It all started out with Achne...

[Angela]

It all started out with Acne...

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Before I begin I probably should warn you that my post will be long, not particularly because I have a lot to say, but because I tend to story-tell and anything I write takes a story tone. If anything I feel like I only have myself to blame. My lifestyle had changed drastically this year. In the fall I moved out of my parents house to live closer to the university that I recently got accepted to. My first year in my masters degree program. I moved in with my cousin (pre-med student) and we tried to make a cozy little student life for ourselves.

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It started with stress. Stress from classes, stress from deadlines, stress from work, stress from paying bills and to tell the truth my lifestyle changed in such a way that I was constantly stressing and never devoting any time to keeping myself in good health (mentally or physically). I started having D. Considering the fact that my daily schedule was as follows..

Go to Uni in the a.m. (usually running late) eat lunch in the cafe, rush to work after classes, go back to uni after 7 till about 2 a.m. go home eat something, sleep for about 5 hours then start over again​

Results: fevers (up to a few times per week), exhaustion, D, Acne.

It was the acne that gave me away. My mom saw my skin and insisted that I go with her to the dermatologist. Also, the nails on my thumbs have been growing strangely for almost a year and she thought it wouldn't hurt for them to take a look at that too. We went, and after a few months of treatment we saw it wasn't really getting better (and all the while I had D). The dermatologist suggested I go see a doctor for my intestines, as acne is a sign of bad digestion, since I had bad digestion I figured it made sense. We went to a doctor, explained the situation, he said you have to stay in the hospital for about a week. A week in the hospital for some acne and D? Madness!! What about work? What about classes? Forget this! So I ignored it... Till other problems started creeping up. I started bleeding... Turned out I had a hemorrhoid but a colonoscopy was in order to double check.​

That's when they found it. It looks like Crohn's disease they told me. You should get more testing done. Thankfully I was on vacation both from classes and work let me go (they didn't really have much of a choice). I'm now hospitalized, and while they keep saying "it looks like Crohn's" they still don't know for sure, and while I've been here (for about 2 nights, I'm on my way to my third night now) I've been given IV's, pills, medipred (a lighter form of prednisone, or so I've been told), they found out that I'm anemic, that I have low blood pressure, that my heart beats too fast, and at this point I just feel like I'm falling apart. After my colonoscopy I started feeling pain. Pain then the sudden urge to go to the broom for another glorious pain relieving bout of D.​

So now what? I'm not too thrilled about going on any form of hormonal treatment. I'd rather get treated NOW while I'm on vacation than in a week when my classes start for my second quarter :/ *sigh* I've decided to be more zealous with my diet, though I don't know how to change the lifestyle I've had. Work school work school, I WANT to take yoga, treat myself better, cook food at home to take with me to school/work, but that takes time, precious time that I don't feel like I have. Health before everything, I know, but it's going to be tough making that kind of a transition.​

Anyways, I don't know what to say at this point. One more night at the hospital then they'll let me go home and celebrate New Years Eve at home with my family. It's later on that I'm worried about, when the stress comes back at me in full blast. I've been reading some of your posts and it has been both relieving and horrifying at the same time. I wish you all good health and healing for the coming New Year ​

^I realize this is more of a rant than an introductory post but I needed to vent somehow Thanks for your patience
-Angela

 

[MADiMarc]

Angela,
Welcome! Not much of a rant, hon! You should see some of my posts. I'm thinking of becoming a professional! .
Yes, stress does make things difficult. We can't avoid it all. I did the same as you through grad school so I understand. Look, do the best you can do. Don't be down on yourself about it.
Come "rant" here any time. We have many, many good listeners!
Good luck,
Michele

 

[Snap]

Welcome, Angela

:ytongue: HI Angela--yikes you are really going thru it! Okay, after your colonoscopy when they said that it looks like Crohn's---did they do multiple random biopsies of your colon (hope so)? Another question---does it hurt after you eat something? Another question----does your abdomen hurt all of the time or does it get better after you poo? I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in 2000. I was siiiiiiiiccccccccckkkkk bad, took about 3 weeks for the diagnosis--but it was such a fast mover. I had massive weight loss, anemia, sepsis, the big D, pain, etc. Are you on any antibiotics? At first onset, the Dr. had me on big prednisone doses, Flagyl, and another antibiotic called Rifampin. The guts are just nasty, aren't they? And the things they make you do so the Dr. can evaluate them adds insult to injury! You hang in there and keep in touch with everyone here. This is a great site--the people here are lifesavers--I am so glad that I found this site---you discover really quickly that you aren't alone and the advice you get is priceless!:cheers:
Snap (Dana)

 

[David]

HI Angela and welcome!

I know this sounds weird, but the thing about your post that jumped out at me the most was your nails growing strange. Out of curiosity, are they "spoon shaped", do they have lines under them, white spots, or something else? I ask because the vast majority of the time if you have Crohn's Disease and weird nail growth, it's due to a vitamin or mineral deficiency.

I'm really glad you joined and hope you keep us updated as to your progress.

