hello! i have frequently been checking out this site for the past few weeks and finally decided to join. i am getting very frustrated with this sickness, doctors, and my insurance hoping someone can give me some insight. this may end up being long, sorry, but this is my story..
i am 31yr old female. in early july i woke up with horrible cramps and diahrea. i figured i had a stomach bug. i just so happened to have a doctors appointment five days later, for a different matter, and mentioned the stomach issue with my dr. he thought the same as i, and said it would run its course in a few days. it didn't, it got worse. the following week i went back to the drs. this time he decided to treat me for c-diff, and sent out stool samples. i had a fever, horrible cramps, and going to the bathroom at least 15x a day.
two days after that visit, i felt worse than ever and decided it was time to go to the er. it was a good thing i did because i was severly dehydrated. they admitted me because my potassium level was dangerously low. c-dif came back negative.but they were testing me for every possible bug and parasite. they performed a sigmoidoscopy that day, and after the procedure i was surprised to see the gi on google images. he said my colon looked like it had third degree burns, had never seen anything like it, and was trying to find a similar image. the gi thought it may be an ibd but was waiting for the other labs to come back because he also thought it could be an infection.
five days later all the labs came back negative, he said i had ulcerative colitis (he said he wouldn''t know for sure until i had a colonoscopy but wanted to wait until the flare calmed down) and finally started treating me with prednisone. After nine days of being in the hospital, my potassium was still low but stable, they finally discharged me (medicine regiment of 40mg prednisone, potassium, calcium, and a multi).
the next few days i felt ok, the cramps weren't as bad and my trips to the bathroom had halved. unfortunatly i wasnt on the mend, a few days after when i went to the bathroom only blood was coming out(or at least it seemed). and after i would get so dizzy i was practically blacking out. the second day of that i went back to the er. my heart rate was 155 and bp 90/60. the loss of blood had made me very anemic. they performed nasogastric intubation to check if the blood was coming from my stomach, it wasnt. i was admitted again because of anemia. they uped the prednisone to 120mg (iv) for two days to try to get the inflamation under control. after five days of iron, blood transfusion, and high doses of pred the bleeding had stopped, my red blood count was low but stable they discharged me.
i saw my gi for the first time since the hospital, i had hoped that he would tell me everything i wanted to know, and i would be on my way. however, he really didn't tell me anything other than he was leaning towards crohns disease from the biopsies, but again, wouldn't know until colonoscopy (scheduled for 9/14). and that i would have to stay on pred (30mg, pcp lowered in 10mg saying it would let me sleep better)for at least three more months.
after that last hospital stay, i have hardly been crampy and my bm have slowed to about 3x a day and are practically solid!! however, i am exhausted and i have been running a low grade fever for the past week. i am really frustrated that gi couldn't tell me what was going on with me, and my pcp is just a joke.
i appologize for the lengthy message, i just feel that no one will tell me what is going on and no one understands how crappy i feel. i'm in limbo. any advice would be greatly appreciated!
thank you, i hope everyone is feeling well!
i am 31yr old female. in early july i woke up with horrible cramps and diahrea. i figured i had a stomach bug. i just so happened to have a doctors appointment five days later, for a different matter, and mentioned the stomach issue with my dr. he thought the same as i, and said it would run its course in a few days. it didn't, it got worse. the following week i went back to the drs. this time he decided to treat me for c-diff, and sent out stool samples. i had a fever, horrible cramps, and going to the bathroom at least 15x a day.
two days after that visit, i felt worse than ever and decided it was time to go to the er. it was a good thing i did because i was severly dehydrated. they admitted me because my potassium level was dangerously low. c-dif came back negative.but they were testing me for every possible bug and parasite. they performed a sigmoidoscopy that day, and after the procedure i was surprised to see the gi on google images. he said my colon looked like it had third degree burns, had never seen anything like it, and was trying to find a similar image. the gi thought it may be an ibd but was waiting for the other labs to come back because he also thought it could be an infection.
five days later all the labs came back negative, he said i had ulcerative colitis (he said he wouldn''t know for sure until i had a colonoscopy but wanted to wait until the flare calmed down) and finally started treating me with prednisone. After nine days of being in the hospital, my potassium was still low but stable, they finally discharged me (medicine regiment of 40mg prednisone, potassium, calcium, and a multi).
the next few days i felt ok, the cramps weren't as bad and my trips to the bathroom had halved. unfortunatly i wasnt on the mend, a few days after when i went to the bathroom only blood was coming out(or at least it seemed). and after i would get so dizzy i was practically blacking out. the second day of that i went back to the er. my heart rate was 155 and bp 90/60. the loss of blood had made me very anemic. they performed nasogastric intubation to check if the blood was coming from my stomach, it wasnt. i was admitted again because of anemia. they uped the prednisone to 120mg (iv) for two days to try to get the inflamation under control. after five days of iron, blood transfusion, and high doses of pred the bleeding had stopped, my red blood count was low but stable they discharged me.
i saw my gi for the first time since the hospital, i had hoped that he would tell me everything i wanted to know, and i would be on my way. however, he really didn't tell me anything other than he was leaning towards crohns disease from the biopsies, but again, wouldn't know until colonoscopy (scheduled for 9/14). and that i would have to stay on pred (30mg, pcp lowered in 10mg saying it would let me sleep better)for at least three more months.
after that last hospital stay, i have hardly been crampy and my bm have slowed to about 3x a day and are practically solid!! however, i am exhausted and i have been running a low grade fever for the past week. i am really frustrated that gi couldn't tell me what was going on with me, and my pcp is just a joke.
i appologize for the lengthy message, i just feel that no one will tell me what is going on and no one understands how crappy i feel. i'm in limbo. any advice would be greatly appreciated!
thank you, i hope everyone is feeling well!
