My 11 y/o son was just diagnosed with Crohn's Disease.
For us, this adventure began back in February 2014 when he developed a fever one day. He had no other symptoms. I did not treat because he refuses to take medicine, and it went away in a few hours. A week or so later, it happened again. He developed a fever which lasted for a few hours and it went away by itself. This continued for a few weeks, and then stopped. He went for about 3 weeks without a fever. When the fevers returned, they became more frequent. He started having a fever every 3-4 days. Still, with no other symptoms. Then one day I had to weigh him for a camp application and discovered that he had lost 7 lbs, which was about 10% of his body weight. Took him to the pediatrician who ordered a chest x-ray ( which was normal), a tb test (negative) and blood tests. Primary findings from the blood tests were significant iron deficiency, high sed rate and high crp. She suspected an autoimmune disorder and referred us to a hematologist or a gastroenterologist. I made appointments with both, but was able to see the hematologist first. In the meantime, fevers became daily events. He would wake with a normal temperature, and by the late afternoon he would have a fever. Temperatures were in the 101 to 102 range, but a few times went as high at 103.6. Still not giving fever reducing medicine because he won't take it. He would sometimes get up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. Finally saw the hematologist who said, it's not cancer, probably an autoimmune disease. See the GI doc and come back to me if you don't get an answer there. Finally saw the GI, who said symptoms are consistent with Crohns, lab tests are consistent with Crohns, we need to do stool tests and schedule a colonoscopy and endoscopy. In the meantime, still having daily fevers and lost 4 more lbs and still no other symptoms. Interestingly enough , he was fever-free the day before the procedure when he was on a clear liquid diet, and fever-free, the day of the procedure when he had to fast for half the day, and fever-free the day after the procedure, when he ate normally. After the Colonoscopy/endoscopy, the GI said there were lesions in the terminal ileum and esophagus and it's definitely Crohns. She said we needed to wait for the biopsy results before she could prescribe a treatment plan, but in the interim she put him on an adult iron supplement (Slow FE) and 750mg of Colazal. Finally, on june 26 I met with the GI who said biopsies showed the disease to be in the stomach, terminal ileum, cecum and ascending colon. Apparently, the found granulomas which makes this diagnosis definitive.She is sending him for an MRE and she wants to treat with budesonide and 6MP. We started on the budesonide, but not the 6MP. The diagnosis is so clear-cut and obvious to the doctors and I guess I should be grateful for that, but I keep thinking, how can this be Crohns- he doesn't have diarrhea, or abdominal pain or vomiting or bloody stools. How can he have Crohns disease without the primary symptoms?
For us, this adventure began back in February 2014 when he developed a fever one day. He had no other symptoms. I did not treat because he refuses to take medicine, and it went away in a few hours. A week or so later, it happened again. He developed a fever which lasted for a few hours and it went away by itself. This continued for a few weeks, and then stopped. He went for about 3 weeks without a fever. When the fevers returned, they became more frequent. He started having a fever every 3-4 days. Still, with no other symptoms. Then one day I had to weigh him for a camp application and discovered that he had lost 7 lbs, which was about 10% of his body weight. Took him to the pediatrician who ordered a chest x-ray ( which was normal), a tb test (negative) and blood tests. Primary findings from the blood tests were significant iron deficiency, high sed rate and high crp. She suspected an autoimmune disorder and referred us to a hematologist or a gastroenterologist. I made appointments with both, but was able to see the hematologist first. In the meantime, fevers became daily events. He would wake with a normal temperature, and by the late afternoon he would have a fever. Temperatures were in the 101 to 102 range, but a few times went as high at 103.6. Still not giving fever reducing medicine because he won't take it. He would sometimes get up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. Finally saw the hematologist who said, it's not cancer, probably an autoimmune disease. See the GI doc and come back to me if you don't get an answer there. Finally saw the GI, who said symptoms are consistent with Crohns, lab tests are consistent with Crohns, we need to do stool tests and schedule a colonoscopy and endoscopy. In the meantime, still having daily fevers and lost 4 more lbs and still no other symptoms. Interestingly enough , he was fever-free the day before the procedure when he was on a clear liquid diet, and fever-free, the day of the procedure when he had to fast for half the day, and fever-free the day after the procedure, when he ate normally. After the Colonoscopy/endoscopy, the GI said there were lesions in the terminal ileum and esophagus and it's definitely Crohns. She said we needed to wait for the biopsy results before she could prescribe a treatment plan, but in the interim she put him on an adult iron supplement (Slow FE) and 750mg of Colazal. Finally, on june 26 I met with the GI who said biopsies showed the disease to be in the stomach, terminal ileum, cecum and ascending colon. Apparently, the found granulomas which makes this diagnosis definitive.She is sending him for an MRE and she wants to treat with budesonide and 6MP. We started on the budesonide, but not the 6MP. The diagnosis is so clear-cut and obvious to the doctors and I guess I should be grateful for that, but I keep thinking, how can this be Crohns- he doesn't have diarrhea, or abdominal pain or vomiting or bloody stools. How can he have Crohns disease without the primary symptoms?
