Hi Folks,
Thanks for letting me into the community. I came across the forum looking for some answers and guidance to my/our problem and having read through the forums for a while im relieved to have finally found somewhere were i think i can find some of them.
So far ive considered myself to be fortunate to suffer low level symptoms but now im beginning to be more concerned and have been trying to find out more information with increasing frustration. So with no better place to do so i guess ill start from the beginning and finish with some questions and then go back into the forum and try and lend some of my experience with others seeking knowledge.
In mid 2008 my father had surgery for Bowel Cancer and my doctor suggested i go to get myself checked out by a specialist due to some possibly linked symptoms id been exhibiting. When i had a colonoscopy the specialist found some inflammation in the colon and sent me for a Barium (spelling?) meal so they could check the small intestine. Well the one thing they tell you is the barium can cause bad constipation, yeah, not in me, 6 hours later i had real bad diarrhea and it didnt go away over the next day ro two. So being a fit and healthy guy i figured id just wait it out and it would be ok. So after a few days it hadnt cleared so i went back to my normal doctor who referred me back to the specialist but it took a couple of months to get back in. Weeks bed ridden with sever stabbing stomach pain unable to eat anything and losing weight like i couldnt believe (from 170 to 130lbs) i finally got back in to the specialist who apologised for the delay and told me i had Crohn Colitis.
They put me on Prednisone and after taking the first dose (8 tablets but not sure what size sorry) the pain stopped, after 2 days the other symptoms cleared as well. I was extremely and equally relieved and furious that the fix was so simple and instant and id suffered so much and so long but anyway, cant dwell in the past.
After completing the course of Pred (about 3 months including reducing them to finish) i went back and chatted with the specialist again and we talked about medication that could be taken for the rest of my life to help control the disease and to be quite honest the research that id done, confirmed by the specialist, told me that the side affects for all of them were pretty scary and, as this disease seemed to have only just presented itself (as a result of the Barium meal) i decided to see if i could manage the symptoms without the aid of medication.
On a subsequent visit to the specialist (a month later) I quickly realised that even though they had diagnosed me they seemed to be oblivious to the problems of living with it (when i asked how i would know if i was in remission or on a flare they smiled and said "oh, youll know if you have a flare up" real helpful !!) and things that could be done without medication to help so i set off on a journey on my own. Thankfully, i chanced on a new family doctor who took me on his patient list and when he heard i had Crohn spent 45 minutes telling me all he know about it, NSAIDS (ibuprofen etc) are a major trigger, the Osteoporosis etc i have in my lower back are a common side condition, your back hurts so you take ibuprofen which makes your Crohn worse which inflames your back more so more NSAID and so on... Doing some reading on the web i realised the Colon is chiefly responsible for drying the stool so i stopped drinking 45 minutes either side of eating which helped a lot an so i coped.
So, after a terrible 2009 and then my wife leaving to divorce me in Jan 2010 ( another struggle of a year) i decided that 2011 would be a good year. Back t0 good health and back to a good weight ive joined a gym and have an appointment to see a Nutritionist next week and that beings me to why im here.
I went to see my family doctor last week and explained that since coming off the Pred id been managing my symptoms but had been constant with watery at time but usually soft stool and gas making dashing off to the bathroom a regular but manageable thing. He prescribed something to help with that and it has but i have started with stomach ache and am not sure if its the Crohns or from exercising at the gym though something inside tells me thats just wishful thinking.
Sooooo, gee that was a bit more than i expected to write sorry.
Heres the things im hoping to learn more about
phew lol, hope someone can be bothered to read all that lol. If anyone can just, at the least, provide a link to a FAQ that answers some of this that would be awesome, but all contributions or indeed, questions i might be able to answer to help someone else, would be very happily received.
Cheers
Thanks for letting me into the community. I came across the forum looking for some answers and guidance to my/our problem and having read through the forums for a while im relieved to have finally found somewhere were i think i can find some of them.
So far ive considered myself to be fortunate to suffer low level symptoms but now im beginning to be more concerned and have been trying to find out more information with increasing frustration. So with no better place to do so i guess ill start from the beginning and finish with some questions and then go back into the forum and try and lend some of my experience with others seeking knowledge.
