Introduction

[Cupcake]

Hello! I am a former twitter user, I have just now moved over to using bbs systems.

I am a 30 something mother of 1, and I have had crohn's disease since the age of 11. I was diagnosed then and had my first major flare. Back in those days we had very little options other than asacol, flagyl and prendisone!

I spent my 20's designing clothing for a living, living in Philly and NYC. After about 8 years living a very high stress lifestyle, and after having minor flare ups I moved to Kentucky to be with someone special, and to be closer to support system there. I was able to keep most of my symptoms under control by dietary modifications, and methods to avoid stress and anxiety.

After my daughter was born in 2010, I had a major change in my disease. I had developed fistulas, and I was put on Humira. I had initially great results with this treatment, but side effects forced me to go off the medication.

After attempting to gain access to a drug study, and not being accepted, I finally took the option to go on Remicade on October of 2011. I have had smooth sailing so far, with some minor issues. Hoping to work on getting back into better shape, and dealing with the anxiety and stress in my life which has made the last flare up I had seemingly endless.

Looking forward to sharing support with others suffering and healing from their own disease.

Take Care!

 

[mickey]

Congrats on your journey to better health!

 

[Gabismommy]

Congrats on your success fighting this disease! I hope things continue to go well. I am currently on Asacol and Prednisone. I have a fistula as well, does Humira help that? I'm still quite new to a lot of this as well. I am 21 years old and have only been officially diagnosed since the beginning of this year during what I assume was the end of a flare up. I was sick for about a year before that.

 

[Cupcake]

Congrats on your success fighting this disease! I hope things continue to go well. I am currently on Asacol and Prednisone. I have a fistula as well, does Humira help that? I'm still quite new to a lot of this as well. I am 21 years old and have only been officially diagnosed since the beginning of this year during what I assume was the end of a flare up. I was sick for about a year before that.

Gabi is my daughters name as well! Did you start to develop your issues following a pregnancy? I have found that seems to be a huge turning point for many people's disease. I was fine until my daughter was about 5 months old, and then I landed in the ER, so 'out of it' from anemia and the abscess that I was requiring blood transfusions.

Humira really did a lot to help my fistula. I had a MRI last year that showed one side had healed up, and I have felt less pain in the area, and no more abscesses. I am on remicade right now, hoping it will do the rest of the healing on the fistula. I have moved to a city with much better medical treatment, so if I have to, I'd be willing to find a surgical solution to my issues. I was the first patient my GI practice had ever treated with Humira, so it was a learning process for everyone.

 

[Gabismommy]

Really? Is it Gabrielle, Gabi, Gabriella? Mine is little Gabrielle. My entire world. Yes, it all began with the pregnancy. I had never had any symptoms before. My high school sweetheart even had Crohns and I remember feelin so bad for him. His was much more severe. Anyways, my little girl is now 15 months old. It started when I was about 7 or 8 months pregnant. Getting worse tummy pains than normal when I needed to go to the restroom. I thought maybe it was the pressure of a baby on my tummy. After I gave birth to Gabi it continued. I kept ignoring it thinking my body had just not recovered. It didn't occur to me that anything would be wrong because I have actually always been seemingly healthy. Over the months I started getting worse pains. Also I develops hemmroids for the first time. I kept vaguely mentioning to my mom and Gabi's father that I thought maybe having her tore my tummy up. It got to where I could not finish a meal without running to the restroom halfway through. After I did, I was okay and could finish eating. Since that was the only time I felt bad, I kept ignoring it. October of last year was when my body decided it had had enough of me ignoring its calls. I began being sick all the time. I lost 30+ pounds from the en of October to the beginning of January. I couldn't eat at all and was waking in the night to go to the restroom. I was in so much pain. I visited a doctor and she tested my blood and said I had a H.Pylori infection in my stomach and that 2 weeks of antibiotics should help. I finished those up an was actually doing worse. She did a chest x-ray and more blood work and couldn't figure out what to do. She referred me to a GI as an emergency appointment that very same day since I had lost 15 more pounds in the 2 weeks. The GI quickly set up an abdominal ultrasound and colonoscopy. I turned out to have gall stones as well as inflammation in the colon. Soooo now the fall bladder was removed on 1.13.12 and I feel a ton better due to that and meds. I just had surgery last week because I have a peri-rectal abscess and fistula. It's so odd to go from completely healthy to this so quickly!!

 

[Cupcake]

Yep! Her name is Gabriella. I call her Gabi or Gabs. She is 2 years old.

I had the most crazy, painful joint pain in my knees and my elbows while I was pregnant. I wrote it off as being just a pregnancy thing, but I think it might have been a sign I was having issues. I also had the worst heartburn of my life. I think now, looking back, It had to have been an esophageal crohn's issue, while I hadn't been diagnosed yet it was unbearable. I thought it was just a regular pregnancy heartburn side effect. I couldn't eat anything without getting sick!

I felt just flat out bad after my Gabi was born. I kept thinking, if this is how everyone feels after they have a baby, I don't understand how we aren't extinct yet! Body pain, still couldn't swallow or eat, going to the bathroom 15 times a day. I think a lot of new moms don't know the line between normal pregnancy or after issues, and don't seek treatment because there's not a lot of information out there to tell you what is more than just something that will pass!

I was hesitant to seek treatment for not feeling well after I had her because I thought all new moms deal with body pain and exhaustion. I saw a physical therapist who was a lot of help and explained that some muscle pain and joint pain was to be expected because of how your body changes during pregnancy. Even your bones move!

I think we need to start a thread if there isn't one on here already about women having serious issues flaring up either during or after pregnancy! It's something more people need to share their stories about. I honestly thought "why did this happen to me?" but I think it's given me relief to know it wasn't my fault that I had a flare up. In the past, when I got sick a lot of it had to do with my own actions, like eating an entire box of cashews. (bad idea!)\

I have thought about trying to interview many other moms who had their disease change or become a major factor after having children, and how they got through it. I found it was especially hard to deal with being sick and having postpartum depression issues!

 

[Angrybird]

Hi Cupcake, I just wanted to say welcome to the forum :bigwave: I hope the Remi can 'finish' the healing of the fistula and keeps you feelng well, it has done wonders for many here so fingers crossed!

 

[Crohn's Mom]

Hi Cupcake !

Just want to welcome you to the forum!
I hope the Remi does the job for you that Humira couldn't ..

By the way...my "baby" girls name is Gabrielle as well (she's 18 lol). Family doesn't call her Gabi, but her friends do