Hello! :sign0144:
I'm new here and I'm not yet diagnosed and I really don't want to be.
Some background: I'm 25 years old, female, Canadian and I teach grade 3 French immersion. Since I was a teenager, I've had what my mum called a "sensitive constitution". We'd go out for dinner, and I'd get diarrhea. I'd get nervous for something, and I'd get diarrhea. My grandmother has IBS so I'd always just assumed that that is what I had too.
But then about 6 months ago, I started to get really sick. It started with diarrhea 7 or 8 times a day, everyday (sorry, TMI, but yellow, with long strand of mucus and mostly undigested food). I dealt with this for around 2 weeks, thinking I had the flu. But then I started to have serious pain in the lower right quadrant of my abdomen. I'll let this go on for two days, but the pain was so bad it would wake me at night. So I went to the ER, thinking appendicitis. I was there for nearly 24 hours. They did blood work, an ultrasound and a CT scan (and 4 litres of IV fluids because I was very dehydrated). The ultrasound was totally normal, the blood work showed an elevated SED rate, mild anemia and an ever so slightly elevated C-reactive protein, but was otherwise normal. The CT scan showed nothing wrong with my appendix, and showed only mild colitis, so I was discharged and send home with a fecal sample kit. They told me they though it was a bacterial infection, but the fecal sample was normal, so they told me that it was probably a virus and that it would clear up on its own in 7-14 more days. Five months later, and other than the one week where I was constipated instead, the diarrhea and pain that wakes me up at night have been ongoing. I'm so tired because I haven't had a good nights sleep that wasn't interrupted by pain and diarrhea in six months. In fact, the only "good" thing is that I've lost around 30lbs and I'm now as thin as I was in high school (probably because the only things that don't run right through me completely undigested are bananas and plain yogurt).
So I went back to my GP and insisted that he do more tests so he ran another fecal smear, more blood work, another ultrasound, tested me for celiac and lactose intolerance, all of which came back normal, so he referred me to GI doctor. I saw him two weeks ago and he said that it could be crohn's disease and he is sending me for a colonoscopy. And I'm terrified. Afraid for the colonoscopy prep. Afraid of being put under (I've never been put under or had surgery before - I still have my wisdom teeth and everything). Afraid of having a camera up my bottom. And of course I'm afraid that he'll say I do have crown's, which would suck.
Sigh, I feel so alone in this.
I'm new here and I'm not yet diagnosed and I really don't want to be.
Some background: I'm 25 years old, female, Canadian and I teach grade 3 French immersion. Since I was a teenager, I've had what my mum called a "sensitive constitution". We'd go out for dinner, and I'd get diarrhea. I'd get nervous for something, and I'd get diarrhea. My grandmother has IBS so I'd always just assumed that that is what I had too.
But then about 6 months ago, I started to get really sick. It started with diarrhea 7 or 8 times a day, everyday (sorry, TMI, but yellow, with long strand of mucus and mostly undigested food). I dealt with this for around 2 weeks, thinking I had the flu. But then I started to have serious pain in the lower right quadrant of my abdomen. I'll let this go on for two days, but the pain was so bad it would wake me at night. So I went to the ER, thinking appendicitis. I was there for nearly 24 hours. They did blood work, an ultrasound and a CT scan (and 4 litres of IV fluids because I was very dehydrated). The ultrasound was totally normal, the blood work showed an elevated SED rate, mild anemia and an ever so slightly elevated C-reactive protein, but was otherwise normal. The CT scan showed nothing wrong with my appendix, and showed only mild colitis, so I was discharged and send home with a fecal sample kit. They told me they though it was a bacterial infection, but the fecal sample was normal, so they told me that it was probably a virus and that it would clear up on its own in 7-14 more days. Five months later, and other than the one week where I was constipated instead, the diarrhea and pain that wakes me up at night have been ongoing. I'm so tired because I haven't had a good nights sleep that wasn't interrupted by pain and diarrhea in six months. In fact, the only "good" thing is that I've lost around 30lbs and I'm now as thin as I was in high school (probably because the only things that don't run right through me completely undigested are bananas and plain yogurt).
So I went back to my GP and insisted that he do more tests so he ran another fecal smear, more blood work, another ultrasound, tested me for celiac and lactose intolerance, all of which came back normal, so he referred me to GI doctor. I saw him two weeks ago and he said that it could be crohn's disease and he is sending me for a colonoscopy. And I'm terrified. Afraid for the colonoscopy prep. Afraid of being put under (I've never been put under or had surgery before - I still have my wisdom teeth and everything). Afraid of having a camera up my bottom. And of course I'm afraid that he'll say I do have crown's, which would suck.
Sigh, I feel so alone in this.
