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Oct 17, 2010
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Hi Everyone!
My name's Brianna and I am 20. I have had Crohn's for 6 years . I was diagnosed at 14 after about a year of diarrhea, mucous, vommitting and extreme weight loss. I lost about 40 lbs in the span of about 6-8 months. My GI is fantastic and luckily found the Crohn's. At 18 I had a bad flare-up which left me sick for a month, luckily without being in the hospital. Just this past summer I thought I had appendicitis as I had severe pain in my lower right quadrant and a fever. After a day of severe pain, I decided to go to emerg.
They found with two abscess' which needed to be drained. At first, antibiotics were tried and unfortunately they just got worse. I ended up having two drains put in for a week. They were then removed and I continued on antibiotics. I had a summer of trying to recouperate from everything as I lost so much weight and strength. I had about three months off of work and am not working a few hours a week and am only in part-time school. I have tried pentasa, entocort, nexium, prednisone and many more. I think the worst part is the constant worry of getting to the washroom on time. I have accidents quite a lot and I do not go out as much as I would like to. The constant worrying has made me have anxiety attacks and I have been put on anti-anxiety pills to help with this and the stress of school. The past two weeks I have experienced lots of pain in the same area as with the abscesses and I worry they are coming back. I have a slight fever every once in a while and the pain is off and on. I am currently on prednisone and am supposed to be starting azathioprine but I am scared of the side effects. I can not get an appointment with my GI for three weeks and am worried my abscesses may be back. GI said if they come back the next step is surgery to remove part of my intestine. I am so scared of this and hope that the abscesses are not coming back. I would love to get to know other people with Crohn's and just be able to talk to other people understanding what I am going through.
I would love to know your thoughts on what you think about the recurring stomach pain after having abscess' drained as well as any side effects of azathioprine.
Thanks so much, Brianna.
 
Hi Brianna, here's a link to our Wiki article about the aza....

http://www.crohnsforum.com/wiki/Azathioprine

My son is on 6mp since late Jan this year and has had no noticeable side effects.

There are many on here who have had resection surgeries with great results. I wish you the best!! Good luck!!
 
Hi Brianna,

I was a aza for along while (6ish years) and had no issues. I did have a genetics test as I did have a issue with the sister drug (6mp) to Azathioprine. I could only take the 1/2 recommended dose as my body could not metabolize it correctly.

I would encourage you to either go back to the ER or to your PCP/GP, and make sure that your abscesses have not returned. It is alway better to catch things as early as possible to avoid more complications. I am sure you would rather be in controll for your care, then have to have a decision made in and emergent situation.

This is a great forum and many many nice people that will help with info/input/advice. One of the few place you will find that you can discuss anything (no matter how embarrassing or Icky the subject is, People here relate list and share/care.
Glad to welcome you to the forum

Brindle
 
Hi Brianna and :welcome:

I agree with Brindle, don't let your symptoms simmer away if you think something is wrong as it may lead to further complications. My daughter was also diagnosed at 14, she is now 18, and in her case it she was unable to be diagnosed until she had emergency surgery and she ended up having a resection. Her outcome has been positive so far with her being in remission since that time. She is on low dose of Imuran to help her maintain remission and I was also scared at the thought of her taking a drug like this everyday. Everyone is different but in her case she has regular blood tests and has not had any side effects over that time.

Please stick around, browse the forums and ask all the questions you want. There are loads of people here your age and you will be a most welcome addition. Good luck, keep us posted and welcome aboard!

Take care, :)
Dusty
 
Hi Brianna
and welcome

Sorry, I have no experiences of these but I wouldn't wait neither, you need to go and get it checked out. What dose of Pred are you on now? Maybe the doc can up it up?
Try not to fret about going on Aza, if it doesn't work out you can always stop it, you never know, it might be the 'one'. Lots of people on here have had successful results from it.
good luck, stick with us, lots of friends here for you
lotsa luv
Joan xxx
 
Thank-you everyone so much for the replies. It means so much to me to have support while dealing with crohn's. I hope you are all going through the more positive times with your crohn's.
I am currently on 10mg of prednisone while I start taking the aza.
As for my stomach pain it has decreased greatly so I think it may have just been regular pain.
Brianna.
 
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