Kind of worried!

[emmaaaargh]

This isn't so much a vent as a kind of frightened babble, I suppose?

Tomorrow I have an appointment at the joint gastro clinic at a hospital nearby - with my gastro (who I don't like very much) and another doctor I've just started seeing (who is really quite nice). Since I've been on Prednisolone I'm like a different person and I eat like a horse these days, but whenever I get stressed I get stomachache.

I know that stress makes IBD worse and I'm desperately trying to keep my stress levels down, but... I just feel like I'm hiding something, even though I'm honestly getting 99% less pain than before. I'm the kind of anxious person who flips out at everything, so I do get a couple of minutes of pain every few days.

I know it seems selfish to complain about a little bit of pain every couple of days when I've been doing so well, but again, I'm worried I'm just feeling good and nothing's actually changed, which means I'll have to go on azathioprine or Infliximab.

Uh. Yeah. Sorry for whining like that! Time will tell, I guess. At least it's the summer holidays! :ybiggrin:

 

[Gculk]

Don't worry, you're not alone feeling like that. I'm undiagnosed, but I had a long period of remission from last summer to this spring, and the entire time I felt odd twinges now and then and I felt the same way. 'I know it's going to be back, it's not gone.'

The only thing I can say to it though is, enjoy your bloody time off. Well, depending on your symptoms, your non-bloody time off. You can't change it, if you feel like you need to get looked after, or there's something to be found, bring it up.

At the same time, prednisolone can cause some milder stomach problems. Constipation, nausea and the like. Not saying for sure, just pointing a finger.

Hope I helped,
Nathan

 

[Jennifer]

Hi emmaaaargh! How did the appointment go? Any update?

 

[emmaaaargh]

Yep! Well, long story short, I'm on Azathioprine now (or will be soon!) :ybiggrin:

My CRP levels are still up, apparently. I don't really see that as news, since ever since diagnosis they've been high! My old doctors just sort of thought it was one of those things that happens to some people.
My consultant had another push at my parents to put me on Remicade, but my dad was excellent and really hit the mark, rattling off the list of reasons I'd given him from memory! I think he phrased it really well the way he said it, better than I did - "Also, Emma's only just turning fourteen. This drug tends to have a usage life of about ten years in one person - and that will make her 24. So what happens when she's 30 or 40? What if something happens to her then? That route'll no longer be open."

I'm slightly anaemic now (I think I'm a level of 7), but I'm not overly concerned as at my worst I'm sure I was much lower than that! Just waiting for the aza to arrive at the pharmacy (and for me to go and have my next blood test - four days after the last! )

Only real bummer, I suppose, is that my dose is so small it's not available in tablet form. Ironically, I'm one of those kids that would rather swallow a horse pill than taste anything bad! Oh well. I guess it's just another one of those things!