- Joined
- Nov 9, 2012
- Messages
- 90
I shared this on my tumblr Crohns blog, so I thought I would post here as well!
I first noticed I wasn’t feeling very well in July of 2010. I had my period so when I had diarrhea I didn’t think anything of it, until it never went away.. I always did get bad periods and cramps which caused diarrhea so I just thought it was caused by that. I waited a while and it never went away. Too embarrassed to tell my parents or anyone I kept to myself hoping it would go away. My period was over for a few days to a week later and I was still having diarrhea. Then it went away for awhile and would come back depending on what I ate, but I also noticed I would get cramping also. This went on for quite awhile before I said anything. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone, because who would want to talk about their poop?
By the end of 2010 I had told my parents about what was going on, and they thought it was Celiacs Disease, but I was never taken to the doctors for it. I tried eating gluten free, and it only worked for a few days, so I stopped and told my mom that it wasn’t it. So I continued to suffer from diarrhea and cramping, but I also started to become constipated on some days too. Weird? I thought the same. So I continued this pattern of feeling okay, to feeling really miserable and sick.
I went to the doctors before the start of my senior year so summer of 2011. And told him about what was going on, he tested me for Celiacs disease and a few other blood tests and they all came back negative. He gave my some pain pills for cramping and also told me to go see a GI doctor, so I told my mom and she was still convinced that it was nothing major and that I was making it up. Yet I was constantly running to the bathroom after eating almost immediately sometimes before I could even finish a meal. Needless to say, I was only getting worse.
Throughout my senior year I was under a lot of stress, with Marching Band, school itself, the college process, and then Competition Majorettes, all while keeping a relationship, I was very exhausted. I was mentally and physically drained. I was very depressed and felt very alone, even if I was with my friends, I became very spacey and didn’t remember a lot of details to things. Physically my body was getting a lot worse with my symptoms. The pains in my stomach were almost unbearable, or so I thought. I felt burning in my stomach no matter what I ate or drank, or even on an empty stomach. I felt hopeless and that I would never get better, I also noticed that I in stressful situations it would get worse. I also noticed new symptoms arising in my disease such as extreme tiredness, horrible nausea and the cramping continued to worsen along with the diarrhea. I felt so fatigued after going up and down the steps to classes, participation in gym, band and majorettes, I never felt “good”. I managed to pull through and get on the honor roll and hardly missed any days of school. It was very hard but I did it. I graduated high school in June and continued to work throughout summer.
Summer of 2012, I was working at our local restaurant waitressing, and tried to act as normal as I could. The end of June into July I went to my Aunt’s house, and that’s when I knew I couldn’t do this anymore. The pain was completely UNBEARABLE! I was in so much pain while at her house, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. I would be in tears the pain was so bad! The diarrhea was immediately after eating and would be so bad, and I just felt so gross. It would hurt and burn so bad, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. So while I was there I called my GI doctor and made an appointment, it was for Oct 11, 2012. So I still had a few more months of dealing with this insane pain and diarrhea and cramping.
I started college that August and the stress definitely did not help at all. I also had broken up with my boyfriend, and his family was not helpful or supportive at all and only added to the stress. I became depressed again, and just slept in-between every class when I could, I would even miss classes because I had no energy.
When I went to my GI appointment he asked about my symptoms and looked at my blood work from my regular family doctor, and asked about family history. He said that it sounded like Ulcerative Colitis, and I told him my uncle had it. And he scheduled me for a Colonoscopy. I had that done on Oct 18, 2012, and that’s when everything changed, I found out what has been causing these nasty symptoms and I felt relieved, but also scared. After waking up from the procedure, he told me that I had Crohn’s Disease, and gave me pamphlets about the disease and he put me on Pentasa, Entocort, Iron, Folic Acid,and an Anti-Depressant. And within a few weeks I felt a lot better, for the most part..
More to come about the after diagnosis..
I first noticed I wasn’t feeling very well in July of 2010. I had my period so when I had diarrhea I didn’t think anything of it, until it never went away.. I always did get bad periods and cramps which caused diarrhea so I just thought it was caused by that. I waited a while and it never went away. Too embarrassed to tell my parents or anyone I kept to myself hoping it would go away. My period was over for a few days to a week later and I was still having diarrhea. Then it went away for awhile and would come back depending on what I ate, but I also noticed I would get cramping also. This went on for quite awhile before I said anything. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone, because who would want to talk about their poop?
By the end of 2010 I had told my parents about what was going on, and they thought it was Celiacs Disease, but I was never taken to the doctors for it. I tried eating gluten free, and it only worked for a few days, so I stopped and told my mom that it wasn’t it. So I continued to suffer from diarrhea and cramping, but I also started to become constipated on some days too. Weird? I thought the same. So I continued this pattern of feeling okay, to feeling really miserable and sick.
I went to the doctors before the start of my senior year so summer of 2011. And told him about what was going on, he tested me for Celiacs disease and a few other blood tests and they all came back negative. He gave my some pain pills for cramping and also told me to go see a GI doctor, so I told my mom and she was still convinced that it was nothing major and that I was making it up. Yet I was constantly running to the bathroom after eating almost immediately sometimes before I could even finish a meal. Needless to say, I was only getting worse.
Throughout my senior year I was under a lot of stress, with Marching Band, school itself, the college process, and then Competition Majorettes, all while keeping a relationship, I was very exhausted. I was mentally and physically drained. I was very depressed and felt very alone, even if I was with my friends, I became very spacey and didn’t remember a lot of details to things. Physically my body was getting a lot worse with my symptoms. The pains in my stomach were almost unbearable, or so I thought. I felt burning in my stomach no matter what I ate or drank, or even on an empty stomach. I felt hopeless and that I would never get better, I also noticed that I in stressful situations it would get worse. I also noticed new symptoms arising in my disease such as extreme tiredness, horrible nausea and the cramping continued to worsen along with the diarrhea. I felt so fatigued after going up and down the steps to classes, participation in gym, band and majorettes, I never felt “good”. I managed to pull through and get on the honor roll and hardly missed any days of school. It was very hard but I did it. I graduated high school in June and continued to work throughout summer.
Summer of 2012, I was working at our local restaurant waitressing, and tried to act as normal as I could. The end of June into July I went to my Aunt’s house, and that’s when I knew I couldn’t do this anymore. The pain was completely UNBEARABLE! I was in so much pain while at her house, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. I would be in tears the pain was so bad! The diarrhea was immediately after eating and would be so bad, and I just felt so gross. It would hurt and burn so bad, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. So while I was there I called my GI doctor and made an appointment, it was for Oct 11, 2012. So I still had a few more months of dealing with this insane pain and diarrhea and cramping.
I started college that August and the stress definitely did not help at all. I also had broken up with my boyfriend, and his family was not helpful or supportive at all and only added to the stress. I became depressed again, and just slept in-between every class when I could, I would even miss classes because I had no energy.
When I went to my GI appointment he asked about my symptoms and looked at my blood work from my regular family doctor, and asked about family history. He said that it sounded like Ulcerative Colitis, and I told him my uncle had it. And he scheduled me for a Colonoscopy. I had that done on Oct 18, 2012, and that’s when everything changed, I found out what has been causing these nasty symptoms and I felt relieved, but also scared. After waking up from the procedure, he told me that I had Crohn’s Disease, and gave me pamphlets about the disease and he put me on Pentasa, Entocort, Iron, Folic Acid,and an Anti-Depressant. And within a few weeks I felt a lot better, for the most part..
More to come about the after diagnosis..
