- Joined
- Oct 1, 2013
- Messages
- 12
Hi everyone!
My name is Michelle. I am 31 years old. I was diagnosed with crohn's disease 10 years ago. It was a pretty dramatic story, more dramatic than it ever had to be. My ignorance of youth (wish I still had, life was such a fun adventure lol) was one reason why I never went to the doctor when I knew I was have way too many stomach aches and way too often; fear was another large factor.
I got myself to the point I was so sick I could not get out of bed. I never reached out to my family for help. I got myself to the point I was so weak and so sick I could not get out of bed. My mother realized there was something wrong with me when she tried to call me three days in a row and each time I told her I was sleeping. My mother called my sister and told her to get in the house and see what was wrong no matter what, her mother's intuition saved my life. By the time my sister got to my house I was unable to stand up straight. I was unable to walk to the car or even try to explain what kind of pain I had. My sister noticed my stomach first. I was an average size at the time. My stomach was hard as a rock and I looked like I was 8 or 9 months pregnant. I knew at that moment something was horribly wrong. My sister carried me downstairs and brought me to the hospital. In the ER every test that could have been done was done. The few short hours I was in the ER felt like a lifetime. The pain got so bad I was literally asking God to just let me die. I felt that the relief of just giving up and going to heaven was better than pushing through any longer.
Finally after every effort was made to try and figure out what was wrong, the only option left was exploratory surgery. In that surgery my Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis were found. When I got out of surgery I did not have any feelings or emotions about the entire ordeal. I did not know how to think or how to react. The following years I took my medication, never really talked about my illness and never really tried to be proactive about it.
I usually had a flare up maybe once every two years. I had periods of time where I did not have insurance and I just didn't go to the doctor. I didn't get my prescriptions refilled because it would have been hundreds of dollars. I used that as an excuse to pretend that nothing was wrong. I knew then and still know now that living that way would only last so long.
So now today, I am literally writing my Crohn's story from my hospital bed. This is my second hospitalization within 30 days. I got out of a week long hospital stay on September 1 and I was admitted again on Sept 30. I was use to the idea that when I got sick the steroids I took after made me feel great and it was no time at all before I was back to my fast paced life. Over the last few years I stopped doing lot of the bad things I knew would make me sick again. I no longer smoke, I do not drink. I only eat a soft/low residue diet. After I got out on Sept 1 I went back to life. BUT as of Sept 29th my stomach was bloated and hard. I was weak and tired and the worst part of the entire disease I started throwing up non-stop from 1am to 7am when I got the the ER (anyone else ever notice you only have violent throw up marathons at night?). So now here I am, day two, looks like I am going to be here until at least monday. I have a tube up my nose, down my throat and down to my stomach. I am normally not an emotional person. I am more of a calm, coll, collect person, especially when it come to being sick. There is never an excuse for a freak out session, you only get sicker. BUT when I got to the ER two days ago
I felt like I wanted to reach out to a group like this because I think I need to be more vocal about my illness, make it a center point in my life and work my university education (that i'm now working on) around my illness instead of putting everything else first.
I am trying to take a new approach to my health. It is clear that All the improvements I have made were good BUT not enough.
If anyone has any good advice or suggestions on how to move even further in the right direction I would really appreciate it!
Michelle
My name is Michelle. I am 31 years old. I was diagnosed with crohn's disease 10 years ago. It was a pretty dramatic story, more dramatic than it ever had to be. My ignorance of youth (wish I still had, life was such a fun adventure lol) was one reason why I never went to the doctor when I knew I was have way too many stomach aches and way too often; fear was another large factor.
I got myself to the point I was so sick I could not get out of bed. I never reached out to my family for help. I got myself to the point I was so weak and so sick I could not get out of bed. My mother realized there was something wrong with me when she tried to call me three days in a row and each time I told her I was sleeping. My mother called my sister and told her to get in the house and see what was wrong no matter what, her mother's intuition saved my life. By the time my sister got to my house I was unable to stand up straight. I was unable to walk to the car or even try to explain what kind of pain I had. My sister noticed my stomach first. I was an average size at the time. My stomach was hard as a rock and I looked like I was 8 or 9 months pregnant. I knew at that moment something was horribly wrong. My sister carried me downstairs and brought me to the hospital. In the ER every test that could have been done was done. The few short hours I was in the ER felt like a lifetime. The pain got so bad I was literally asking God to just let me die. I felt that the relief of just giving up and going to heaven was better than pushing through any longer.
Finally after every effort was made to try and figure out what was wrong, the only option left was exploratory surgery. In that surgery my Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis were found. When I got out of surgery I did not have any feelings or emotions about the entire ordeal. I did not know how to think or how to react. The following years I took my medication, never really talked about my illness and never really tried to be proactive about it.
I usually had a flare up maybe once every two years. I had periods of time where I did not have insurance and I just didn't go to the doctor. I didn't get my prescriptions refilled because it would have been hundreds of dollars. I used that as an excuse to pretend that nothing was wrong. I knew then and still know now that living that way would only last so long.
So now today, I am literally writing my Crohn's story from my hospital bed. This is my second hospitalization within 30 days. I got out of a week long hospital stay on September 1 and I was admitted again on Sept 30. I was use to the idea that when I got sick the steroids I took after made me feel great and it was no time at all before I was back to my fast paced life. Over the last few years I stopped doing lot of the bad things I knew would make me sick again. I no longer smoke, I do not drink. I only eat a soft/low residue diet. After I got out on Sept 1 I went back to life. BUT as of Sept 29th my stomach was bloated and hard. I was weak and tired and the worst part of the entire disease I started throwing up non-stop from 1am to 7am when I got the the ER (anyone else ever notice you only have violent throw up marathons at night?). So now here I am, day two, looks like I am going to be here until at least monday. I have a tube up my nose, down my throat and down to my stomach. I am normally not an emotional person. I am more of a calm, coll, collect person, especially when it come to being sick. There is never an excuse for a freak out session, you only get sicker. BUT when I got to the ER two days ago
I felt like I wanted to reach out to a group like this because I think I need to be more vocal about my illness, make it a center point in my life and work my university education (that i'm now working on) around my illness instead of putting everything else first.
I am trying to take a new approach to my health. It is clear that All the improvements I have made were good BUT not enough.
If anyone has any good advice or suggestions on how to move even further in the right direction I would really appreciate it!
Michelle
