- Joined
- Jan 20, 2011
- Messages
- 6
Hello, all! I'm Janine and I, too, have been struggling with Crohns. I live in Minnesota, and am a teenager! Let me share with you my little story, which I'm sure most of you can relate with. Warning: this might get kind of long...
I guess my whole life I've felt kind of crummy, but I've never really thought too much of it. I've always been a more shy person, never wanting to divulge on anything personal if pressured. Keeping this in mind, whenever I felt sick it would NEVER cross my mind to tell anyone, even my parents. So, back in June of 2008, a couple days after my birthday, I went to Valley Fair (an amusement park) and once I had my share of roller coasters and whatnot, my group headed home.
And that's when it all started. There's something about car rides... Maybe it's the vibrations, the stoplights that last forever, or being squished besides someone in the backseat. Whatever it is, I ALWAYS feel extra sick in the car. And this time was no exception! This was the first time I felt that sick that fast, but I held up my act for the 40 minute remainder of the car ride until I got home. Well, the next couple weeks are a blur, but one thing I know for sure is that diarrhea was following me everywhere, lurking behind every corner, not allowing me to do anything! (Keep in mind this was the beginning of summer and I had just turned 14.) During that month I shut myself off from my friends and just lazed around at home, rereading the Harry Potter series a couple times. I'm not sure when, but sometime in the first week I started losing blood and all that jazz. At first I blew it off; denial.
Maybe two or three weeks into it, and after losing a lot of blood, My sister, mom, and I took a trip to Duluth. It was there that I finally told my mom that I was sick. Her initial reaction was a mere outburst of "WHAT? HOW LONG? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" Oops! After we got back, she immediately scheduled a doctor's appointment. Doc #1 was way too chill. She performed the usual check-up, consisting of blood pressure, temp check, and asking all the gross questions that she wanted me to answer in detail. As a 14 year old. Bleh! That first trip they didn't even take any labs, so I was unaware of my hemoglobin drop at that point... But it was becoming pretty apparent after a few more weeks. My body was getting incredibly weak, to where I could hardly eat anything without almost puking, and I couldn't walk up a few steps without passing out. when a 5 foot 8 girl who was at a right weight prior to this episode loses 15 extra pounds, you COULD say that I actually had a similar likeness to a pole.
After seeing a few more doctor's, and none of them willing to do nothing more than suggest I take iron supplements, my mom phoned up the good ol' Mayo Clinic down in Rochester. Their reaction was way different; they said to come drive down and get admitted to the ER right away. That was unpleasant to the ears.
Well, we faithfully did as they said, and drove down. As I stumbled in (quite literally) every doctor I passed would budge their little doctor friend and mutter, "Woah! Look how pale she is..." Thanks, doc. Turns out my hemoglobin had reached it's pit of despair at 6.8! Anyways, long story short, I was admitted for only one week! They did all the lovely scopes and scans, and after much debate, forever graced me with the name Crohns. It's like I was knighted or something...except it wasn't cool. Well, at least I have closure to this whole ordeal!
They pumped me full of Prednisone til I was nothing but puffy cheeks, and sent me home. I felt peachy when I was on that evil steroid, but once I was weened off of it, things went downhill again. Making regular trips down to Mayo was no odd occurrence, and switching up my meds became a regular game to play. I feel as if I have tried out every pill and drug combination out there! You name it, I've mostly likely tried it. Eventually, they jammed a big fat needle in my arm and started feeding me Reimcade. Oh, Remicade. Remicade does wonders, or at least in my case. If I didn't have prednisone and Remicade, I doubt I could have gotten through my freshmen year!
And then... more drama to add to my sickly state; I had a reaction to Remicade. It was around my 10th treatment when suddenly I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see, everything was tingling, my eyes got all bloodshot (so they say), and I was almost positive I was going to puke all over my sweet nurse. Once she noticed I was flailing slightly in my chair, she called in the doctor on call to help me out. Turns out Remicade doesn't suit me... We tried it once more, just for good measure, on another day... But I just had another reaction, this time even worse! My doctor then had me go on Humira as opposed to Remicade. Humira didn't really help me, and by this point I was feeling so sick, I was forced to drop out of my 10th grade year. Now I have just started taking another shot named Cimzia as I attempt to redo 10th grade. So far, it seems to be helping a tad, but I absolutely detest shots... I don't mind getting IV's, but when it comes to straight up needles with syringes connected, I back away into a corner! (Please excuse my slight exaggeration...)
Throughout this whole process, a lot has happened in my personal family life in unpleasant ways, and the stress has really not helped my heath and school. Most days it's hard to get the motivation to get up, especially when I feel most sickly. Currently, I am living at my friends' house as their parents wish to help me in whatever way they can! I'm so grateful, and as a 16 year old going through quite possibly the most awkward disease you could think of as a teenager, support and God's guidance is really all I live off of. That's another reason I turned to this forum; I've never done one of these, and both my doctor and my older sister were nudging me, trying to get me to join one. As I said way in the beginning, I am naturally awkward when it comes to opening up to people, so this is all very new to me!
