After poking around on this website for the past few days, I figured I'd join in and introduce myself.
So... I'm 31 years old, male, and I was just diagnosed with Crohn's yesterday. Can't say I was completely prepared for it. (The diagnosis isn't quite official, as we are waiting for the results of biopsies, but all signs point to the disease.)
At the end of last May, I ended up going to the hospital with intense stomach pains. Previous to this, I was pretty stressed out, and I had been taking more ibuprofen for back pain; all signs pointed to peptic ulcer disease and/or gastritis. I hopped on omeprazole (a proton-pump inhibitor, meant to stop my stomach from pumping acid like crazy) and was good for a little while... after my second visit to the hospital a couple months later, I finally headed to a gastroenterologist and had an endoscopy. Sure enough, I had gastritis, inflammation, and some healing ulcers, but I was feeling better and I was told to continue using the omeprazole and check back in a few months later.
Over the winter holiday, I started having lower GI problems while I was traveling and visiting my wife's family. At the time, I figured it was a separate problem that was perhaps unrelated to my tummy issues. Once we returned home, however, I was back in the hospital for the third time for yet more intense stomach pain. The ER nurses fixed me up with some morphine for the pain and a swig of something that resembled Maalox laced with novocaine (yuck); although I made mention of my recent diarrhea, there wasn't yet a clear connection.
Once I went back to the gastroenterologist for my follow-up appointment a couple days later (how convenient!), she was suspicious and we decided to do a second upper endoscopy. I had that done in mid-January, and the results still showed gastritis and duodenitis, which didn't add up -- I had quit using NSAIDs, which we had assumed was the root of the problem. In addition, my diarrhea hadn't let up either, which was additional cause for concern (and during this time, I was basically living off of a slightly expanded version of the BRAT diet, so it probably wasn't from the food I was eating.) She suggested that I have a blood and a stool test, and I agreed; I got off the omeprazole for a week in order to make sure the tests were accurate, and I waited for the results...
And there were no results. My gastrin levels in the blood were completely normal, there was no infection detected (parasites, C. Diff, etc.), so it was clear that some further investigation was going to be necessary. My gastroenterologist said that we'd have to do a colonoscopy and check for Crohn's, as my stomach problems could possibly be one of the symptoms of the disease.
Cut to yesterday morning: I awoke from my colonoscopy and was informed by my doctor that she suspected mild Crohn's disease. My ileum was moderately inflamed and had ulcers, and I had mild patchy erythema (redness) throughout my colon. In my doped-up state, I thanked the doctor and told her I was happy to have an answer; she prescribed some medications, and I'm going to call to schedule a follow-up soon.
Initially, I was happy to have a definitive answer as to why I wasn't feeling well, but now I'm not so sure. I'll admit, this has been tough to come to terms with, and I've been crying on-and-off all day. I'm sure it's pretty tough on my wife seeing me like this as well. Not fun.
I also know that the medicine that I've been prescribed -- if it works for me -- takes time. Before the colonoscopy I was switched to Dexilant as a PPI (in case the omeprazole was somehow causing my lower GI problems as an unfortunate side-effect), and I've now been prescribed Pentasa (and man, those are pills HUGE) and budesonide to get things under control. I started them yesterday.
Anyways, right now I'm kind of bouncing back and forth between optimism and despair, so I thought I'd share my story. You guys seem to have a pretty solid community going here, so hopefully you'll welcome me.
Thanks for reading.
So... I'm 31 years old, male, and I was just diagnosed with Crohn's yesterday. Can't say I was completely prepared for it. (The diagnosis isn't quite official, as we are waiting for the results of biopsies, but all signs point to the disease.)
At the end of last May, I ended up going to the hospital with intense stomach pains. Previous to this, I was pretty stressed out, and I had been taking more ibuprofen for back pain; all signs pointed to peptic ulcer disease and/or gastritis. I hopped on omeprazole (a proton-pump inhibitor, meant to stop my stomach from pumping acid like crazy) and was good for a little while... after my second visit to the hospital a couple months later, I finally headed to a gastroenterologist and had an endoscopy. Sure enough, I had gastritis, inflammation, and some healing ulcers, but I was feeling better and I was told to continue using the omeprazole and check back in a few months later.
Over the winter holiday, I started having lower GI problems while I was traveling and visiting my wife's family. At the time, I figured it was a separate problem that was perhaps unrelated to my tummy issues. Once we returned home, however, I was back in the hospital for the third time for yet more intense stomach pain. The ER nurses fixed me up with some morphine for the pain and a swig of something that resembled Maalox laced with novocaine (yuck); although I made mention of my recent diarrhea, there wasn't yet a clear connection.
Once I went back to the gastroenterologist for my follow-up appointment a couple days later (how convenient!), she was suspicious and we decided to do a second upper endoscopy. I had that done in mid-January, and the results still showed gastritis and duodenitis, which didn't add up -- I had quit using NSAIDs, which we had assumed was the root of the problem. In addition, my diarrhea hadn't let up either, which was additional cause for concern (and during this time, I was basically living off of a slightly expanded version of the BRAT diet, so it probably wasn't from the food I was eating.) She suggested that I have a blood and a stool test, and I agreed; I got off the omeprazole for a week in order to make sure the tests were accurate, and I waited for the results...
And there were no results. My gastrin levels in the blood were completely normal, there was no infection detected (parasites, C. Diff, etc.), so it was clear that some further investigation was going to be necessary. My gastroenterologist said that we'd have to do a colonoscopy and check for Crohn's, as my stomach problems could possibly be one of the symptoms of the disease.
Cut to yesterday morning: I awoke from my colonoscopy and was informed by my doctor that she suspected mild Crohn's disease. My ileum was moderately inflamed and had ulcers, and I had mild patchy erythema (redness) throughout my colon. In my doped-up state, I thanked the doctor and told her I was happy to have an answer; she prescribed some medications, and I'm going to call to schedule a follow-up soon.
Initially, I was happy to have a definitive answer as to why I wasn't feeling well, but now I'm not so sure. I'll admit, this has been tough to come to terms with, and I've been crying on-and-off all day. I'm sure it's pretty tough on my wife seeing me like this as well. Not fun.
I also know that the medicine that I've been prescribed -- if it works for me -- takes time. Before the colonoscopy I was switched to Dexilant as a PPI (in case the omeprazole was somehow causing my lower GI problems as an unfortunate side-effect), and I've now been prescribed Pentasa (and man, those are pills HUGE) and budesonide to get things under control. I started them yesterday.
Anyways, right now I'm kind of bouncing back and forth between optimism and despair, so I thought I'd share my story. You guys seem to have a pretty solid community going here, so hopefully you'll welcome me.
Thanks for reading.
