Hi all,
I was diagnosed with crohns in May this year after 2 years of symptoms (that were supposedly stress induced). I had severe inflammation in my large bowel and stomach. I've had 2 flare ups since my diagnosis, the original flare which led to diagnosis and one because I was going off of prednisolone. I'm now off the pred (thank goodness). I did have an upset tummy for a week after being off but that cleared up and I am now pred free. I am on azathioprine for my crohn's and that's it.
I also have ibs (yay me) and am on a low FODMAP diet. This has been working and I haven't bloated for weeks yay! However I am currently getting other weird symptoms.
I guess I'm quite worried because I haven't had these symptoms before, especially all at once! I'm very concerned because it's affecting my job. I work at a dog daycare so I'm on my feet 3+ days a week and it is absolutely exhausting me. I took a week off to try to recuperate but it hasn't helped at all, I go back tomorrow and am terrified. My boss is pretty lenient but we don't have a lot of staff members so my absence is noticed and is significant. I love my job and hate not feeling my best. It can become an unsafe situation if I go and am not well as I have to constantly be on the ball as there are a lot of dogs who don't get along. When I'm sick and working all I want to do is lie down in the corner which I obviously can't. It also gets very hard as several dogs jump. This can be really dangerous for me as they often paw me right in the tummy where I'm sore which really hurts! I'm really worried about my future as this is the business I want to get into but my day to day life is so tiring I can barely handle the three 6 hour shifts a week, let alone investing my time and money into opening my own business.
I'm just a bit confused about my symptoms at the moment. I'm not sure if it's a flare or not because it feels quite different to my previous two. I'm tired all of the time where before it was maybe one or two days a fortnight (I'm pretty lucky usually). I'm sleeping at least 10 hours a day (I usually only need 8) and anything under that I feel even more tired.
I do not have blood in my stools which have previously been my biggest indication of a flare. I'm also not hugely sore during a movement. However I get an incredible sense of urgency to go to the loo. I will sit there for 10-15 minutes with the same sense of urgency before anything happens, sometimes nothing will happen at all. My toilet trips usually leave me feeling even more tired. I don't always feel sore in the gut but I get this weird "looseness", "tenderness", "sensitivity" feeling in my gut (particularly tummy) which I haven't had before. It's often followed by nausea. I usually have to lie down after.
During the day I'm constantly tired, but sometimes worse than other times. I can feel like I can cope (still tired but can go to work) then all of a sudden it hits me and I feel incredibly sick. I feel completely lack of energy, often nauseous and sometimes a headache. I had a fever once but I also had a sinus infection at the time so who knows.
Unfortunately my specialist is away on holidays and his stand in isn't available until January! I have a gp appointment on friday and am hoping to work out what's going on and whether I should find another specialist in the mean time.
Sorry that was so long! It's really nice to vent. Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Any advice would be really helpful thanks!
Sarah
I was diagnosed with crohns in May this year after 2 years of symptoms (that were supposedly stress induced). I had severe inflammation in my large bowel and stomach. I've had 2 flare ups since my diagnosis, the original flare which led to diagnosis and one because I was going off of prednisolone. I'm now off the pred (thank goodness). I did have an upset tummy for a week after being off but that cleared up and I am now pred free. I am on azathioprine for my crohn's and that's it.
I also have ibs (yay me) and am on a low FODMAP diet. This has been working and I haven't bloated for weeks yay! However I am currently getting other weird symptoms.
I guess I'm quite worried because I haven't had these symptoms before, especially all at once! I'm very concerned because it's affecting my job. I work at a dog daycare so I'm on my feet 3+ days a week and it is absolutely exhausting me. I took a week off to try to recuperate but it hasn't helped at all, I go back tomorrow and am terrified. My boss is pretty lenient but we don't have a lot of staff members so my absence is noticed and is significant. I love my job and hate not feeling my best. It can become an unsafe situation if I go and am not well as I have to constantly be on the ball as there are a lot of dogs who don't get along. When I'm sick and working all I want to do is lie down in the corner which I obviously can't. It also gets very hard as several dogs jump. This can be really dangerous for me as they often paw me right in the tummy where I'm sore which really hurts! I'm really worried about my future as this is the business I want to get into but my day to day life is so tiring I can barely handle the three 6 hour shifts a week, let alone investing my time and money into opening my own business.
I'm just a bit confused about my symptoms at the moment. I'm not sure if it's a flare or not because it feels quite different to my previous two. I'm tired all of the time where before it was maybe one or two days a fortnight (I'm pretty lucky usually). I'm sleeping at least 10 hours a day (I usually only need 8) and anything under that I feel even more tired.
I do not have blood in my stools which have previously been my biggest indication of a flare. I'm also not hugely sore during a movement. However I get an incredible sense of urgency to go to the loo. I will sit there for 10-15 minutes with the same sense of urgency before anything happens, sometimes nothing will happen at all. My toilet trips usually leave me feeling even more tired. I don't always feel sore in the gut but I get this weird "looseness", "tenderness", "sensitivity" feeling in my gut (particularly tummy) which I haven't had before. It's often followed by nausea. I usually have to lie down after.
During the day I'm constantly tired, but sometimes worse than other times. I can feel like I can cope (still tired but can go to work) then all of a sudden it hits me and I feel incredibly sick. I feel completely lack of energy, often nauseous and sometimes a headache. I had a fever once but I also had a sinus infection at the time so who knows.
Unfortunately my specialist is away on holidays and his stand in isn't available until January! I have a gp appointment on friday and am hoping to work out what's going on and whether I should find another specialist in the mean time.
Sorry that was so long! It's really nice to vent. Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Any advice would be really helpful thanks!
Sarah
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