Hey folks,
I'm a 34 year old male that may have Crohn's Disease. A couple weeks ago, my wife and I had some friends over for a BBQ. We ate and drank and were marry!
The next morning I woke up feeling horrible. Sure, I had a few too many beers, but it wasn't the first time that's happened. As the day progressed, I felt worse and worse. I had that sensitive, prickly skin sensation, was sweating and my stomach didn't feel so hot. I fought it all day and finally decided to head to bed early.
The next morning my stomach still hurt, but now there was some lower back pain. I stayed home from work and spent almost the entire day on the toilet, often groaning from the pains in my gut.
I'm the "tough it out" type. Even after being diagnosed with panic disorder a couple years back, and becoming a hypochondriac because of it, I tend not to want to go to the doctor for anything. But that's for another there forum
It was about 8pm and I couldn't take the pain anymore. I called the advice nurse, explained what was going on, and they said to go to the hospital ASAP. I had said my right side hurt and they didn't want to chance it being my appendix.
We finally get a room and they start pushing around my stomach to see where it hurts. Odd enough, the nurse pushed where I felt the most pain and it didn't hurt. Once they figured out it wasn't my appendix, nurses would come and go in longer intervals.
They took blood and CAT scanned me and said my lower intestines were inflamed. "We're going to admit you to the hospital. You'll need to be here for 4 or 5 days."
If the efficacy of my anxiety meds hadn't been tested before, they sure were now! I had never stayed in the hospital before. What's wrong with me!?
They found me a room upstairs and due to the state of my bowel movements at that time, I didn't have to have a roommate. They took more blood, stool samples, and hooked me up to an IV after I complained about being very thirsty.
"Hi, I'm Dr. So-and-so. We think you might have Crohn's Disease, so no food or water for at least 3 days."
Uh...What!? WTF is Crohn's Disease? I have a disease!? Am I going to die?
With my trusty smartphone in hand, I did some research (which is not advised if you're an anxiety ridden, hypochondriac in the hospital).
More blood, more stool, more tests and after 4 days of the slow introduction of solid food, I'm released with a follow-up appointment with my GP, steroids and the word that a GI specialist will contact me.
A week or so goes by without incident and I go to my GP appointment. He does a standard checkup and says everything seems fine. I should leave we some weight (who shouldn't) but my appointment with the GI should answer any questions. What appointment?
Yeah, it looks like someone dropped the ball on that one. So he sets one up for the following week.
The next day, I go to have my morning constitutional and Bam! Excruciating pain and blood! Out of fear and panic, I decide to investigate that's going on back there. I've never had them before, but I think it's hemorrhoids.
I call my doc again and he asks if I've had difficulty going. Are you kidding!? I just spent the previous week expelling all nutrition from my body in liquid form! No I haven't had any issues! (I wanted to say...) He says he thinks it's hemorrhoids as well and to wait for the GI and ask him.
So I spend the next 3 days afraid to go to the bathroom because I feel like I'm being torn in half with every little movement. Apply Preparation H liberally to area...
I'm at the GI appointment expecting to get a little more information than last time. "We think you have Crohn's and if you do, the two treatment options are, A) drugs that suppress your immune system so much that we need to check your white blood cell count every couple of months/makes you more susceptible to skin cancer and B) a cocktail you inject yourself with that suppresses your immune system in a similar way as the drugs.
Great...
I brushed off all of that in order to keep myself calm, and bring up the uncomfortable posterior predicament. "Let me go get some gloves". I knew this was coming...
He says it's probably hemorrhoids and schedules me for a colonoscopy the week after Easter. Fortunately, it sounds like this will give a better idea as to what's going on, but what should I be ready for? If I have it, do I really need to screw with my immune system? If I don't have it, what the hell happened? I haven't had any issues, aside from the residual healing of the hemorrhoids. Maybe this was just a one off issue.
Sorry for the brain dump. I'm really at a loss for what to think/how to feel/what to expect. I just wanted to throw my story out there for those who might be in a similar boat.
