Hello, I am new here but not so new to CD. I have really learned a lot by reading about many of your very different experiences. I appreciate this site tremendously and have found it so helpful and encouraging. There are things I have struggled with all my life but which I never associated with the disease until reading that many other CD sufferers struggle with many of the same issues.
I was diagnosed in 1999 at the age of 27 and at the time I thought my symptoms came completely out of the blue and that the disease had just suddenly appeared. In retrospect, I am sure I had it for most of my life! I vomited very frequently as a child and in my teen years had lots of embarrassing bowel troubles which led to me basically becoming anorexic and havea social phobia because I was afraid of the humiliation I experienced when I would eat and have extremely loud bowel sounds and sometimes diarrhea too. The stress I experienced and the irregular eating I think made things even worse. Somehow though I struggled through highschool and five agonizing years of college all the time thinking I was just very weird. I never shared my emotional pain and fears with anyone because I didn't know there was a physical basis behind it all. Just now, after reading posts here, are the lights beginning to come on!
I got married and had two healthy babies before I started having a major flare up. It was right after my third child, who was born very small and now has learning and other neurological issues ( because of undiagnosed CD in me??), that I began feeling really sick. I began having highfevers, back pain, headaches and couldn't even stand up long enough to get myself ready in the mornings because of fatigue. But I never dreamed it had anything to do with my bowel because I had no pain at the time and the loose, urgent stools I had always had I thought were normal! The only thing my GP found was that my blood count was very low so he tested for occult blood in my stool and it was positive. Within days of that finding I finally did experience what seemed like labor contractions and severe pain after eating some chili. After extensive testing and two blood transfusions My GI doc finally diagnosed me as having CD. My flare lasted 2 months only. Instead of taking the steroids and pentasa, I tried the natural route first since my uncle is a naturopath. He gave me Ultra InflamX by Metagenics which worked wonders and even put me in remission. I continued to follow up with the GI doc for a year or so then assumed I was healed! I was still pretty ignorant of the disease and thought that as long as I didn't have a fever or bleeding that the disease was gone.
So fast forward 11 years to today. Lately I have been having very bad pain in my upper left quadrant and sometimes in the middle of my abdomen above my navel, especially when I eat. Also, I have always had very sharp pains in my lower right which I always thought were related to my ovary (even though no one has ever found any cyst or anything there and I have had it checked a few times). Now I am beginning to wonder if it has been crohn's all along. I frequently feel as if I am coming down with something, like I have a low grade fever (even though it doesn't get above 99) and my abdomen usually aches. Other than that I have no other symptoms that I know of except the usual urgent, loose stools in the mornings. It is not like when I was first diagnosed and yet I know what I am experiencing is not normal. I went to my doctor but problem is I now live in Namibia where there is only one GI doc who is a three hour's drive away! My regular doc says she never sees CD patients only UC. She called someone to find out what to do and decided to put me on asacol to see if my symptoms clear. If not, then she will schedule me for a colonoscopy. I feel though as if I am being paranoid or a hypochondriac especially since I do not have the obvious symptoms.
I know I obviously do not have it nearly as bad as many people do and I am thankful that so far my symptoms have been pretty mild with the exception of my initial bout. I have had lots of questions though and look forward to being a part of this forum! I know my post was LONG!! If you have read it, thank you for your patience!! : )
I was diagnosed in 1999 at the age of 27 and at the time I thought my symptoms came completely out of the blue and that the disease had just suddenly appeared. In retrospect, I am sure I had it for most of my life! I vomited very frequently as a child and in my teen years had lots of embarrassing bowel troubles which led to me basically becoming anorexic and havea social phobia because I was afraid of the humiliation I experienced when I would eat and have extremely loud bowel sounds and sometimes diarrhea too. The stress I experienced and the irregular eating I think made things even worse. Somehow though I struggled through highschool and five agonizing years of college all the time thinking I was just very weird. I never shared my emotional pain and fears with anyone because I didn't know there was a physical basis behind it all. Just now, after reading posts here, are the lights beginning to come on!
I got married and had two healthy babies before I started having a major flare up. It was right after my third child, who was born very small and now has learning and other neurological issues ( because of undiagnosed CD in me??), that I began feeling really sick. I began having highfevers, back pain, headaches and couldn't even stand up long enough to get myself ready in the mornings because of fatigue. But I never dreamed it had anything to do with my bowel because I had no pain at the time and the loose, urgent stools I had always had I thought were normal! The only thing my GP found was that my blood count was very low so he tested for occult blood in my stool and it was positive. Within days of that finding I finally did experience what seemed like labor contractions and severe pain after eating some chili. After extensive testing and two blood transfusions My GI doc finally diagnosed me as having CD. My flare lasted 2 months only. Instead of taking the steroids and pentasa, I tried the natural route first since my uncle is a naturopath. He gave me Ultra InflamX by Metagenics which worked wonders and even put me in remission. I continued to follow up with the GI doc for a year or so then assumed I was healed! I was still pretty ignorant of the disease and thought that as long as I didn't have a fever or bleeding that the disease was gone.
So fast forward 11 years to today. Lately I have been having very bad pain in my upper left quadrant and sometimes in the middle of my abdomen above my navel, especially when I eat. Also, I have always had very sharp pains in my lower right which I always thought were related to my ovary (even though no one has ever found any cyst or anything there and I have had it checked a few times). Now I am beginning to wonder if it has been crohn's all along. I frequently feel as if I am coming down with something, like I have a low grade fever (even though it doesn't get above 99) and my abdomen usually aches. Other than that I have no other symptoms that I know of except the usual urgent, loose stools in the mornings. It is not like when I was first diagnosed and yet I know what I am experiencing is not normal. I went to my doctor but problem is I now live in Namibia where there is only one GI doc who is a three hour's drive away! My regular doc says she never sees CD patients only UC. She called someone to find out what to do and decided to put me on asacol to see if my symptoms clear. If not, then she will schedule me for a colonoscopy. I feel though as if I am being paranoid or a hypochondriac especially since I do not have the obvious symptoms.
I know I obviously do not have it nearly as bad as many people do and I am thankful that so far my symptoms have been pretty mild with the exception of my initial bout. I have had lots of questions though and look forward to being a part of this forum! I know my post was LONG!! If you have read it, thank you for your patience!! : )
