Hi my name is adam.
The first time I heard the words "crohn's disease" was November 2011. I was a few weeks away from graduating college and life was good. Or so I thought. I had been overweight for the past 10 or so years (I am 23 now) but in the summer of 2011 I worked landscaping and tried to eat reasonably well, and I lost about 20 lbs.
The first sign I noticed something wasn't right was in October, on my birthday. My friends and family took me out for dinner, and I could always eat a good portion, but that night I could not finish my meal. In the coming weeks I noticed it was getting worse, and I was starting to get abdominal pain. Keep in mind, prior to this I have never been sick in my life, like the worst thing I've ever had was a cold. So I waited, and waited, for it to go away, I am the kind of person you have to drag kicking and screaming to the doctor, lol. Eventually in November my grandparents were the ones to talk me into going to the ER. When I did they thought it was my appendix by my symptoms, and bloodwork. They sent me for surgery. The surgeon told me I would be in and out in less than an hour if everything went right and I'd be home by 8pm. I thought great, in and out and I'd be fixed. Not so. I woke up and he told me the news, found a 4CM abscess, they drained it and had a drain tube sticking out of one of the holes. I had to sit in the hospital for 4 days on IV antibiotics. After I got out I was still in quite a bit of pain and could hardly get dressed by myself. My 85 y/o grandmother had to put my socks on and help me get up...My parents on the other hand, my mom is the most supportive of all, but my dad I think has got bat **** insane, and pisses me off a lot. I'm sure that isn't helping.
I was scared and assumed I was going to die or something. The doctor told me he suspected crohn's (initially they thought diverticulitis but said I'm too young) and my reaction was literally, "What the fark is crohn's disease?".
Anyway, after a scope, they confirmed crohns of the terminal ileum, and he then referred me to a specialist. I was feeling pretty good at the time and the test results indicated I didn't need any drug therapy yet. I managed to to make it to July of 2012 before I had my first "flare". I was on a trip to west virginia and I couldn't eat for 3 days and kept vomiting. Eventually I got it under control without going to the hospital. I was "ok" until around november '12 where I started to have the same symptoms that I did on that trip. But they didn't go away unless I ate mostly liquid foods. I ended up waiting until after christmas to call my doctor, stupid me. I ended up being hospitalized for 10 days with a blockage due to a stricture (they still aren't 100% sure if it is scar tissue or inflammation). I had an NG tube down my nose, very attractive. I'm now on prednisone 15mg a day (was 20mg until this week) and I just got the results today that indicate I can take 6-MP. I'm due to start that as soon as the prescription comes in.
So that is my cliffs notes version of the past year and a bit for me. But to be honest the worst part about this whole thing is not the disease itself, it is dealing with the people around me, mostly family. A lot of them think it is like the flu where it will go away eventually, no matter how many times I explain. It is hard to go to family functions because people always bring up my problem and start going into some anecdote about how their friends mothers boyfriends cousins real estate agent has "the exact same thing"...
I used to be very scared of going to the doctors, to the point of where I would be scared to get my blood pressure checked. After all this I just go in and the worst part is the waiting haha. I used to weigh 260lbs when all this started and today I weighed in at 155lbs. Needless to say I've had to buy a wardrobe. I used to be a very outdoorsy/autmotive person and I haven't been able to do that stuff and it really frustrates me. To top it all of I am currently repeating the college courses I had to drop out of. I was so close to graduating!
The first time I heard the words "crohn's disease" was November 2011. I was a few weeks away from graduating college and life was good. Or so I thought. I had been overweight for the past 10 or so years (I am 23 now) but in the summer of 2011 I worked landscaping and tried to eat reasonably well, and I lost about 20 lbs.
The first sign I noticed something wasn't right was in October, on my birthday. My friends and family took me out for dinner, and I could always eat a good portion, but that night I could not finish my meal. In the coming weeks I noticed it was getting worse, and I was starting to get abdominal pain. Keep in mind, prior to this I have never been sick in my life, like the worst thing I've ever had was a cold. So I waited, and waited, for it to go away, I am the kind of person you have to drag kicking and screaming to the doctor, lol. Eventually in November my grandparents were the ones to talk me into going to the ER. When I did they thought it was my appendix by my symptoms, and bloodwork. They sent me for surgery. The surgeon told me I would be in and out in less than an hour if everything went right and I'd be home by 8pm. I thought great, in and out and I'd be fixed. Not so. I woke up and he told me the news, found a 4CM abscess, they drained it and had a drain tube sticking out of one of the holes. I had to sit in the hospital for 4 days on IV antibiotics. After I got out I was still in quite a bit of pain and could hardly get dressed by myself. My 85 y/o grandmother had to put my socks on and help me get up...My parents on the other hand, my mom is the most supportive of all, but my dad I think has got bat **** insane, and pisses me off a lot. I'm sure that isn't helping.
I was scared and assumed I was going to die or something. The doctor told me he suspected crohn's (initially they thought diverticulitis but said I'm too young) and my reaction was literally, "What the fark is crohn's disease?".
Anyway, after a scope, they confirmed crohns of the terminal ileum, and he then referred me to a specialist. I was feeling pretty good at the time and the test results indicated I didn't need any drug therapy yet. I managed to to make it to July of 2012 before I had my first "flare". I was on a trip to west virginia and I couldn't eat for 3 days and kept vomiting. Eventually I got it under control without going to the hospital. I was "ok" until around november '12 where I started to have the same symptoms that I did on that trip. But they didn't go away unless I ate mostly liquid foods. I ended up waiting until after christmas to call my doctor, stupid me. I ended up being hospitalized for 10 days with a blockage due to a stricture (they still aren't 100% sure if it is scar tissue or inflammation). I had an NG tube down my nose, very attractive. I'm now on prednisone 15mg a day (was 20mg until this week) and I just got the results today that indicate I can take 6-MP. I'm due to start that as soon as the prescription comes in.
So that is my cliffs notes version of the past year and a bit for me. But to be honest the worst part about this whole thing is not the disease itself, it is dealing with the people around me, mostly family. A lot of them think it is like the flu where it will go away eventually, no matter how many times I explain. It is hard to go to family functions because people always bring up my problem and start going into some anecdote about how their friends mothers boyfriends cousins real estate agent has "the exact same thing"...
I used to be very scared of going to the doctors, to the point of where I would be scared to get my blood pressure checked. After all this I just go in and the worst part is the waiting haha. I used to weigh 260lbs when all this started and today I weighed in at 155lbs. Needless to say I've had to buy a wardrobe. I used to be a very outdoorsy/autmotive person and I haven't been able to do that stuff and it really frustrates me. To top it all of I am currently repeating the college courses I had to drop out of. I was so close to graduating!