I'm a 34 year old male that may have Crohn's Disease. A couple weeks ago, my wife and I had some friends over for a BBQ. We ate and drank and were marry!
The next morning I woke up feeling horrible. Sure, I had a few too many beers, but it wasn't the first time that's happened. As the day progressed, I felt worse and worse. I had that sensitive, prickly skin sensation, was sweating and my stomach didn't feel so hot. I fought it all day and finally decided to head to bed early.
The next morning my stomach still hurt, but now there was some lower back pain. I stayed home from work and spent almost the entire day on the toilet, often groaning from the pains in my gut.
I'm the "tough it out" type. Even after being diagnosed with panic disorder a couple years back, and becoming a hypochondriac because of it, I tend not to want to go to the doctor for anything. But that's for another there forum
It was about 8pm and I couldn't take the pain anymore. I called the advice nurse, explained what was going on, and they said to go to the hospital ASAP. I had said my right side hurt and they didn't want to chance it being my appendix.
We finally get a room and they start pushing around my stomach to see where it hurts. Odd enough, the nurse pushed where I felt the most pain and it didn't hurt. Once they figured out it wasn't my appendix, nurses would come and go in longer intervals.
They took blood and CAT scanned me and said my lower intestines were inflamed. "We're going to admit you to the hospital. You'll need to be here for 4 or 5 days."
If the efficacy of my anxiety meds hadn't been tested before, they sure were now! I had never stayed in the hospital before. What's wrong with me!?
They found me a room upstairs and due to the state of my bowel movements at that time, I didn't have to have a roommate. They took more blood, stool samples, and hooked me up to an IV after I complained about being very thirsty.
"Hi, I'm Dr. So-and-so. We think you might have Crohn's Disease, so no food or water for at least 3 days."
Uh...What!? WTF is Crohn's Disease? I have a disease!? Am I going to die?
With my trusty smartphone in hand, I did some research (which is not advised if you're an anxiety ridden, hypochondriac in the hospital).
More blood, more stool, more tests and after 4 days of the slow introduction of solid food, I'm released with a follow-up appointment with my GP, steroids and the word that a GI specialist will contact me.
A week or so goes by without incident and I go to my GP appointment. He does a standard checkup and says everything seems fine. I should leave we some weight (who shouldn't) but my appointment with the GI should answer any questions. What appointment?
Yeah, it looks like someone dropped the ball on that one. So he sets one up for the following week.
The next day, I go to have my morning constitutional and Bam! Excruciating pain and blood! Out of fear and panic, I decide to investigate that's going on back there. I've never had them before, but I think it's hemorrhoids.
I call my doc again and he asks if I've had difficulty going. Are you kidding!? I just spent the previous week expelling all nutrition from my body in liquid form! No I haven't had any issues! (I wanted to say...) He says he thinks it's hemorrhoids as well and to wait for the GI and ask him.
So I spend the next 3 days afraid to go to the bathroom because I feel like I'm being torn in half with every little movement. Apply Preparation H liberally to area...
I'm at the GI appointment expecting to get a little more information than last time. "We think you have Crohn's and if you do, the two treatment options are, A) drugs that suppress your immune system so much that we need to check your white blood cell count every couple of months/makes you more susceptible to skin cancer and B) a cocktail you inject yourself with that suppresses your immune system in a similar way as the drugs.
Great...
I brushed off all of that in order to keep myself calm, and bring up the uncomfortable posterior predicament. "Let me go get some gloves". I knew this was coming...
He says it's probably hemorrhoids and schedules me for a colonoscopy the week after Easter. Fortunately, it sounds like this will give a better idea as to what's going on, but what should I be ready for? If I have it, do I really need to screw with my immune system? If I don't have it, what the hell happened? I haven't had any issues, aside from the residual healing of the hemorrhoids. Maybe this was just a one off issue.
Sorry for the brain dump. I'm really at a loss for what to think/how to feel/what to expect. I just wanted to throw my story out there for those who might be in a similar boat.
