Jennifer went to the E.R.

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afidz

afidz

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Jen sent me a message earlier this afternoon telling me that she was in a lot of pain in her abdomen and back and that she was going to the E.R.
They did a CT scan and found the beginning of a small obstruction and a possible adhesion, and she is possibly flaring. (After 14 years :( )
She is resting right now while they contact a GI to see whats next. She may be admitted.

Jen is such an invaluable member on this forum and helps so many. Please keep her in your thoughts and hope that she can get through this quickly and go back into remission soon.
 
Oh no, thank you for the update. I hope they can get things sorted! She will be in my thoughts and prayers!
 
She is being admitted to get IV antibiotics and steroids for a day or two
 
Awww Jen that sucks big time :(

I hope you are able to figure something out as far as treatment goes. Get some rest and take it day by day :hug:
 
Sorry to hear Jen!!! I hope it's a one-off situation and can be cleared up soon!!! Thinking of you! :ghug:
 
Oh no, I so hate to hear this !!

I hope you feel better quickly Crabby !!
big giant (virtual) hugs your way!

:ghug::ghug::ghug:


thanks for the updates afidz
 
Oh no! I am so very sorry to hear this Crabby...:hug:

I hope the meds kick in and give you relief ASAP!

:goodluck: and :getwell:

Thanks for posting afidz. :smile:

Dusty. xxx
 
Thanks for the post afidz
Get well soon Jennifer

hugs and best wishes
Trysha
 
So sorry Jen, That sucks so bad. I hope the meds they give you will get you back on your feet and home soon. Sending )))BIG((( hugs your way!!
 
Poor Jen, sending this card with love, as always xxx
 

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She sent me a text earlier, she is feeling much better. The xrays she had this morning showed no signs of the obstruction. They are putting her on a clear liquid diet tonight and she may go home tomorrow if all goes well. They are going to keep her on prednisone until she can see her GI and they can discuss further treatment options.
 
Thanks for updating afidz. :)

Fingers, toes and everything else crossed that all keeps heading into positive territory Crabby! Good luck!

Dusty. :heart:
 
Thanks for posting afidz. Sending lots of positive thoughts and prayers your way Jen hope it all gets sorted out quickly.
 
Jen is being discharged today, I imagine she will be on later this evening with updates
 
I'm home now. Thank you everyone for your well wishes! :D I would have posted earlier today but I can't for the life of me remember my password cause as admin I made it so long and complicated even I don't know it. :p

I was in a lot of pain and did have a partial blockage in my small bowel. CT scan showed patchy inflammation consistent with Crohn's. Lucky me I get to follow up with my GI, the guy who told me last week that my symptoms were likely just IBS as my CRP was only at 10 (apparently not high enough for my GI).

I'll be on Prednisone for a couple weeks it looks like, starting at 40mg. I fought that tooth and nail believe me but my doctor at the hospital contacted my cardiologist to make sure it was ok (he's the guy who told me to never take it again, guess he doesn't recall that conversation).

Being on this forum for so long and learning all that you do, its annoying when doctors fight with you over treatment saying what meds work well where when you know for a fact that they're wrong. I had to have a heart to heart with my nurse about it because it was so irritating. :p

My symptoms have been slowly returning since I started being a caregiver for my grandpa back in 2010 (TONS of stress). Then there were multiple med changes to correct it early 2012 (went off 6MP after having to up the dose twice, then Humira, then Remicade, now still on Methotrexate). Now I'm in a flare. I figured this would happen, took longer than I thought though. A fairly mild one for me though. No bleeding and the pain and partial blockage went away after being treated with IV steroids, Solu-Medrol (I did not get antibiotics like I thought I was going to, one doctor says one thing but one does another so no antibiotics). The complete bowel rest was only for two days so not too bad.

I am very tired. Probably wont be online much for a couple days or at least until I'm feeling a bit better. I'm fairly weak, have Bambi legs and am light headed. I have minor amusing stories to tell but I'll wait on those for now as I should take a nap at least. :p
 
Thanks for your update Jen:)

Wish things could be easier on you. Please, take your time coming back if you need to. Your health is much more important right now. We're all here for you. Sending more hugs your way. :ghug:
 
Thanks for posting Crabby...:ghug:

It is so fab to hear that you are home. :):):)

I hope the follow up appointment goes well and you able to get back into a very long and lasting remission. Good luck!

Sending tons of love and healing thoughts your way! :heart:

Dusty. xxx
 
PS. Oh and rest up! Your health is the most important thing. We Mods will do our best to not destroy the place! :ybiggrin:
 
My GI will be out of town until July 25th. So I told the receptionist to have him call me to let me know what he'd like me to do. I'm not staying on Prednisone till he gets back. I also left a message with my Rheumatologist (the doctor who prescribed Methotrexate, Humira and Remicade, makes my GI look lazy right?) hoping to get an appointment with him. Everything is up in the air at the moment. :/
 
Ugh. :(

I hope you can in to see the Rheumi soon and the GI gets his act together and rings you!