In mid 2008 my father had surgery for Bowel Cancer and my doctor suggested i go to get myself checked out by a specialist due to some possibly linked symptoms id been exhibiting. When i had a colonoscopy the specialist found some inflammation in the colon and sent me for a Barium (spelling?) meal so they could check the small intestine. Well the one thing they tell you is the barium can cause bad constipation, yeah, not in me, 6 hours later i had real bad diarrhea and it didnt go away over the next day ro two. So being a fit and healthy guy i figured id just wait it out and it would be ok. So after a few days it hadnt cleared so i went back to my normal doctor who referred me back to the specialist but it took a couple of months to get back in. Weeks bed ridden with sever stabbing stomach pain unable to eat anything and losing weight like i couldnt believe (from 170 to 130lbs) i finally got back in to the specialist who apologised for the delay and told me i had Crohn Colitis.
They put me on Prednisone and after taking the first dose (8 tablets but not sure what size sorry) the pain stopped, after 2 days the other symptoms cleared as well. I was extremely and equally relieved and furious that the fix was so simple and instant and id suffered so much and so long but anyway, cant dwell in the past.
After completing the course of Pred (about 3 months including reducing them to finish) i went back and chatted with the specialist again and we talked about medication that could be taken for the rest of my life to help control the disease and to be quite honest the research that id done, confirmed by the specialist, told me that the side affects for all of them were pretty scary and, as this disease seemed to have only just presented itself (as a result of the Barium meal) i decided to see if i could manage the symptoms without the aid of medication.
On a subsequent visit to the specialist (a month later) I quickly realised that even though they had diagnosed me they seemed to be oblivious to the problems of living with it (when i asked how i would know if i was in remission or on a flare they smiled and said "oh, youll know if you have a flare up" real helpful !!) and things that could be done without medication to help so i set off on a journey on my own. Thankfully, i chanced on a new family doctor who took me on his patient list and when he heard i had Crohn spent 45 minutes telling me all he know about it, NSAIDS (ibuprofen etc) are a major trigger, the Osteoporosis etc i have in my lower back are a common side condition, your back hurts so you take ibuprofen which makes your Crohn worse which inflames your back more so more NSAID and so on... Doing some reading on the web i realised the Colon is chiefly responsible for drying the stool so i stopped drinking 45 minutes either side of eating which helped a lot an so i coped.
So, after a terrible 2009 and then my wife leaving to divorce me in Jan 2010 ( another struggle of a year) i decided that 2011 would be a good year. Back t0 good health and back to a good weight ive joined a gym and have an appointment to see a Nutritionist next week and that beings me to why im here.
I went to see my family doctor last week and explained that since coming off the Pred id been managing my symptoms but had been constant with watery at time but usually soft stool and gas making dashing off to the bathroom a regular but manageable thing. He prescribed something to help with that and it has but i have started with stomach ache and am not sure if its the Crohns or from exercising at the gym though something inside tells me thats just wishful thinking.
Sooooo, gee that was a bit more than i expected to write sorry.
Heres the things im hoping to learn more about
- Remission or Flare? as i said ive not had pain since the initial Pred but have the problems with soft stool and gas but i just realised i have no idea at all if that is actually a flare up or if remission means i should have no symptoms at all or am i doing pretty well and am lucky indeed to have a manageable case?
- Could taking a single dose of the meds the doc gave me brought back on the start of pain im feeling again now?
- Can i expect to stay at this level for the rest of my life? or is this a disease that is going to increase in severity as i get older (im 37 now)
- was i right in being so afraid of the medications side affects? could something very low level completely remove my symptoms while posing no side affects?
- Could taking a single dose of the meds the doc gave me brought back on the start of pain im feeling again now?
- Can i expect to stay at this level for the rest of my life? or is this a disease that is going to increase in severity as i get older (im 37 now)
- was i right in being so afraid of the medications side affects? could something very low level completely remove my symptoms while posing no side affects?
phew lol, hope someone can be bothered to read all that lol. If anyone can just, at the least, provide a link to a FAQ that answers some of this that would be awesome, but all contributions or indeed, questions i might be able to answer to help someone else, would be very happily received.
Cheers
And well to tell you truthfully, I just hated the stuff so much so did not go to the doc. Cause if you don't go, they can't prescribe. Good luck and keep coming back to the forum. Most people here are very well informed and you can find just about anything here.
