Hello, everyone!
My name is Jess, and I'm 26 years old living in Victoria, BC. I have been reading this forum for a little while, and everyone is so supportive and amazing and have really helped me realize that what is going on with me is not just happening to me- so I've decided to join and hopefully get some support for my journey and give some support to you all as well.
I won't list my symptoms, as they describe Crohn's perfectly and there is quite a list for that!
I have been suffering with episodes since 2005, no diagnosis yet as it has really only gotten to the point of having to miss days of work this past year. Which is so frustrating- I LOVE my job. Love it. Lately it seems that my whole life revolves around how my body is deciding to act that day and it's really getting frustrating... In the past 7-8 months I have had to take more sick days than I have in the past 5 years. This is not me. But I'm realizing it's my reality right now, and now I have to figure out what is going on and what the plan is from here.
It took me 2 years to find a family doctor here in Victoria, so my road to a diagnosis has really only started recently. So many times when I go to a walk in, I get the "you must have a serious case of the flu"... seriously, if I hear that ever again I will FREAK!
Anyways, I found a doctor in Sidney, BC who immediately referred me to a GI. The wait to see the GI was 3 months, but I had my first appointment on March 21st, 2011 and I'm pretty sure I mucked it up big time. I didn't really feel listened to, however I thought I'd be able to list all my symptoms off the top of my head... I was nervous, forgot a bunch. That was my fault. He pushed IBS on me and gave me a booklet on IBS (which I read and even the checklist had some things on it that definitely point to me NOT having IBS) and told me the office would call me with a hospital appointment for a sigmoidoscopy (his reasoning for that over a colonoscopy- "it's less stress on the patient"). He also brushed off me mentioning blood in my stool saying it's probably just internal hemorrhoids?
After all these problems for all these years, hmm. From what I read on here though, finding a team of doctors that actually care seems to be quite the journey on its own.
Fast forward to yesterday- I started having extreme pain so I went to the clinic and the doctor there was a doctor who I had seen a year ago regarding the same issues and she remembered me. Well, we had an amazing chat and I have never felt so taken care of and validated by a doctor- she wrote a letter to my GI saying that with my history I should be having a colonoscopy and she said if I don't feel satisfied with my treatment from him to see her again and get a referral to another GI! This from a walk in doctor, wow.
I do not have another GI appointment booked currently, but I did have some bloodwork done and something has come up on it so I am going to see my GP next week to discuss what it is. Finally something has shown up. What kind place am I at where I feel relief to know that something has shown up on my bloodwork?! That kind of saddens me a bit, but at the same time it's hopefully one step closer to figuring out what is going on. I wrote out an entire list of symptoms that I am going to give to her (even though I've already told her) and I'm going to ask if I should rebook another appointment with the GI to give him the same list.
I also recently learned that my cousin suffers from Crohn's.
This ended up being way longer than expected! haha... For those of you who made it this far, thanks for reading my babble! It feels kind of good to type it out- this isn't something I often talk about or put into words.
Hugs to you all for being such fighters, I look forward to interacting with such a great group of people.
<3
My name is Jess, and I'm 26 years old living in Victoria, BC. I have been reading this forum for a little while, and everyone is so supportive and amazing and have really helped me realize that what is going on with me is not just happening to me- so I've decided to join and hopefully get some support for my journey and give some support to you all as well.
I won't list my symptoms, as they describe Crohn's perfectly and there is quite a list for that!
I have been suffering with episodes since 2005, no diagnosis yet as it has really only gotten to the point of having to miss days of work this past year. Which is so frustrating- I LOVE my job. Love it. Lately it seems that my whole life revolves around how my body is deciding to act that day and it's really getting frustrating... In the past 7-8 months I have had to take more sick days than I have in the past 5 years. This is not me. But I'm realizing it's my reality right now, and now I have to figure out what is going on and what the plan is from here.
It took me 2 years to find a family doctor here in Victoria, so my road to a diagnosis has really only started recently. So many times when I go to a walk in, I get the "you must have a serious case of the flu"... seriously, if I hear that ever again I will FREAK!
Anyways, I found a doctor in Sidney, BC who immediately referred me to a GI. The wait to see the GI was 3 months, but I had my first appointment on March 21st, 2011 and I'm pretty sure I mucked it up big time. I didn't really feel listened to, however I thought I'd be able to list all my symptoms off the top of my head... I was nervous, forgot a bunch. That was my fault. He pushed IBS on me and gave me a booklet on IBS (which I read and even the checklist had some things on it that definitely point to me NOT having IBS) and told me the office would call me with a hospital appointment for a sigmoidoscopy (his reasoning for that over a colonoscopy- "it's less stress on the patient"). He also brushed off me mentioning blood in my stool saying it's probably just internal hemorrhoids?
After all these problems for all these years, hmm. From what I read on here though, finding a team of doctors that actually care seems to be quite the journey on its own.
Fast forward to yesterday- I started having extreme pain so I went to the clinic and the doctor there was a doctor who I had seen a year ago regarding the same issues and she remembered me. Well, we had an amazing chat and I have never felt so taken care of and validated by a doctor- she wrote a letter to my GI saying that with my history I should be having a colonoscopy and she said if I don't feel satisfied with my treatment from him to see her again and get a referral to another GI! This from a walk in doctor, wow.
I do not have another GI appointment booked currently, but I did have some bloodwork done and something has come up on it so I am going to see my GP next week to discuss what it is. Finally something has shown up. What kind place am I at where I feel relief to know that something has shown up on my bloodwork?! That kind of saddens me a bit, but at the same time it's hopefully one step closer to figuring out what is going on. I wrote out an entire list of symptoms that I am going to give to her (even though I've already told her) and I'm going to ask if I should rebook another appointment with the GI to give him the same list.
I also recently learned that my cousin suffers from Crohn's.
This ended up being way longer than expected! haha... For those of you who made it this far, thanks for reading my babble! It feels kind of good to type it out- this isn't something I often talk about or put into words.
Hugs to you all for being such fighters, I look forward to interacting with such a great group of people.
<3
Last edited:
