugs I would need to take if it were the case.

Though.... does this sound like Crohn's?
 
G

GutlessWonder86

Crohn's is one of those illnesses that needs to be diagnosed by a GI. There are so many other ailments that can mimic it.

I was diagnosed at age 12. The one MD thought I was faking it but his partner was like, NO!! She's very ill and NOT looking for attention.

Just know that we are here for you no matter what. This is an amazing group of people who have the knowledge based upon their personal experience.

David has an amazing Q&A section you can post anything for one of our GI specialists to answer for you.

Good luck and WELCOME!!! ~Gutless WonderWoman :)
 
alex_chris

alex_chris

Hey Charlotte,

Sorry to hear you had problems for so long and are still undiagnosed. It's definitely good that you will have a colonoscopy (ask for getting a sedative so you sleep through the whole procedure, these days there is really no need to be awake for that). You describe traditional symptoms of Crohn's, but to be sure a colonoscopy has to be done, which is also good to see where the inflammation actually is.

In any event, I hope they can diagnose you, and if it's Crohn, don't worry too much and just get enough good information about treatment and long term management. This place is a good resource, browsing on this forum and checking out various posts will get you a good overview and insight on the whole thing. Anyway, I hope Monday isn't that uncomfortable (actually drinking those 4 liters of liquid in preparation of a colonoscopy always was more uncomofrtable for me...) and that you'll find out soon what you really got so you can get the right treatment.

Cheers,
A
 
Lustforlife

Lustforlife

Location
Georgia
Dont read the above and think "well that's it, he said I have Crohns so I do". Maybe its Crohns maybe not. My guess is that it's far from a certainty, just one of quite a few possibilities. You'll likely learn a lot from the c-scope. Best wishes for you!!!
 
J

jimcon24

Hi Charlotte, being undiagnosed for me was the worst time - The GP could offer me no medication because there were so many possibilities as to what could be wrong. I'm certain a colonoscopy will get you a diagnosis and then at least you can try treatments. Hope it goes well, even if it is crohns it is absolutely best to know about it.
 
nevilletanner

nevilletanner

surprised you havent had a MRI or CT SCAN , my crohns was diagnosed after a ct and no other tests ..

MRI is the better test , no radiation and better results.
 
723crossroads

723crossroads

Location
USA
Hope you get your answers now and don't worry, coloscopies are no big deal. They put you under so you sleep thru it all. I never had any problems and never remembered a thing.
 
charlottevet

charlottevet

723crossroads said:
Hope you get your answers now and don't worry, coloscopies are no big deal. They put you under so you sleep thru it all. I never had any problems and never remembered a thing.
Click to expand...
Hi there :)

well, I had the colonscopy and it showed nothing in my colon, but because of my symptoms they also gave me an MRI almost 2 weeks ago now to see what was going on in there, thinking it might be further up my GI tract.
Im currently waiting to hear back about the MRI.

The colonoscopy was ok.... here in the Uk they do not use any pain killers or sedation- unless you as for it. They did offer my gas and air but id rather they jus get on with it, so gritted my teeth through the pain (and weirdly laughed a lot because the pain made me giddy lol, it amused the dr no end!!). Not the best experience i have ever had,. in fact probably the most painful thing anyone has ever done to me .. but meh ce la vie. people go through a lot worse!!

thanks for all your support!!

ps. how did u lot all find out about your mri results? phone? letter?

xx
 
nevilletanner

nevilletanner

your gp can access the results of the mri - my local gp called up all the results in the local surgeory about two weeks after getting the mri.
 
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