Hey everyone. My name is Josh and I'm from Alberta Canada. I'm 22 years old, and have been having digestive issues since I was 16. So, yea, I'm not really sure what to say in this introductory post, so this may be rambling a bit. Try to bear with me.
So this morning I got my "official" results back from a colonoscopy that was done 2 weeks ago. Right after I had the procedure done the nurse informed me that it was most likely Chron's, but that we'd have to wait for the biopsy results to have an "official" diagnosis. This wasn't a huge shock to me, as I had suspected Chron's for the past 4 or 5 months. I guess I'll backtrack a bit to the start of everything.
About 10 years ago, my mom self-diagnosed herself with some sort of gluten intolerance. She wasn't sure if it was Celiac or not, all she could figure out was that she stopped having the runs and a million other issues when she didn't eat wheat, milk, soy, and other foods (not sure what's on her Not Eating List right now lol). About 3 or 4 years after she went on a GF/CF diet, I decided to give it a shot as I was having some issues that 15 year old boys shouldn't be having. Within 2 or 3 months I had done a complete 180. It sucked, as I was not able to eat all the foods I loved, but at least I was healthy.
Fast-forward about 3 years. I'm 19 now, and starting to experiment a little with cheating. Having a piece of cheese here. A hamburger (bun included this time) there. I'm seeming to be ok with small bits of wheat and milk. Then I start cheating more, and more, and pretty soon I'm only following the diet when I'm at home with my mom. Every few, I do start to get pretty bad diarrhea, at which time I stop cheating, go back on the diet until it goes away, feel guilty and blame myself for eating stuff I shouldn't, then start the cycle all over again. All my "bad times" also seem to coincide with stressful times. Whether it's exam time at school, issues at my job, or issues with a gf.
Then, about 15 months ago now, after not eating wheat or milk for about a month or so, I had about 2 days where there was a large amount of blood during my BMs. I went to my family doctor, then to a specialist for a sigmoid, then to another specialist for another sigmoid, all the while having (in chronological order); a fissure which abscessed and then popped, another fissure in a completely different spot which did the same thing, then an actual abscess which was attempted to be drained, and then became a fistula. After the fistula was diagnosed, I knew it had to be more than just Celiac's. I had been following my diet for months now and all this stuff kept coming up. Doing some research led me immediately to Crohn's. After an unsuccessful fistulotomy, we're back to the start of my story, which is the colonoscopy and diagnosis of Crohn's Disease.
Part of me feels like crying. Part of me knows that this was inevitable. I knew that the first thing I had to do was find some support somewhere. Even if it's just advice on medication, or alternatives to pounding the steroids. At the very least I'll be able to read about other experiences, which might make mine seem not so bad.
Thanks for reading, if you were able to get through all of it. I'm sure I'll be seeing you guys around here.
So this morning I got my "official" results back from a colonoscopy that was done 2 weeks ago. Right after I had the procedure done the nurse informed me that it was most likely Chron's, but that we'd have to wait for the biopsy results to have an "official" diagnosis. This wasn't a huge shock to me, as I had suspected Chron's for the past 4 or 5 months. I guess I'll backtrack a bit to the start of everything.
About 10 years ago, my mom self-diagnosed herself with some sort of gluten intolerance. She wasn't sure if it was Celiac or not, all she could figure out was that she stopped having the runs and a million other issues when she didn't eat wheat, milk, soy, and other foods (not sure what's on her Not Eating List right now lol). About 3 or 4 years after she went on a GF/CF diet, I decided to give it a shot as I was having some issues that 15 year old boys shouldn't be having. Within 2 or 3 months I had done a complete 180. It sucked, as I was not able to eat all the foods I loved, but at least I was healthy.
Fast-forward about 3 years. I'm 19 now, and starting to experiment a little with cheating. Having a piece of cheese here. A hamburger (bun included this time) there. I'm seeming to be ok with small bits of wheat and milk. Then I start cheating more, and more, and pretty soon I'm only following the diet when I'm at home with my mom. Every few, I do start to get pretty bad diarrhea, at which time I stop cheating, go back on the diet until it goes away, feel guilty and blame myself for eating stuff I shouldn't, then start the cycle all over again. All my "bad times" also seem to coincide with stressful times. Whether it's exam time at school, issues at my job, or issues with a gf.
Then, about 15 months ago now, after not eating wheat or milk for about a month or so, I had about 2 days where there was a large amount of blood during my BMs. I went to my family doctor, then to a specialist for a sigmoid, then to another specialist for another sigmoid, all the while having (in chronological order); a fissure which abscessed and then popped, another fissure in a completely different spot which did the same thing, then an actual abscess which was attempted to be drained, and then became a fistula. After the fistula was diagnosed, I knew it had to be more than just Celiac's. I had been following my diet for months now and all this stuff kept coming up. Doing some research led me immediately to Crohn's. After an unsuccessful fistulotomy, we're back to the start of my story, which is the colonoscopy and diagnosis of Crohn's Disease.
Part of me feels like crying. Part of me knows that this was inevitable. I knew that the first thing I had to do was find some support somewhere. Even if it's just advice on medication, or alternatives to pounding the steroids. At the very least I'll be able to read about other experiences, which might make mine seem not so bad.
Thanks for reading, if you were able to get through all of it. I'm sure I'll be seeing you guys around here.
