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Lame.

Hey everyone, my name is Chris and I am a newly diagnosed Chronie. I'm a twenty-three year old male from BC, Canada, and seem to be a relatively atypical case- I have had no problems with diarrhea, constipation, or abdominal pain. Rather, I got hit with every extra-intestinal manifestation in the book.

I can pinpoint exactly when my problems began, because my Crohn's was directly caused by the acne medication Accutane. My doctor prescribed me a four month course at 40 mg a day just less than two years ago, from February to May 2013. This drug caused me problems from the start. Prior to taking it, I was an incredibly healthy individual. Three months into my "treatment", I developed SEVERE anxiety. It was entirely physiological, I simply woke up one morning in April 2013 and it was like my brain had become stuck in high-adrenaline fight-or-flight mode. Relaxing was physically and mentally impossible, even without any stresses in my life that could trigger anxiety. After three days of suffering through this, with even intensive exercise not doing a thing to diminish the anxiety (which manifested as an all-encompassing sense of dire dread), I checked myself into the ER where I was told to discontinue the Accutane and was prescribed Clonazepam and Prozac.

By July of 2013, I thought my nightmarish experience had come to an end. I had successfully tapered off of the Clonazepam, and the Prozac had me feeling like my regular self again. My stomach had become noticeably more noisy, but I didn't think much of it, in the absence of any discomfort. Over the course of the following year I began losing weight, but I've always had a fast metabolism, and had stopped going to the gym six days a week as well consuming ridiculous amounts of carbs and protein (work was keeping me too busy). Last August I began noticing that my strength seemed to be rapidly decreasing (the heavy items I lifted at work seemed to be getting heavier every day), but I just brushed this off as a consequence of no longer being a gym rat. However, things only started getting worse.

By October, I was having consistent back pain (upper, lower, and mid). It felt as though my back was too weak to support my body weight (140 lbs), and standing up became strenuous. My joints had also become noticeably "creaky"; every part of my body seemed to be popping and cracking with each movement. This is when I became seriously alarmed. Soon my energy levels began plummeting, and the noise my joints were making became accompanied by aches and pains, and I began belching frequently. In November, I began seriously pressing my GP for answers (who seemed to dismiss all of my problems as a result of anxiety), and he ordered an X-Ray of my hands to rule out arthritis for my peace of mind. The results of the X-rays confirmed that I did indeed have inflammatory arthritis, for which my GP told me to "just pop Aleve". My CRP level was 14 at the time, and my doctor didn't seem overly concerned.

December was awful. I experienced aches and pains in parts of my body that I didn't even realize were capable of hurting, and the fatigue had become overwhelming. Walking my dog down the street left me breathless, and getting out of bed seemed almost impossible most mornings. All of my muscles were wasting away, despite eating normally. I felt like I was slowly dying. At one point I checked into the ER, where a competent doctor thought it would be a good idea to screen me for Crohn's, Colitis, and Ankylosing Spondylitis, recognizing that Accutane was a big red flag for these conditions. Something abnormal was detected in the urine sample I gave, and I was referred to a GI specialist. He took some bloodwork and ordered a Colonoscopy/Endoscopy to be conducted at the end of January. Meanwhile, I also had to take a "special" test to screen for the HLA-B27 gene. Fortunately, this came back negative.

January was beyond miserable. My energy levels were non-existant, and every part of my body ached. Still, my stools were normal (if a bit loose), and I never experienced any abdominal pain or cramping, or C or D. The colonoscopy performed on the 31st detected inflammation in my lower intestine, and I have since been started on Entocort. It's been a week into treatment with no improvement felt so far. The current running theory is that malabsorbtion lead to extreme nutritional deficiencies, which are the cause of all my suffering, but all bloodwork has come back "normal" so far. I'm praying I'll start feeling better soon.
 
Welcome to the forum. I am sorry about you DX. There are some people with Crohn's that do not have the usual" symptoms, or better say asymptomatic. This is the case with my daughter. Medicines take a while to work, but if you don't see any improvement go back to your GI. Not all meds work for everybody. Have you had your Vit B and D levels checked. I do hope you find a medication that works fast for you and you start feeling better soon. Let us know how it goes and feel free to ask questions.
 
Thanks for the response. :)

I've had a heck of a time getting doctors to simply explain to me what they're testing for and what the results are. They all just say, "Your Bloodwork is normal,". What does that mean?!?! If it's normal how am I feeling so awful?! I asked the nurse at ER if he could do a "vitamin panel, or whatever", to which he responded, "There's no such thing, but if they invent one, I will!". We both had a laugh, but I left unaware of what my nutrient and vitamin stats are.
 
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