Hi all,
I have just been diagnosed with left-sided colitis following a colonoscopy. This was then found to extend throughout the large intestine once biopsies were reviewed. As of now I am currently awaiting MRI in next couple of weeks in order to have a look at the small intestine. Since early October I have also had an endoscopy and ultrasounds done, as the pain I was experiencing and results of blood tests originally pointed towards pancreatitis (minus the rectal bleeding, which led the general consultant I saw to request a colonoscopy 'just to be safe').
It was only once my GP (who has a friend who suffers with Crohn's and has to be fair been amazing) recognised my symptoms and commissioned a faecal calprotectin test which came back very strongly positive that the colonoscopy was fast-tracked and I have hopefully caught this thing relatively early.
It's fair to say the last month and a half have been the toughest of my life. Prior to this I was a healthy 31 year old, moving on in my career having recently been promoted in work, but this illness has majorly knocked me back to the point I can't currently imagine going back to work and having a 'normal' life again.
I am currently on 2.4g Asacol and 30mg Prednisolone per day, have already noticed difficulty sleeping from the preds and hoping this isn't a precursor to some of the other side effects (seriously, the sheet that came with the meds listing potential side effects is literally longer than my arm!!)
The reason I joined this forum is that everyone I talk to seems to 'know someone who knows someone' who suffers from an IBD.
Sorry for the long post.
I have just been diagnosed with left-sided colitis following a colonoscopy. This was then found to extend throughout the large intestine once biopsies were reviewed. As of now I am currently awaiting MRI in next couple of weeks in order to have a look at the small intestine. Since early October I have also had an endoscopy and ultrasounds done, as the pain I was experiencing and results of blood tests originally pointed towards pancreatitis (minus the rectal bleeding, which led the general consultant I saw to request a colonoscopy 'just to be safe').
It was only once my GP (who has a friend who suffers with Crohn's and has to be fair been amazing) recognised my symptoms and commissioned a faecal calprotectin test which came back very strongly positive that the colonoscopy was fast-tracked and I have hopefully caught this thing relatively early.
It's fair to say the last month and a half have been the toughest of my life. Prior to this I was a healthy 31 year old, moving on in my career having recently been promoted in work, but this illness has majorly knocked me back to the point I can't currently imagine going back to work and having a 'normal' life again.
I am currently on 2.4g Asacol and 30mg Prednisolone per day, have already noticed difficulty sleeping from the preds and hoping this isn't a precursor to some of the other side effects (seriously, the sheet that came with the meds listing potential side effects is literally longer than my arm!!)
The reason I joined this forum is that everyone I talk to seems to 'know someone who knows someone' who suffers from an IBD.
Sorry for the long post.
