• Welcome to Crohn's Forum, a support group for people with all forms of IBD. While this community is not a substitute for doctor's advice and we cannot treat or diagnose, we find being able to communicate with others who have IBD is invaluable as we navigate our struggles and celebrate our successes. We invite you to join us.

Hello to everyone and thanks for hearing my story!

Hey guys my name is Matt and I am so happy I found you. I have been reading some of the posts before joining and many of them relate to me and what I am now going through. I was diagnosed with IBS in 2002. It was all stress related and nothing more. So year after year I would have these flare ups and have D for a day or two and everything would go back to normal and I lived a semi good life. Well that has all changed. On June 16th of this year I woke up with extreme stomach pain and had to run to the bathroom. I thought to myself no biggie. Well about an hour later I started getting this mild pain above my stomach and off to the right. It was insanely horrible. I could barely move or say anything. My wife being an ER nurse said we have to get you in right away. They ended up doing a CT scan and finding inflammation in my small intestine. They gave me a round of antibiotics which was flagyl. They also gave me pain meds which did not do anything. The flagyl did work and even though I had the big D through out I was pain free.


Fast forward to two weeks ago. After I was done with the antibiotics I did I feltl great for a week or so and thought maybe it was bacterial and this killed it. I was wrong. Two weeks ago the same pain came back one morning and it was even more intense. I actually drove myself to the hospital I was in so much pain. I get there and IV me and all the usual stuff and schedule a Ultrasound. Well low and behold nothing there. They send me home again with more pain meds to which I just ripped up the script because I did not want them and they do not work.

I felt pretty good for the rest of the day. My wife had to work that same night so I did my usual made dinner and got my son to bed. Well about 10:30 it came back again!!! This time I was literally on the floor crying like a baby it hurt so bad! I could not move talk or do anything but sit there. I managed to text my mom to come get me and take to to my wife at The E.R. This time they admit me into the hospital and schedule a colonoscopy while in the hospital. I had this done and they did not find anything. So again I get another round of Flagyl and things are going great again. Still having D but it is manageable and pain free. They also prescribed bentyl because the Doc does think I have some type of disease like Crohns but he is not sure. I see another GI doc later this month to get an endoscopy done.

I finished my Flagyl a couple of days ago and now? The same pain is back again! I have taken 4 bentyl pills today and they barely help the pain at all. I have gone to the bathroom 13 times today with water come out of rear end. So now as I lay here in pain it is good to know there are so many out there that feel what I am going through. Thanks for hearing my story and best of luck to everyone out there. I am just praying for them to figure this out. As of right now I feel helpless. At least I have a understanding wife as a nurse which has helped me so much! Thanks again for hearing me out.
 
Hi Matty, I am so sorry to hear you are suffering so but glad that you have found us here. You are most welcome :) Lots of us here can empathise with the frustration and fear you must be feeling at not knowing what's wrong and how that only adds to the stress. I hope you get some answers and are on the road to recovery really soon.
 
Hi matty and a very warm welcome to the forum :). I'm so glad you joined us cos from now on you will always have friends, who understand, to listen to you.

It's really very early days for you, finding out it might be crohns rather than the IBS you've been living with. It's a lot to digest (no pun intended). I remember how I felt when I was admitted to hospital with what I thought was just a sore tum, turned out to be crohns, I was completely overwhelmed. 9 months on I'm surprised at how I have adapted, I thought I never would get my head round it.

I'm sorry they haven't been able to give you very much information about what's going on. Did they take any biopsies when you had the colonoscopy? If they did hopefully the results will give a better clue and having the appointment with the GI will also be good, when this month is it?

For now I would suggest having a look at the info about low residue diets, which basically means cutting out fibre from your first and things like spicy foods, caffeine, alcohol, foods with skins on, popcorn and corn products, nuts, whole grains and I know I've left stuff out too, I was advised to follow low residue and it did help. I also find that using heat is a great way of easing my pain, especially when it's really sharp and crampy. A warm bath can be good too. I use the things that pop into the microwave and also the stick on heat pads from the chemist.

I'm so sorry you're having such a rough time but really hope the GI appointment will make a difference, good luck and please let us know how you get on.
 
Hi Matt , sounds like you are really going through it :(
I would like to second the low fibre advice it really helped me when I was at my worse, and should slow down your digestive process.
My main diagnosis came from an MRI which showed 40cms of inflamed small intestine which was causing me no end of pain, maybe you can ask about getting one.
The other thing I would like to add is that with all the antibiotics you are taking I think you should really try a pro-biotic to restock your gut with good bacteria.
good luck.
 
Thank you guys for the kind words and support! It means so much to me and I cannot thank you enough! Yes they did take biopsy tests so hopefully I will get those back soon. I am at the point where I will hardly eat anything. I was a every other weekend drinker but haven't had a sip in over a month and when I do eat it is very little due to being scared. I will tell you I have lost 28 pounds in a little over a month so I guess you can call this a type of weight loss program! So anyways thanks again and I will be checking in with everyone!
 
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