Sorry for rambling so much!! I've probably bored you to point where you just caught yourself drooling... But if you have read all this, thank you!
I guess my whole life I've felt kind of crummy, but I've never really thought too much of it. I've always been a more shy person, never wanting to divulge on anything personal if pressured. Keeping this in mind, whenever I felt sick it would NEVER cross my mind to tell anyone, even my parents. So, back in June of 2008, a couple days after my birthday, I went to Valley Fair (an amusement park) and once I had my share of roller coasters and whatnot, my group headed home.
And that's when it all started. There's something about car rides... Maybe it's the vibrations, the stoplights that last forever, or being squished besides someone in the backseat. Whatever it is, I ALWAYS feel extra sick in the car. And this time was no exception! This was the first time I felt that sick that fast, but I held up my act for the 40 minute remainder of the car ride until I got home. Well, the next couple weeks are a blur, but one thing I know for sure is that diarrhea was following me everywhere, lurking behind every corner, not allowing me to do anything! (Keep in mind this was the beginning of summer and I had just turned 14.) During that month I shut myself off from my friends and just lazed around at home, rereading the Harry Potter series a couple times. I'm not sure when, but sometime in the first week I started losing blood and all that jazz. At first I blew it off; denial.
Maybe two or three weeks into it, and after losing a lot of blood, My sister, mom, and I took a trip to Duluth. It was there that I finally told my mom that I was sick. Her initial reaction was a mere outburst of "WHAT? HOW LONG? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" Oops! After we got back, she immediately scheduled a doctor's appointment. Doc #1 was way too chill. She performed the usual check-up, consisting of blood pressure, temp check, and asking all the gross questions that she wanted me to answer in detail. As a 14 year old. Bleh! That first trip they didn't even take any labs, so I was unaware of my hemoglobin drop at that point... But it was becoming pretty apparent after a few more weeks. My body was getting incredibly weak, to where I could hardly eat anything without almost puking, and I couldn't walk up a few steps without passing out. when a 5 foot 8 girl who was at a right weight prior to this episode loses 15 extra pounds, you COULD say that I actually had a similar likeness to a pole.
After seeing a few more doctor's, and none of them willing to do nothing more than suggest I take iron supplements, my mom phoned up the good ol' Mayo Clinic down in Rochester. Their reaction was way different; they said to come drive down and get admitted to the ER right away. That was unpleasant to the ears.
Well, we faithfully did as they said, and drove down. As I stumbled in (quite literally) every doctor I passed would budge their little doctor friend and mutter, "Woah! Look how pale she is..." Thanks, doc. Turns out my hemoglobin had reached it's pit of despair at 6.8! Anyways, long story short, I was admitted for only one week! They did all the lovely scopes and scans, and after much debate, forever graced me with the name Crohns. It's like I was knighted or something...except it wasn't cool. Well, at least I have closure to this whole ordeal!
They pumped me full of Prednisone til I was nothing but puffy cheeks, and sent me home. I felt peachy when I was on that evil steroid, but once I was weened off of it, things went downhill again. Making regular trips down to Mayo was no odd occurrence, and switching up my meds became a regular game to play. I feel as if I have tried out every pill and drug combination out there! You name it, I've mostly likely tried it. Eventually, they jammed a big fat needle in my arm and started feeding me Reimcade. Oh, Remicade. Remicade does wonders, or at least in my case. If I didn't have prednisone and Remicade, I doubt I could have gotten through my freshmen year!
And then... more drama to add to my sickly state; I had a reaction to Remicade. It was around my 10th treatment when suddenly I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see, everything was tingling, my eyes got all bloodshot (so they say), and I was almost positive I was going to puke all over my sweet nurse. Once she noticed I was flailing slightly in my chair, she called in the doctor on call to help me out. Turns out Remicade doesn't suit me... We tried it once more, just for good measure, on another day... But I just had another reaction, this time even worse! My doctor then had me go on Humira as opposed to Remicade. Humira didn't really help me, and by this point I was feeling so sick, I was forced to drop out of my 10th grade year. Now I have just started taking another shot named Cimzia as I attempt to redo 10th grade. So far, it seems to be helping a tad, but I absolutely detest shots... I don't mind getting IV's, but when it comes to straight up needles with syringes connected, I back away into a corner! (Please excuse my slight exaggeration...)
Throughout this whole process, a lot has happened in my personal family life in unpleasant ways, and the stress has really not helped my heath and school. Most days it's hard to get the motivation to get up, especially when I feel most sickly. Currently, I am living at my friends' house as their parents wish to help me in whatever way they can! I'm so grateful, and as a 16 year old going through quite possibly the most awkward disease you could think of as a teenager, support and God's guidance is really all I live off of. That's another reason I turned to this forum; I've never done one of these, and both my doctor and my older sister were nudging me, trying to get me to join one. As I said way in the beginning, I am naturally awkward when it comes to opening up to people, so this is all very new to me!
Sorry for rambling so much!! I've probably bored you to point where you just caught yourself drooling... But if you have read all this, thank you!
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