Now go and rest! :lol:

Dusty. xxx
 
I'm glad you're home now. It is frustrating when yo know more than the doctors about your body and they don't listen. Rest up and feel better!
 
I'm so happy you are back. Please rest up, don't worry about the forum. You need to get your health and energy back. You are a smart and strong person and I'm confident that with your treatment team you will be on the right track soon.
 
Jen, glad to hear you are home! I would fight the Pred too! It makes me feel awful, worse than Crohn's! Wishing you a restful weekend! 😊


Currently taking Humira 40 mg weekly and Azathioprine 150mg daily.

Crohn's Dx June 2011, primarily in the TI some in the colon.

Past meds: Entocort, prednisone and Pentasa.
 
Glad you are a bit better.

When will some doctors ever learn that normal CRP/ESR DOES NOT MEAN no flare in people with Crohn's...garrrgggh.
It's a real bug bear of mine. All of us who have active disease and normal inflammatory markers should do a protest march to raise awareness and save a few segments of bowel!!

Have a good rest and enjoy those delightful supplement drinks ;-))
 
Jenn,
I hope everything is getting better for you. While we were in chat last night my laptop did a re-boot on its own and it took a while to get it up and back into the chatroom, sorry about that, I didn't want you to think I left you hanging.

Jenn, you have been a really BIG help in my recovery. When I first came to crohnsforum.com I was in a flair, just retired and I can remember you telling me, "You will get well again and have a GREAT retirement" I never thought that would happen but it did and now I'm really digg'n my retirement to the max. Thank you Jenn for ALL the support you have given me and everyone else here. You have ALWAYS went above and beyond what most would do to help others when called upon. You are truly a wonderful person.

I hope and pray that you have a speedy recovery. If there is anything I can do to make things better for you please call on me. After all, I only live about 3 hours from you.

Your Friend,

Jim (POPS)
 
Glad you back at home Jen, hopefully you are getting your rest and will get back to remission really quickly
 
GI called this morning. He called in a prescription for Entocort and 6MP. He doesn't want me on Prednisone and feels that I can tolerate a low dose (not a therapeutic dose) of 6MP with the Methotrexate. We shall see, the prescriptions are ready to be picked up so that was quick.

My Rheumatologist is going to contact my GI to go over my treatment plan. I know he wanted to add a low dose of Cimzia to the Methotrexate if the Methotrexate wasn't enough last I saw him. So I'm not sure if they talked already (my guess is no but you never know) since the prescription for the 6MP is ready to be picked up. My GI said to call him on Monday to let him know how I'm feeling. Its sucks because both my Rheumy and GI are going to go out of town at the same time so all I'll have is my GP (who said to just take more Prilosec for my symptoms days before I wound up in the ER) and the ER. :p

I was originally taken off of 6MP because it was affecting my liver. Now I'm on Methotrexate (a low dose of 0.3 milliliters once a week) which can also affect the liver so I really have to monitor those numbers. I'm actually getting an ultrasound of my liver on July 3rd which was scheduled before all this business happened.

I'm having pain in my back and neck (top layer) which may be swelling from the IV and steroids (did not take the Prednisone this morning) for three days so hopefully that will quit soon. If it gets worse then yes I will contact my doctor. Right now it just feels familiar since it has been a while since I was last treated in the hospital but not forgotten.
 
So I'm continuing with the Methotrexate (same dose) and have added 9mg of Entocort/day and 25mg of 6MP/day. I'm still extremely tired so I'm not that active on the forum just yet. Yesterday and today I seem to be getting bloated again and burping a lot but not the same as before and I'm also not in any pain even by pressing on my abdomen.

I have a followup appointment with my GP on Monday (was set up by the hospital for people who have been recently discharged, how nice) so I'll try to get him on board with having proper blood work done while my two main doctors (GI and Rheumatologist) are out of town.

I'm also going to be going up to Oregon for my brother's wedding in two weeks. Will be a long car trip and camping for a few days. Oh how I've forgotten the joys of a flare. :p
 
Thanks for the update Crabby. :ghug:

I hope the GP comes on board with what you need him to do. Good luck hun. :goodluck:

I also hope you are well enough to travel to your brother's wedding. As to camping...well suffice it to say that isn't my idea of a good time! :lol:

In my thoughts, :heart:
Dusty. xxx
 
Hopefully you and your doctors can start getting things figured out for you. Good luck with your road trip. :goodluck: I know how it is traveling while having a flare. Thoughts will be with you. :hug:
 
GI called yesterday and said that he spoke with my Rheumy. They decided that they want me to go on Cimzia (on top of the Methotrexate) in three months but to stay the current course until then. My GI mentioned that I should watch out for symptoms of lymphoma. Oh fun. He also wants me to have an MRI done before the 3 months is up to see how things are improving inside. At most my bowel movements have been narrow but they are solid and are passing through. Its really amazing how quickly things can get out of control. I had a Small Bowel Follow Through in April this year and everything was normal. Two months later I wind up in the hospital with a partial blockage.

My Rheumy's office called today and said that my liver numbers are still slightly elevated so he wants me to not take the Methotrexate today (one week and today was injection day) and to drop down to .2ml the following week.

I hate this whole process of trying to figure out what meds are ok to use and finding the right dosage. Its really taxing physically and mainly mentally for me.
 
They really told you to watch for symptoms of lymphoma??? Good lord! I can't believe they'd be so casual about it, like just in case you didn't know, you should really let your doctor know if you think you might have cancer. Ugh.

Camping, oh dear, I have never been a fan and certainly wouldn't try it in a flare - I hope it goes okay for you. Are you camping at a campground where there are nice toilets at least? Going in the woods, ick. The last time I had to camp out, I pulled down my pants to go in the woods, and I swear like 10 mosquitoes bit my butt! Seriously not fun. This is getting a bit off track now, but I have a magnet on my locker at work, it has a picture of a smiling woman in a bed, and the caption says "I love not camping." :p

How are you feeling? Do you feel like the flare is getting under control?
 
Jennifer,
I hope that you feel better soon and that you can be discharged from the hospital tomorrow.

I really wish the best for Jennifer. She has given me a lot of great advice through both the forum and private email and I hope all goes well for her.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
They really told you to watch for symptoms of lymphoma??? Good lord! I can't believe they'd be so casual about it, like just in case you didn't know, you should really let your doctor know if you think you might have cancer. Ugh.

Camping, oh dear, I have never been a fan and certainly wouldn't try it in a flare - I hope it goes okay for you. Are you camping at a campground where there are nice toilets at least? Going in the woods, ick. The last time I had to camp out, I pulled down my pants to go in the woods, and I swear like 10 mosquitoes bit my butt! Seriously not fun. This is getting a bit off track now, but I have a magnet on my locker at work, it has a picture of a smiling woman in a bed, and the caption says "I love not camping." :p

How are you feeling? Do you feel like the flare is getting under control?
Click to expand...

LOL, sorry to hear about your butt. :p They have regular toilets a bit far away from us so the nearest ones are the pit toilets. I just get to use a giant hole that everyone else uses. Maybe I should bring an air freshener... I do like camping though.

Ya watch out for cancer. Thanks for the heads up, will do. :p

I'm not in any pain and no nausea or diarrhea. If anything I'm sad and mad. Cimzia is the only medication I haven't tried yet so I hate that I'm already going to go down that road. If it doesn't work out, what next? Who knows.
 
Have you tried any less-mainstream stuff like LDN? There's always stem cell transplants too if you're open to that idea. It does suck though that Cimzia is the last mainstream med to try. I hope you don't end up with no good options left.
 
Oops! This is what happens when you don't read the whole thread. :eek2:

I am sorry that you now have to deal with flares and figuring out what medicines to take. I've been on Entocort and I thought it helped me. However, it is a steroid and even though it has far less side effects than Prednisone, my GI doctor wanted me to go off of it. Hopefully, the Cimzia will work for you. Giving you positive thoughts.

Have a good time on your camping trip. I hope your symptoms are much calmer for you.:ghug:
 
Hey Jennifer,

I am sorry you are dealing with all this. Did the GI say that the partial blocakge was likely from just inflammation? I cannot imagine that if you had a completely normal small bowel follow through just three months ago and it was normal that there would be a physical blockage this fast( like from a stricture)? Does he think it is most likely imflammation causing the partial blockage?If that is case hopefully the meds he is putting you on will help with that. Geez, that is so scary about him mentioning the Lymphoma! These meds are so scary with all the side effects. I pray the cimzia works for you and can get you into remission without causing bad side effects. I will definitely say a prayer Jen. Hang in there.











Jennifer said:
GI called yesterday and said that he spoke with my Rheumy. They decided that they want me to go on Cimzia (on top of the Methotrexate) in three months but to stay the current course until then. My GI mentioned that I should watch out for symptoms of lymphoma. Oh fun. He also wants me to have an MRI done before the 3 months is up to see how things are improving inside. At most my bowel movements have been narrow but they are solid and are passing through. Its really amazing how quickly things can get out of control. I had a Small Bowel Follow Through in April this year and everything was normal. Two months later I wind up in the hospital with a partial blockage.

My Rheumy's office called today and said that my liver numbers are still slightly elevated so he wants me to not take the Methotrexate today (one week and today was injection day) and to drop down to .2ml the following week.

I hate this whole process of trying to figure out what meds are ok to use and finding the right dosage. Its really taxing physically and mainly mentally for me.
Click to expand...
 
I do have some scar tissue from my resection but not enough to cause problems. It is inflammation that came back at the resection site. I knew it was a possibility for it to return there but we always hope it never does.
 
Oh, I see. I am sorry Jen. I hope this med can get things in control for you. Sending ))BIG(( hugs your way.....





Jennifer said:
I do have some scar tissue from my resection but not enough to cause problems. It is inflammation that came back at the resection site. I knew it was a possibility for it to return there but we always hope it never does.
Click to expand...
 

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