New to the forum so many questions!

[Ava041411]

Hi all! I have not been diagnosed with crohns but have been through testing after testing with no answers and am hoping someone may be able to help me. Starting in September I have had severe nausea after meals gradually it got worse and I began throwing up after every meal. I decided to call my gi doctor and she scheduled me for an endoscopy my endoscopy showed patchy erythema friability ulceration and inflammation of the duodenum and anterior bulb they did biopsys which she told me showed inflammation so I was started on protonix. The protonix hasn't helped at all and now my nausea is all day every day and amplified after meals. I called her after being on it for a month and she switched me to aciphex and said I needed something stronger. Now on aciphex for a few weeks and still no changes, I am nausea from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep if I eat I get so sick I have to lay down and I often wake up with stomach pains. I now have began experiencing watery stool with blood in it. I have an appt to see a diff gi doctor in April and am seeing a psychiatrist wed (to rule out anxiety bc I am so frustrated with everyone telling me this is due to stress)

Has anyone had any similar experience? I just want answers and am so tired of feeling sick every day.

Thank you all!

 

[Ava041411]

I forgot to add I'm 25 female I've had ct scan and labs to test for celiac and h pylori which were negative

 

[JDTM]

Hi Ava!

My story sounds at least somewhat similar -- most of my troubles started with stomach pains, I had an endoscopy that revealed gastritis and duodenal ulcers, and I tested negative for both celiac and H. pylori. I assumed that it was partially caused by NSAIDs (Advil, aspirin, etc.), and exacerbated by stress. I didn't have nausea like you, but something was definitely going on in my gut -- the medicine I was prescribed (omeprazole) usually maintained the symptoms, but I still had a couple of flare-ups despite the meds.

Once my bowel movements started to change and I started feeling sicker, I eventually had a colonoscopy done. In this case, that's what I'd probably recommend for you. A good GI might be able to find out what's causing your troubles or rule it out. As far as seeing a psychiatrist is concerned, it can't hurt to do that anyways if you're stressed out. I wouldn't necessarily use it as a method to "rule out anxiety" -- use it as a way to help deal with anxiety! I'm sure that your health problems are causing you plenty of anxiety as well (trust me, I know), so it can't hurt to see someone.

Anyways, I hope this advice helps you somewhat! I'm new to this whole thing too, and I found that this board is probably very helpful (even if it's a bit overwhelming). I wish you the best of luck and definitely keep us posted.

 

[Ava041411]

Thank you so much for your response! I should hav clarified the psychiatrist that I will be seeing also has an internal medicine background. I am going because I am so tired of hearing my family tell me that my symptoms are all anxiety related (I have GAD and take Zoloft for that). I keep telling my family I know this difference in anxious feelings and when something is wrong wit hme and how I feel has nothing to do with anxiety but they keep telling me to increase my Zoloft to see if it helps, which I disagree with. I made the appt to see the psychiatrist hoping she will look at my background and help me reaffirm that it's not anxiety. It's so frustrating when your family assumes everything is in your head so while waiting to see my new gi doctor I figured I can continue trying different routes to rule everything else out.

 

[sawdust]

Hi Ava. Welcome to the forum and I'm glad you've found us! If you haven't looked around too much, I think you'll find this to be a great place. Personally, I like the patient focus, as it seems I can best relate to other patients going through the same or similar things.

We do have an undiagnosed club subforum as well:
http://www.crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=75
There are alot of experienced regulars in there who take good care of you. Lots of good info there!

I wanted to be sure to reply to you because your story reminded me so much of mine when I was first getting diagnosed.

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=14956

It's so difficult to know that something is so wrong with you that you eventually almost hope it's an incurable chronic disease so you can at least start getting some sort of relief. Most people could never understand that, but I'll bet you can find many around here that can relate.

Anyway, it took me a solid year working with doctors and undergoing various tests before they ever really figured out what was wrong with me. It was so long, in fact, that the flare I was in had kind of petered out all by itself and I was pretty much back to feeling better at that point.

The other reason I wanted to be sure to respond is the "stress" response has been a common one for me. I say often that IBD has symptoms that others can relate to, but they really can't relate to, if that makes sense. If I tell someone that I have Crohn's, they might tell me about the "really bad" cramps they had "this one time," or how they had butterflies in their stomach from stress, or they had diarrhea and it was "really bad." I don't think it's intentional, but they think they can relate enough to you that they become an expert on how to "fix you." In my opinion, this is how people who care about you can suggest that you're just stressed out.

On the other hand, I am stressed out, and not afraid to admit it. Seeing a psychiatrist is a good idea, in my opinion. Life isn't easy with these health problems, and any stress you had before can be exacerbated by plugging symptoms, doctor's visits, medications, expenses, tests, relationships, etc, into life that's already tough. I don't mean to sound like a downer - I'm not - I'm trying to show other reasons you might benefit from talking to your psychiatrist.

Again, welcome. I hope you find this community to be as helpful and welcoming as I have.

 

[Angrybird]

Hi Ava and welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear that you are strugglng to get to a diagnosis, I agree about asking for further testing ie colonoscopy so a good check of the inside of the bowel can be done, is there anyway your appt could come forward? April is a fair 'ol wait....

I do hope that things soon turn around and you can get a diagosis and working treatment plan sorted, keep us updated on how you get on.