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My story + current request for help

Hello! My name is Austin, and I am 21 years old. I got diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in the spring of 2011, and have been in remission up until these past two weeks.

I hope I don't ramble, but it is my story, so here goes. I had very mild symptoms of Crohn's in April 2010 that only appeared for 4 days, but I didn't tell anyone because I was embarrassed (I know, it was stupid of me not to say something). In January 2011 these symptoms came back, but they never went away, and I told my parents after about a month and a half of the symptoms worsening. A series of tests and an ER visit later, and I was diagnosed with Crohn's.

I've always been a thin kid (norm is 135), and by the time I graduated high school in June 2011 I was 5'10" and 117 lbs. Thankfully, the first treatment that was offered (mercaptopurine and I think mesalamine) did the trick, and I went into remission for a while. I had a really bad habit of not taking meds when I felt okay, which brought flares here and there throughout the years, but I was mostly symptom-free.

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Now the disease has come back with a vengeance. It was mild at first, but in the past two weeks it's become pretty aggressive, and I'm back down to ~117 lbs. I can only eat oatmeal, chicken, cooked and pureed broccoli, and white rice, and even then it can really hurt. I keep losing weight regardless of what I do...

The doctor I'm seeing put me on 60mg Prednisone, tapering off by 10mg every week or so; I'm currently at 40mg. It hasn't helped much, and we're trying hard and fast to begin a switch to Humira, and we should by early next week. He didn't seem to want to add anything to the pill regimen when I came in looking like a ghost, and I'm not sure he should have left this unchecked...I'm losing more weight every day it seems, and I'm honestly a little concerned about my state.

Any advice would be very helpful...
 
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Lady Organic

Moderator
Staff member
Hi there, hang on. IM thinking maybe you could supplement with enteral liquid diet in the meantime of getting your first injection? call your IBD nurse to see what drink they can propose you.
 

DJW

Forum Monitor
Hi Austin and welcome.

I also think a call to the IBD nurse is a good idea. Let the nurse know what's going on.

Sending you my support.
 
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