Newbie with Crohns

[Kirstee]

Hello

I'm a 25 year old female in Scotland. Diagnosed with Crohns Disease 2 years ago. After 6 months of wrong diagnosis, colonoscopy showed severe inflammation. 3 weeks later I was whipped into hospital and under went a right hemicolectomy. Since then I've been trying to come to terms with this disease ! I've not let it stop me (when possible) but I appear to have lost the abundance of confidence I had in myself. just came on here to see if anyone had any suggestions of how to find it again. New to forums in general but still kinda feel new to the whole Crohns thing too! Consultant has identified more inflammation and I'm awaiting an appointment for medication and further testing. Constantly up and down atm. Just wanna be up up :ylol:

Anyway that's me !

 

[***Lisa***]

Hi Kirstee & welcome to the forum. If there us one thing that we can all agree upon concerning Crohns it is that it has it's ups & downs. What meds have you taken during the past two years to control your symptoms? What are you taking now? Are you on a special diet? Do you take any supplements?

Please post here whenever you want to chat with someone who is dealing with this disease or has a loved one who is also trying to dodge all the punches Crohns is always throwing their way. We might get knocked down from time-to-time but we always have to get right back up & into the fight again as it's a battle worth winning!

 

[dave13]

Hi Kirstee,I'm new to crohns myself,diagnosed 11-13 and in my 2nd week of recovery from a resection of my small intestine.I've felt overwhelmed and unsure of my future.I found the Crohn's Forum and reading and relating to posts has helped me at my low times.I feel reading these posts by others has helped me be positive and be proactive.It's good to have a place to find support and answers to questions.I hope it helps you too. Dave

 

[nogutsnoglory]

It's normal to lose your sense of self and feel confused and scared with this illness. It's all new to you and you had a barrage of troubles which will stress even the strongest person.

I suggest trying to stay strong, focus on the goal and with disease management you will hopefully find your confidence again.

 

[24601]

Hi, I want to have a great answer for you and I'm not sure I do. Part of it is, I think, that it is a real challenge to feel confident and good when you are actually feeling sick and a lot of us struggle to be healthy. Also I think it can be particularly difficult in that time when we have been newly diagnosed or when we are forced to spend a lot of time dealing with our symptoms or in and out of hospital, recovering from surgeries and things, to not lose our sense of self in the label "Crohn's patient" or in the experience of being sick. And we have to make a real effort to remember and really feel that we are not just our disease or the collection of symptoms, that we are the person we were before, perhaps changed but still a whole person with all the strengths and qualities we have always had and sometimes a few new ones acquired through our experiences. And all that means we are very valid people out there in the world too not just in our bubble of Crohn's and we can take confidence from that.

Also just, when we are healthy enough, going back to the things we used to enjoy doing or derive a sense of self-esteem from - and if we aren't well enough finding other things that we can manage that will give us that feeling of worth and achievement.

Okay this is just my late night percocet-fueled ramblings but I couldn't read your post and not say that I know how that can feel (or of course I may have misinterpreted exactly what you meant by loss of confidence I don't know!) and I empathize! I hope you feel better soon and get all your confidence back!