 

[Angela]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome

First question, Dana, yes they did take a (singular?) biopsy, and they said that it did not particularly show positive for Crohn's but that only 40% of Crohn's sufferers actually DO come up with a positive biopsy result and that it wasn't enough to rule Crohn's out, keeping in mind that "it shows the signs of being Crohn's." Trouble is, I live in Armenia, and while I consider myself "fluent" in the language, I only learned it 7 years ago, and when it comes to medical terminology I can't say that I'm too expert at it. The doctors also tend not to share with their patients unless you ask... somewhat relentlessly Anyways, I'm trying to understand as much as I can given the language barrier and the general confusion that comes with the situation itself. After a few days on the treatment they've given I feel somewhat better, though I still have D, my skin has randomly decided to clear up (slightly), which I guess is due to something other than the medipred (which I've been told may make acne worse...). And I'm trailing off again..

Question 2: I only started getting pain AFTER the colonoscopy. Before I had things that I didn't even know were related to Crohn's (not having known what Crohn's was) such as joint pain in my knees, fevers, fatigue. I just assumed it was a result of over exhaustion or something. After the colonoscopy though I started getting pain soon after eating, and it would go away after I went to the bathroom, after being on treatment however, I found that I would get pain even when I don't have to go to the bathroom. It might last for a few minutes, then go away at random. But usually if I go to the bathroom the pain also goes away. As for my bum hurting, I assume it's from the hemorrhoid -____- after putting some cream on it for a while the pain went away, along with the bleeding.

Question 3: Am I on antibiotics? I think so, the doctors gave me so many different kinds of medications that I don't really know what's what anymore. Is that normal for Crohn's patients? I mean, I saw a few people putting their treatment as a signature (It's helpful, I'll try doing it myself) but I don't know if any of my meds are the same but with the Russian name? ( Most meds are imported from Russia here...). Also I wonder, is it normal for people to take so many meds SIMULTANEOUSLY? I mean I trust my doctors to not combine the meds so that they're harmful, but still...

On to David. My thumb nails have been growing out of shape for roundabouts a year now. Spoon shaped describes it pretty well. It grows pitted then peaks, like waves, and there are a bunch of lines. (like someone took a hammer and a nail and had a field day on them -____-). They kinda make me self conscious. I was told that it could be a vitamin or mineral deficiency from the doctors here, but they seemed stumped as to WHICH vitamins or minerals I'm missing :/ I think that they are hoping that with treatment of Crohn's this will pass too. But they are also worried (and scaring me) about the possible spread of it to my other nails :s making me an unhappy camper.

Anyways, I'm out of the hospital today back home! My doc recommended that I wear a face mask for safe measures as the medication I'm on will weaken my immune system and my dad JUST got over a flu. Interesting home remedy for stopping the spread of viruses within the house, small cups or plates with vodka and crushed garlic throughout the house lol Gotta hand it to traditional Armenian doctors for giving some of the most ancient pieces of advice

Thanks again for the welcome!
Angela

Treatment so far...
Flagyl
Medipred
Smecta
Enterogermina
Mesalazine
Duspatalin
Omeprazole

 

[David]

Hi Angela,

Based upon your description, do your thumbnails look like this? If not and you'd like to share a picture, I bet I can figure out which vitamin or mineral deficiency is causing it.

 

[Angela]

Hmm actually no, the lines on my nails go horizontally across them, and the bumps and grooves are like dents and hills of the nail itself growing weird. I'll attempt uploading some pics so you get the idea, hopefully it will work, and sorry for the bad quality

 

[David]

Those are great pictures Angela. Looking at this site I would personally guess median nail dystrophy (searching more for it, it even says a "fir shape" and that it usually just affects the thumbs, though I couldn't find any compelling vitamin/mineral deficiency associations) and MAYBE Koilonychia as well which is from iron deficiency.

Looks like quite a bit of inflammation as well at the base. I'm not educated enough to know what that might mean, sorry.

Out of curiosity, do you text message with your thumbs a lot?

 

[Angela]

Wow after googling "median nail" images I'd have to agree with you, it looks like that's what I have, but it still doesn't explain the hump.. I mean my nail doesn't spoon inwards per se, it's... bumpy? Anyways, I'm a nail biter :s I've been one since I was 12 years old, though not constantly, usually when I'm nervous, or watching an intense movie, or during classes. I also have this habit of picking away at my cuticles (this I do constantly...), which may explain the inflammation at the base of my nails. aaanndd I do text message with my thumbs... a lot.
btw thanks for your help, I had pretty much given up hope on my nails at this point!

 

[ekay03]

I was just glancing at this thread and I saw that second pic and that looks just like my thumb nail! I pick at my cuticle too. I figured it must be some sort of thumb injury. Just my 2 cents

 

[Angela]

Mystery of the nail solved! Turns out it was my own doing. My habit of rubbing and picking at the cuticles caused this deformation. Apparently it's called Habit Tic Deformity. Gonna try covering it up with tape for a while and make a conscious effort to leave my cuticles well alone!! Gah, as if Crohn's wasn't enough