- Joined
- Dec 18, 2012
- Messages
- 10
I've been trolling the Crohn's forums for a couple years now and finally signed up!
I was diagnosed with Crohn's back in 1998 at the start of university. The stress pretty much set it off. Had the usual treatments (prednisone, flagyl, ASA anti-inflammatories) but it didn't settle down, and the medications made me very nauseous all the time.
I was convinced to try alternative medicine in 2000, and a very old and wise Chinese herbalist said "I know what that is, eat this for 30 days and come back to see me" The mixture was disgusting, and hard to swallow, but amazingly after 30 days my Crohn's went into total remission!
Well, fast forward 8 years later, and another extremely stressful time appeared again, and as expected, my Crohn's reared it's ugly head again. This time I tried a few Chinese herbalists, but none could cure me (the one from 2000 had moved back to China) I struggled and learned to live with the symptoms for about 3 years before I was hospitalized with an abscess at the terminal ilea. In the 3 years I was "ignoring" my Crohn's I developed a very bad stricture, and my colon was quite inflamed.
I was put on Prednisone, Cipro and Flagyl for months as the abscess came and went a few times, until I started having some serious side effects, and am now just on Sulfasalazine (knock on wood) which is working ok for me for now.... but my liver is starting to reject it.
Given the stricture, they can't scope me regularly (already had 3 ct scans in 4 mths), so now I'm faced with the decision of attempting more medications, or surgery of an Ileostomy or Colostomy with a bag for the rest of my life. And of course to top it off, this all coincides with the birth of our first baby as well!
Am I worried? Not really. I'm interested in hearing more from those who have had a Colostomy or Ileostomy and how things have gone. I guess my biggest concern is still being able to be active enough to ensure I can still take care of my wife and daughter given the situation.
Chiv.
I was diagnosed with Crohn's back in 1998 at the start of university. The stress pretty much set it off. Had the usual treatments (prednisone, flagyl, ASA anti-inflammatories) but it didn't settle down, and the medications made me very nauseous all the time.
I was convinced to try alternative medicine in 2000, and a very old and wise Chinese herbalist said "I know what that is, eat this for 30 days and come back to see me" The mixture was disgusting, and hard to swallow, but amazingly after 30 days my Crohn's went into total remission!
Well, fast forward 8 years later, and another extremely stressful time appeared again, and as expected, my Crohn's reared it's ugly head again. This time I tried a few Chinese herbalists, but none could cure me (the one from 2000 had moved back to China) I struggled and learned to live with the symptoms for about 3 years before I was hospitalized with an abscess at the terminal ilea. In the 3 years I was "ignoring" my Crohn's I developed a very bad stricture, and my colon was quite inflamed.
I was put on Prednisone, Cipro and Flagyl for months as the abscess came and went a few times, until I started having some serious side effects, and am now just on Sulfasalazine (knock on wood) which is working ok for me for now.... but my liver is starting to reject it.
Given the stricture, they can't scope me regularly (already had 3 ct scans in 4 mths), so now I'm faced with the decision of attempting more medications, or surgery of an Ileostomy or Colostomy with a bag for the rest of my life. And of course to top it off, this all coincides with the birth of our first baby as well!
Am I worried? Not really. I'm interested in hearing more from those who have had a Colostomy or Ileostomy and how things have gone. I guess my biggest concern is still being able to be active enough to ensure I can still take care of my wife and daughter given the situation.
Chiv.
