Hi! My name is Danielle and I am new to the forum. I was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease and I've done a lot of research online but this seems like a great place where I can go and read about how all that research has been applied to other people's situations.
The diagnosis for me was fairly quick once things started to get bad. Here is the story of how I came to be diagnosed.
Back in February of 2015 my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our first child. After the shock of it happening so quick we began the process of getting excited. That was quickly shot down when we went in for our first ultrasound and we found out we miscarried at 7 weeks. A very common thing they say so we didn't think much of it. Then within the next few months I started to have severe stomach pains that would go away after very explosive/loose bm's. I went to my primary doctor and she said its probably just the aftermath of my miscarriage because even though I was only pregnant a short time things still get out of whack in there. So her solution.....add more fiber to my diet. This worked for a few months so again I didn't think anything of it. Then in November it started to come back again with very urgent loose bm's. I again added more fiber but this time it didn't seem to help. Then I would start to get pains so bad that the only way to make them go away was to vomit or go to the bathroom. Being very determined to fix this on my own I did nothing about it until after the new year. My husband and I at this time had been trying to conceive ever since the miscarriage and with no luck had began the process of seeking out a fertility specialist but I felt that if something was wrong with me forking out the money on a specialist was a waste. So I went to my primary doctor again and this time she referred me to a GI specialist. I don't know about where you guys live but apparently my city doesn't have many of them so it can take almost two months to even get your first appointment. But since my doctor had run some tests of her own which came back positive for inflammation this helped get me in within a week. My first appointment was them recommending a colonoscopy which luck again was with me and they got me in that week! Afterwards the doctor gave me his initial prognosis.....Crohns, and the possibility that my miscarriage may have been caused because of it. I had done research before and figured it was going to be either IBS or ulcerative colitis....but not Crohns! He told me to start taking Pentasa (2 pills 4x a day) and said he would see me in late April. This was 10 weeks away! What the heck was I going to do with myself for 10 weeks!!
Well that 10 weeks ended about 8 weeks early when one morning I woke up and literally thought I was dying. I puked three times and the last time was the water and my Pentasa pills I had put in my system 30 minutes prior. My stomach was rock hard and neither standing, sitting, or just being alive was comfortable. So I hauled myself into the ER where I had my first CT scan that showed a partial bowel obstruction and about 25% of my small intestine was inflamed. The ER doctor highly recommended I get admitted to the hospital and after talking to the GI doctor he recommended the same. So this began my first hospitalization due to my Crohns. They fed me with IVs and steroids all weekend in the hopes that this would get the inflammation to go away which it seemed that it had because things started to flow smoothly again.
I am now 3 weeks out of the hospital and have been taking prednisone and the Pentasa ever since. I am lowering my dosage every week by 10mg so next week will be the true test once I am completely off the steoroids and only on Pentasa. The GI doctor at the hospital thinks I may have a moderate to severe case so I may need heavier drugs but my GI doctor said that its best to start small and work our way into the heavier drugs if needed. It seems this whole process will be a trial and error. I have also continued the low residue diet I was told to follow after my hospital visit which seems to help. My fear however is that the steroids are allowing me to eat what I want but that may change when I am off of them. The doctor is ok prescribing Prednisone so at any symptom they say to up my dosage to whatever made me feel good but for obvious reasons I don't want steroids to be my go-to drug.
The nice thing with all of this is that I am now on my doctor's radar and I am officially a "special" patient as they say. No more 10 weeks to see my doctor. At any symptom I can call them and get in within the week. I am ready to get my life back on track and continue our quest into starting a family. We now have the red light from the doctor and I am hoping here soon we can get it all figured out and get that green light. I know they aren't in a hurry but we have been trying for over a year and I am not getting any younger!
So that's my story! Sorry if its a little lengthy but I'm glad I can finally tell it and have answers at the end. Thanks again for everyone who took the time to read this :ysmile:
The diagnosis for me was fairly quick once things started to get bad. Here is the story of how I came to be diagnosed.
Back in February of 2015 my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our first child. After the shock of it happening so quick we began the process of getting excited. That was quickly shot down when we went in for our first ultrasound and we found out we miscarried at 7 weeks. A very common thing they say so we didn't think much of it. Then within the next few months I started to have severe stomach pains that would go away after very explosive/loose bm's. I went to my primary doctor and she said its probably just the aftermath of my miscarriage because even though I was only pregnant a short time things still get out of whack in there. So her solution.....add more fiber to my diet. This worked for a few months so again I didn't think anything of it. Then in November it started to come back again with very urgent loose bm's. I again added more fiber but this time it didn't seem to help. Then I would start to get pains so bad that the only way to make them go away was to vomit or go to the bathroom. Being very determined to fix this on my own I did nothing about it until after the new year. My husband and I at this time had been trying to conceive ever since the miscarriage and with no luck had began the process of seeking out a fertility specialist but I felt that if something was wrong with me forking out the money on a specialist was a waste. So I went to my primary doctor again and this time she referred me to a GI specialist. I don't know about where you guys live but apparently my city doesn't have many of them so it can take almost two months to even get your first appointment. But since my doctor had run some tests of her own which came back positive for inflammation this helped get me in within a week. My first appointment was them recommending a colonoscopy which luck again was with me and they got me in that week! Afterwards the doctor gave me his initial prognosis.....Crohns, and the possibility that my miscarriage may have been caused because of it. I had done research before and figured it was going to be either IBS or ulcerative colitis....but not Crohns! He told me to start taking Pentasa (2 pills 4x a day) and said he would see me in late April. This was 10 weeks away! What the heck was I going to do with myself for 10 weeks!!
Well that 10 weeks ended about 8 weeks early when one morning I woke up and literally thought I was dying. I puked three times and the last time was the water and my Pentasa pills I had put in my system 30 minutes prior. My stomach was rock hard and neither standing, sitting, or just being alive was comfortable. So I hauled myself into the ER where I had my first CT scan that showed a partial bowel obstruction and about 25% of my small intestine was inflamed. The ER doctor highly recommended I get admitted to the hospital and after talking to the GI doctor he recommended the same. So this began my first hospitalization due to my Crohns. They fed me with IVs and steroids all weekend in the hopes that this would get the inflammation to go away which it seemed that it had because things started to flow smoothly again.
I am now 3 weeks out of the hospital and have been taking prednisone and the Pentasa ever since. I am lowering my dosage every week by 10mg so next week will be the true test once I am completely off the steoroids and only on Pentasa. The GI doctor at the hospital thinks I may have a moderate to severe case so I may need heavier drugs but my GI doctor said that its best to start small and work our way into the heavier drugs if needed. It seems this whole process will be a trial and error. I have also continued the low residue diet I was told to follow after my hospital visit which seems to help. My fear however is that the steroids are allowing me to eat what I want but that may change when I am off of them. The doctor is ok prescribing Prednisone so at any symptom they say to up my dosage to whatever made me feel good but for obvious reasons I don't want steroids to be my go-to drug.
The nice thing with all of this is that I am now on my doctor's radar and I am officially a "special" patient as they say. No more 10 weeks to see my doctor. At any symptom I can call them and get in within the week. I am ready to get my life back on track and continue our quest into starting a family. We now have the red light from the doctor and I am hoping here soon we can get it all figured out and get that green light. I know they aren't in a hurry but we have been trying for over a year and I am not getting any younger!
So that's my story! Sorry if its a little lengthy but I'm glad I can finally tell it and have answers at the end. Thanks again for everyone who took the time to read this :ysmile:
