Hello! I'm new to this whole thing.

[cooortez]

Hi! I'm 16 years old, and was fairly recently diagnosed with Crohn's Disease back in February of this year (2017). A lot has happened at once and it really does feel overwhelming at times, so I'm really glad that sites like this exist.

I'm lucky, since I got diagnosed relatively quickly. I've been symptom free for most of my life, except for mild anemia (which I learned was caused by the disease). Late last year, though, my first big flare-up occurred, which mainly caused me terrible lower pain, bowel issues, and drastic weight loss. After a month of stalling (my fault, I was embarrassed about it) and 2 weeks of misdiagnoses, some tests were performed and I was given an endoscopy/colonoscopy to diagnose me for good. I used to take a cocktail of meds, including corticosteroids and ciprofloxacin, but now I only take metronidazol (Flagyl) twice a day and get a Remicade infusion every 8 weeks, and am mostly symptom free (for now)! Although I do have to get a lot of MRIs (and have to drink half my weight in barium contrast) because of weird abscesses, that's a small price to pay for feeling little to no pain!

There's no one in school I can talk to about this, so again, thanks for having this site up! I think it could really help.

 

[ronroush7]

Welcome. I am glad you are symptom free for the most part. Feel free to come anytime.

 

[cooortez]

Welcome. I am glad you are symptom free for the most part. Feel free to come anytime.

Thank you so much!!

 

[ahm]

I'm happy to know you feel good and hope you continue, please don't hesitate to ask or share anything with us

 

[cooortez]

I'm happy to know you feel good and hope you continue, please don't hesitate to ask or share anything with us

Thank you, I will!!

 

[cmack]

Welcome cooortez,

I'm happy to meet a new friend. Talk to me any time you like.

 

[cmack]

You might want to join this thread. Check out the tunes...

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?p=987091#post987091

 

[cooortez]

You might want to join this thread. Check out the tunes...

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?p=987091#post987091

Ooh, thanks! I will!

 

[Guerrero]

Hi cooortez, was diagnosed around 15/16 yrs old too. I'm 32 years old now. Had a difficult year when i been diagnosed, and had a big flare this year too, but i was almost symptoms free for many years...
At my time no biologics were available so went on a liquid diet (to avoid steroid)s with Modulen which worked terrific.
Dont hesitate to ask questions or contact me.

 

[cooortez]

Hi cooortez, was diagnosed around 15/16 yrs old too. I'm 32 years old now. Had a difficult year when i been diagnosed, and had a big flare this year too, but i was almost symptoms free for many years...
At my time no biologics were available so went on a liquid diet (to avoid steroid)s with Modulen which worked terrific.
Dont hesitate to ask questions or contact me.

Thank you very much, I will if I have any questions!! I'm sorry to hear about the flare up, I wish you good luck in the future!

 

[valleysangel92]

Hello, welcome to the forum

I was diagnosed with Coeliac disease when I was 14, and started getting Crohns symptoms when I was 15 although I wasn't diagnosed until I was 19. I understand that it's hard trying to talk to people in school about these things, I had such a difficult time explaining to people why I was always sick and couldn't always do the things that other people could.

Please don't hesitate to talk to any of us about how you're feeling or if you have any questions, no one here will judge you and we're really hard to shock so there's no need to be embarrassed. I know it can be hard to open up to people in person so this site is great for letting off steam too. We're here to laugh and cry with you and we've all been where you are now so we really do understand where you're coming from.

 

[my little penguin]

Depending on where you live
Camp
Oasis is in the US for kids/teens with Crohns

Ccfa has meeting groups etc.,,for parents teens and adults

 

[cooortez]

Oh my gosh, thank you all so much for the support! It means so much to me!!

valleysangel92, again, thank you so much and I wish you the best in the future! This just might be one of the friendliest and most understanding communities I've seen.
And my little penguin, I'm looking into irl teen Crohn's support groups around my area (DC), thank you telling me! I'll look into it and see if I'm interested!