Hi All,
I'm really happy to have found a Crohn's support forum on the Internet. It's helped me feel not so alone reading through everyone else's stories. So here's mine.
I'm 29 and I started experiencing some issues with bleeding about 2 years ago when I got married. I checked with my doc and he thought it was just gastritis due to the stress (happily married btw, but good lord weddings are stressful). So, life goes on, and I had intermittent issues with the bleeding over time.
September 2011 rolls around and I'm starting work on a graduate degree, in the process of moving to the Boston area from upstate NY, starting a new job, and in the middle of all of that my apartment gets flooded out from the remnants of hurricane Leo.
Then, things took a rather sharp turn for the worse. I started experiencing all of the classic Crohn's symptoms (unbeknownst to me) including a significant amount of blood with bowel movements, pressure, pain, bloating, lack of control, and fatigue. I was so busy and foolishly let this go. I ended up going to Berlin for 2 weeks for work that November, which was also incredibly stressful. Poor diet, coffee, lack of sleep, etc. etc.
Before I know it, the holidays roll around and my wife and I are returning home to upstate NY to visit our families for Christmas. My parents are both medical professionals. They took one look at me when I showed up on Christmas and said "we're going to the hospital". And so I did. I unfortunately spent 5 days (including Christmas) in the hospital during which I lost 15 pounds. It was an awful experience with many tests, and I came out with a Crohn's diagnosis.
This has been really hard since I need to tone down the stress in my life and change my diet to more bland things (I love/miss spicy foods, bbq, and coffee). But I am learning what my triggers are.
Even harder has been the fatigue and weight/body mass loss. I am very athletic and I work out (or did) at least 3 times a week. I've lost a significant amount of bulk, and I have been unable to put it back on. My appetite is up and down and I just want this flare to be over with. Many days I'm just too tired even with the prednisone.
I have a cousin who was diagnosed 2 years ago, and she's been so helpful with this too. And I can't say enough for my wife who has been 100% awesome and supportive through all of this. But, it's still not easy, and I just want to be normal again. For the sake of writing a book, I'll end it there. But thanks to anyone who reads this. It's just helpful for me to finally write this out.
I'm really happy to have found a Crohn's support forum on the Internet. It's helped me feel not so alone reading through everyone else's stories. So here's mine.
I'm 29 and I started experiencing some issues with bleeding about 2 years ago when I got married. I checked with my doc and he thought it was just gastritis due to the stress (happily married btw, but good lord weddings are stressful). So, life goes on, and I had intermittent issues with the bleeding over time.
September 2011 rolls around and I'm starting work on a graduate degree, in the process of moving to the Boston area from upstate NY, starting a new job, and in the middle of all of that my apartment gets flooded out from the remnants of hurricane Leo.
Then, things took a rather sharp turn for the worse. I started experiencing all of the classic Crohn's symptoms (unbeknownst to me) including a significant amount of blood with bowel movements, pressure, pain, bloating, lack of control, and fatigue. I was so busy and foolishly let this go. I ended up going to Berlin for 2 weeks for work that November, which was also incredibly stressful. Poor diet, coffee, lack of sleep, etc. etc.
Before I know it, the holidays roll around and my wife and I are returning home to upstate NY to visit our families for Christmas. My parents are both medical professionals. They took one look at me when I showed up on Christmas and said "we're going to the hospital". And so I did. I unfortunately spent 5 days (including Christmas) in the hospital during which I lost 15 pounds. It was an awful experience with many tests, and I came out with a Crohn's diagnosis.
This has been really hard since I need to tone down the stress in my life and change my diet to more bland things (I love/miss spicy foods, bbq, and coffee). But I am learning what my triggers are.
Even harder has been the fatigue and weight/body mass loss. I am very athletic and I work out (or did) at least 3 times a week. I've lost a significant amount of bulk, and I have been unable to put it back on. My appetite is up and down and I just want this flare to be over with. Many days I'm just too tired even with the prednisone.
I have a cousin who was diagnosed 2 years ago, and she's been so helpful with this too. And I can't say enough for my wife who has been 100% awesome and supportive through all of this. But, it's still not easy, and I just want to be normal again. For the sake of writing a book, I'll end it there. But thanks to anyone who reads this. It's just helpful for me to finally write this out.
