New to Crohn's, and feeling lost- Prednisone doing nothing?

[NurseA]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum, and also new to this Crohn's business. After being blown off by my doctors for years as a big whiner, it was discovered a couple weeks ago that I have "moderate to severe" crohn's. Was hospitalized for 5 days with an abdominal abscess and severe inflammation about a week ago. Still have yet to meet with an actual doctor about this to discuss (besides my 5 minute conversations with idiot residents in the hospital) so I'm feeling a little lost...

Currently on 40mg of Prednisone and Augmentin... have been taking this for a week, but my pain is still awful! In fact, it seems like everything is getting worse. I feel sick, I can't eat anything without extreme pain (down to 93lbs)... when am I going to start feeling better???!!! Is it normal for things to take this long? I've never been so miserable in my life, and I'm terrified because I still really don't know anything about this disease, besides what I've read on the internet... I'm so sick of taking pain medication, I would give anything to not have to deal with this anymore

Wow, that turned out to be a much longer post than I intended... sorry, lol. I just feel so lost

 

[Grumpy1]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum, and also new to this Crohn's business. After being blown off by my doctors for years as a big whiner, it was discovered a couple weeks ago that I have "moderate to severe" crohn's. Was hospitalized for 5 days with an abdominal abscess and severe inflammation about a week ago. Still have yet to meet with an actual doctor about this to discuss (besides my 5 minute conversations with idiot residents in the hospital) so I'm feeling a little lost...

Hello NurseA,

I'm relatively new to Crohn's as well my diagnosis was last November - the prednisone took a while to work but it did and things got a little better. You have come to the right place for information and support, the people here are great and can answer most any question you have. Hang in there and stay strong it will get better it just takes time and patience. You can vent here too!

 

[DJW]

Hi and welcome. Sorry to hear about your DX.

It can take some time to get the meds and dosage correct to put you in remission. I suggest keeping a food and symptom journal to see if you can identify problem foods. You may find some symptom relief bycutting dairy and wheat out of your diet . You could also try a low residue diet

Sending you my support.

 

[Patricia56]

Welcome and sorry to hear your story.

You are very sick and it is not going to go away overnight. Sorry about that.

But if you are feeling worse than you were before then you need to call the GI service that is handling your case and tell them that. The prednisone should be making you feel better certainly by a week in our experience.

Are you running fevers? If so be sure to tell them that. They should have warned you to contact them at the first sign of any infection/worsening of infection because you're on the prednisone.

I suggest you go on a liquid diet using ensure or boost or some other OTC complete nutritional drink. Don't try to eat at all. Drink some water but just consume the drinks (this is known as enteral nutrition or EN). this may give you substantial relief in a week or two.

How soon is your follow up appointment? Did they do imaging and scopes while you were inpatient?