Hi everyone. First of all, thank you for keeping this forum going :ysmile:. This forum was one of the first really comforting information sources I found out there. It was great to hear that I wasn’t the only one confused and scared about what it means to have a chronic lifelong disease. I just wasn’t brave enough to own up to it yet. So here goes. :ack:
I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease a little over a year ago, though I'd been having too-painful-to-walk stomachaches for about four years. I’d been to the emergency room twice, and both times I’d been sent home with no explanation for the pain. They just couldn’t figure it out.
I tried to be strong and didn’t allow myself to “whine” over “just a stomachache,” because I didn’t think anyone would take me seriously. When the pain got so bad that I couldn’t walk, I came up with elaborate excuses to skip class, work, or my friend’s invitations to hang out because I thought if I said I had a stomachache people wouldn’t believe me. They’d think I was just making up excuses. So I started playing a lot of online games to fill all the lonely time.
If there's one good thing that came of all this, it's that I'm now spending more time with my family, and that becoming a gamer girl introduced me to my future husband
(getting married in December! :heart.
I probably would have kept on living my life like that, but in the summer of 2011 my brother got diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. He’d been having stomachaches for months. And for months I’d been telling him to stop being such a sissy, it’s just a stomachache, deal with it. It sounds really horrible now, knowing that he was suffering from stomach ulcers, but when I think about it, I feel sad for myself too. After all, that’s what I’d been doing for years and years.
Long story short, my parents got paranoid about everyone’s stomachaches and sent me and one of my sisters to do bloodwork and colonoscopies. We both came back positive for Crohn’s, too. Our family just got really lucky that way.
Well, it turns out that a lot of Crohn’s Disease patients have stories like mine. Why is that? Why do doctors and hospitals not know how to recognize signs of IBS, Crohn’s, or UC? My brother entered remission about three months after diagnosis and treatment with Imuran and Pentasa. He started working out and eating healthy, and now feels better than he ever has in his life – and looks great, too. My sister has only just now started treatment, and it’s looking good.
A year and a half later, I’m still waiting for my happy ending. How long does it usually take to reach remission? How many treatments do I have to go through? After 8 months of Remicade, my bloodwork returns pristine, but I still have painful stomachaches. My doctor says that over my four years of untreated ulcers, I may have developed some difficult scar tissue, or Fibrostenotic Crohn's. Has anyone else had this happen? What tests can confirm that there is scar tissue? We’re starting to talk surgery - and I really don't like that idea.
I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease a little over a year ago, though I'd been having too-painful-to-walk stomachaches for about four years. I’d been to the emergency room twice, and both times I’d been sent home with no explanation for the pain. They just couldn’t figure it out.
I tried to be strong and didn’t allow myself to “whine” over “just a stomachache,” because I didn’t think anyone would take me seriously. When the pain got so bad that I couldn’t walk, I came up with elaborate excuses to skip class, work, or my friend’s invitations to hang out because I thought if I said I had a stomachache people wouldn’t believe me. They’d think I was just making up excuses. So I started playing a lot of online games to fill all the lonely time.
If there's one good thing that came of all this, it's that I'm now spending more time with my family, and that becoming a gamer girl introduced me to my future husband
(getting married in December! :heart. I probably would have kept on living my life like that, but in the summer of 2011 my brother got diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. He’d been having stomachaches for months. And for months I’d been telling him to stop being such a sissy, it’s just a stomachache, deal with it. It sounds really horrible now, knowing that he was suffering from stomach ulcers, but when I think about it, I feel sad for myself too. After all, that’s what I’d been doing for years and years.
Long story short, my parents got paranoid about everyone’s stomachaches and sent me and one of my sisters to do bloodwork and colonoscopies. We both came back positive for Crohn’s, too. Our family just got really lucky that way.
Well, it turns out that a lot of Crohn’s Disease patients have stories like mine. Why is that? Why do doctors and hospitals not know how to recognize signs of IBS, Crohn’s, or UC? My brother entered remission about three months after diagnosis and treatment with Imuran and Pentasa. He started working out and eating healthy, and now feels better than he ever has in his life – and looks great, too. My sister has only just now started treatment, and it’s looking good.
A year and a half later, I’m still waiting for my happy ending. How long does it usually take to reach remission? How many treatments do I have to go through? After 8 months of Remicade, my bloodwork returns pristine, but I still have painful stomachaches. My doctor says that over my four years of untreated ulcers, I may have developed some difficult scar tissue, or Fibrostenotic Crohn's. Has anyone else had this happen? What tests can confirm that there is scar tissue? We’re starting to talk surgery - and I really don't like that idea.
