NEW TO FORUM - could do with a chat!!

[minijukebox]

Hey, I'm 23yrs old and have had crohns for the last 5 years. I've always fought on through and have enjoyed myself regardless of my crohns but in the last six months I'm struggling. I'm finding it harder to keep up with my friends and I've also just been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. The two of them combined are making my job and social life increasingly difficult. Has anyone else with been diagnosed with arthritis? Just finding the whole thing hard to get my head around.

 

[PeedyWheels]

I hear ya! Many times I turn down doing fun stuff because Im on the edge of not feeling good. Luckily I have my Crohns very managable, but its still not easy. I would love to travel, but dont feel I could ever go outside the comfort of the U.S. incase a problem came up. Luckily the people close to me think of me when planning events and even get together meals. Just dont be afraid to speak up, sometimes your friends and family may be more accomodating and understanding than you think.

 

[minijukebox]

My family are amazing they understand completely if I'm not up to something. I think my friends find it difficult to understand maybe its the age I was diagnosed at but I lost a lot of friends when I became sick. I just feel really frustrated at the moment as I finally have a good group of friends and got over a bad flare up and now the arthritis has hit me! I feel like I'm back at square one again.

As for you wanting to travel, I have been all around Europe and I just planned it all very carefully. Countries I visited I had a letter drawn up in the national language explaining my health situation incase I fell ill. You should try and travel it was great fun

 

[tiloah]

Welcome to the forum. I'm 25, I was diagnosed at 21. I have felt all that you are feeling. It's extremely frustrating, but the only thing I've found I can do is either 1. Give myself the rest that I need. 2. Push through it. Usually 1 wins out.

Have you heard of the spoon theory? I think it's worth a read for you. There's been a thread about it here before. Basically a woman with an autoimmune disease (lupus) wrote about how frustrating it is and how she finally found a way to explain it to other people. Essentially, healthy people get a lot more "spoons" than sick people.

I hope you stick around the forum. It's a great place and it might help you feel less isolated.

 

[PeedyWheels]

Well if you lost some friends, I would question if they even were friends. I dont want to judge, but.... and your right, at your age it does not help.

I would like to do some traveling, but I have had several surgeries due to scar tissue forming causing blockages in my small intestine. Very painfull and very scary, and also very serious.

Remicade helps both CD and arthritis. You should ask your doc about it. I had ache joints until Remicade. Now I dont. From what I read, RA and CD are both caused by the same chemical or thing the immune system gives off, thats why this drug works for both. With CD it causes the inflmation in the gut, with RA its in the joints.

 

[Mitch]

I can sympathize with the friend loss. Someone I considered my best friend in high school and college all but wrote me off after my 1st resection. I remember all to well him collapsing on my doorstep in college after he went and OD'd on mushrooms at some party and I got to drive his craziness to the ER at 2am and stand by him in the ER like a friend should. He stopped returning my calls when I was diagnosed with Crohn's. In my experience friends are usually just a means for a convenience. The ones that are worth a damn will stick by you even when that convenience no longer applies.

 

[PeedyWheels]

holy sh*t. wow Mitch. Not cool. I give you credit for doing the right thing. I would rather have a small group of close good freinds than a large group of casual friends. People who care, are there! Plane and simple.