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Newly diagnosed and not sure about treatment options...

Hi everyone,

Like many here, it took me a long time to decide to post something here, but I feel like I need to ask if someone had anything like my story.

I've had stomach ulcers since I was a kid, at the time discovered it was H. pylori that was treated with some medication. This is back when I was 8 years old, and symptom free by the age of 13 probably. Symptoms at the time were tummy ache, feeling weak and dizzy.

Fast forward few years, I'm 25. Healthy, moderately athletic, rarely ever get a flu, feel amazing. Until about a year ago, I started having excruciating attacks in my mid-back. I went from massage to chiro, to ...you name it... only to finally found out I have gallstones. They're tiny, not even a big deal, but what the ultrasound doctor was more concerned about is when he saw thick walls of my small bowel, and suggested a urgent referral to a GI.

These things take months, so I had a chance to change my diet (make it even more healthy), get a job with no night-shifts, and graduated from university => less stress overall.

GI follows up with colonoscopy, MRI, and finds ileitis with about 15-20 cm inflamed and scared small bowel. Prescribes budesonide right away and tells me to come back in a month to let her know what treatment I prefer (Humira, etc.)

Here are my issues here though:
- I don't believe that it's out of nowhere. I may have stomach ulcers, but I've been on already good diet most of my life except for last 3-4 years due to increased pressure/stress from university
- GI never asked me about indirect family history (not just if anyone had IBS/IBD (NOBODY had, going back generations), but she never asked about my already low iron levels, alpha-thalassemia condition, etc., that runs in all women in our family).
- I have no Crohn's symptoms. The most I've had is gurgling, and maybe 2 diarrhea incidents in a year...and that I believe, can be from gallstones.

I've done significant research as most of you here, and right now, I'm stuck on the idea that I've been taking birth control (Try-cyclen) for way too long, and that has caused (indirectly of course) this whole problem. It's been shown that women with predisposition (low iron, low blood count, and oral contraceptives) are 3 times more likely to develop Crohn's. I recently found out that taking the pill gave severe side effects to my mom and she stopped them right away (but we don't talk about these things, how would I know), which makes me think I do have a predisposition to negative reaction from these pills. However, I'm generally healthier than my mom, I eat less, I'm thinner and I exercise, so it makes sense that my body would compensate for years before showing symptoms.

I've confused and angry that she would never consider this. I plan on speaking with my family doc and getting off them immediately...

I do not want to take steroids until they observe me off the birth control pills. I called my GI office and let them know I refuse to take them until I talk to my GI again, they have yet to call me back..

Any thoughts on this?
 
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