- Joined
- Dec 6, 2011
- Messages
- 19
Hello All
My name is Ryan and I was diagnosed with Crohn's almost five years ago at the age of 27. After a remission period of about a year and a half, I flared up again in summer 2008. While in the process of receiving treatment, my grandmother passed away and the stress involved put me over the edge. About a week later in Oct. 2008, I left work in more pain than usual and went to the ER. After the worst ER experience imagineable that totalled 18 hours, I was admitted and told that I had developed an abcess in my small bowel. So they treated me with all the usual suspects, put me on a pik line for food and meds, and had me there for 13 days before being released.
About three weeks later I was back in, this time over the Thanksgiving holiday, when the abcess returned after all my antibiotics were used. They inserted a tube to drain the abcess and it was another 10 days I was there. This time they told me I would need a resection that they tried to schedule for Christmas time. After fighting with the doctors about spending another holiday in the hosptial, it got pushed back to late January of 2009. The surgery and recovery went well. I started humira that April and everything was good until about a year and a half ago. Since then I have been having arthritic symptoms, constant diahrreah, fatigue, weight loss and dehydration.
I'm still taking humira but I don't feel it's working 100 percent and I'm growing more and more depressed because of a combination of the symptoms and what it has cost me over the years personally and professionally. Being single and living alone makes the depression worse at times, but what has bothered me the most is how this condition has essentially cost me any chance of advancement at work. From being out for four or five months straight to the everyday Crohn's related problems, to the difficulties of maintaining focus and function, my place at work feels permanently set for me at the bottom. Since being denied all advancement opportunities I was being lined up for, my bills continue to rise, my stress continues to rise, my income feels as if its decreasing and I may have to move back home with my parents. Of course there's no jobs out there and I don't want to risk losing my benefits bu I used to try to look at only positives as much as possible, but over the past few years I've been innundated with negatives without anything to feel happy about.
They way things have been, I feel as if I've missed out on a lot that I won't be able to get back. Worrying about your health is stressful enough with Crohn's but when it takes over your life and restricts your personal and professional growth, it makes every day that much harder. I had always believed when people said 'your time will come' but now, I don't believe much of anything.
My name is Ryan and I was diagnosed with Crohn's almost five years ago at the age of 27. After a remission period of about a year and a half, I flared up again in summer 2008. While in the process of receiving treatment, my grandmother passed away and the stress involved put me over the edge. About a week later in Oct. 2008, I left work in more pain than usual and went to the ER. After the worst ER experience imagineable that totalled 18 hours, I was admitted and told that I had developed an abcess in my small bowel. So they treated me with all the usual suspects, put me on a pik line for food and meds, and had me there for 13 days before being released.
About three weeks later I was back in, this time over the Thanksgiving holiday, when the abcess returned after all my antibiotics were used. They inserted a tube to drain the abcess and it was another 10 days I was there. This time they told me I would need a resection that they tried to schedule for Christmas time. After fighting with the doctors about spending another holiday in the hosptial, it got pushed back to late January of 2009. The surgery and recovery went well. I started humira that April and everything was good until about a year and a half ago. Since then I have been having arthritic symptoms, constant diahrreah, fatigue, weight loss and dehydration.
I'm still taking humira but I don't feel it's working 100 percent and I'm growing more and more depressed because of a combination of the symptoms and what it has cost me over the years personally and professionally. Being single and living alone makes the depression worse at times, but what has bothered me the most is how this condition has essentially cost me any chance of advancement at work. From being out for four or five months straight to the everyday Crohn's related problems, to the difficulties of maintaining focus and function, my place at work feels permanently set for me at the bottom. Since being denied all advancement opportunities I was being lined up for, my bills continue to rise, my stress continues to rise, my income feels as if its decreasing and I may have to move back home with my parents. Of course there's no jobs out there and I don't want to risk losing my benefits bu I used to try to look at only positives as much as possible, but over the past few years I've been innundated with negatives without anything to feel happy about.
They way things have been, I feel as if I've missed out on a lot that I won't be able to get back. Worrying about your health is stressful enough with Crohn's but when it takes over your life and restricts your personal and professional growth, it makes every day that much harder. I had always believed when people said 'your time will come' but now, I don't believe much of anything.
