- Joined
- Jul 16, 2014
- Messages
- 93
Hi all. New guy here. Let's just get right down to it. At the age of 7, I had my first colonoscopy due to blood in my stool. The GI found multiple polyps and removed them during the first and a second colonoscopy shortly after. Fast forward to 2007/2008 and I start seeing blood again. Another colonoscopy leads to inactive inflammation in the ileum. I was placed on sulfasalazine and sent on my way with a diagnosis of minor "non-specific colitis." I had been on sulfasalazine since the diagnosis with very few issues. My main issues were cramping, mostly minor, but sometimes severe, and occasional diarrhea and pellet shaped BMs. I never saw anymore blood.
Fast forward to a couple months ago. Every week for about 2-3 weeks, for two days each week, I would get really bad cramping radiating into sever back pain and loss of appetite. Pain relievers wouldn't touch it and it sent me home from work a couple times. I saw my childhood GI's office (2 nurse practitioners) as he couldn't see me until August. :ymad: They gave me bentyl to use as needed and sent me on my way. The very next Sunday (June 8), my pain was at its worst and I eventually vomited. At that point, I decided to head to the ER as some internet research led me to believe I had a blockage.
Sure enough, a CT scan showed there was a blockage in my small intestines. I was admitted to the hospital with a lovely NG tube. I was also put on cipro and pred. A small bowel series was scheduled for the next day, but due to the contrast from the CT scan still being in my system, they couldn't do it. I got to have a wonderful enema to remove the contrast. I went for the series again on Tuesday and there was still too much contrast (On the bright side, my NG tube came out that day). 2 more enemas later, and we were able to do the series on Wednesday. The small bowel series showed a stricture of about 9-10 cm in my jejunum with about 8 cm of inflammation.
I was allowed to finally take liquids on Thursday and moved up to low fiber on Saturday. I remained in the hospital until that Saturday (almost a week for those keeping count) to ensure I was having BMs. I was discharged on pred (40mg/day) and a low fiber diet. Since I was discharged, I've had an MR Enterography to determine if the stricture is fibrotic or inflammation. I found out yesterday that it appears to be mostly fibrotic, but it has improved since my hospital stay. It also showed inflammation in the ileum. There's a total of about 34cm of affected intestines (including the 10cm stricture).
Because I've had no issues since leaving the hospital other than minor cramping with certain foods and loud digestive sounds, my GI has decided to keep an eye on the stricture for now and start me on Humira. He prescribed Entocort (9mg/day) yesterday and has instructed me to taper down to 20mg/day on the Pred. I have a colonoscopy scheduled for Tuesday, 7/22, and shortly after that I should be starting Humira. My GI's major concern with Humira is the possibility of Lymphoma in young males (27 yo). However, the benefits would appear to outweigh the risks.
It's funny to me now that I've been diagnosed and share it with people, just about every single one of them says, "oh yeah, my father, brother, husband, sister, friend has that." Anyways, I just wanted to share my story. I'm looking forward to getting into remission and hopefully one day eating some fresh fruits and vegetables again.
Fast forward to a couple months ago. Every week for about 2-3 weeks, for two days each week, I would get really bad cramping radiating into sever back pain and loss of appetite. Pain relievers wouldn't touch it and it sent me home from work a couple times. I saw my childhood GI's office (2 nurse practitioners) as he couldn't see me until August. :ymad: They gave me bentyl to use as needed and sent me on my way. The very next Sunday (June 8), my pain was at its worst and I eventually vomited. At that point, I decided to head to the ER as some internet research led me to believe I had a blockage.
Sure enough, a CT scan showed there was a blockage in my small intestines. I was admitted to the hospital with a lovely NG tube. I was also put on cipro and pred. A small bowel series was scheduled for the next day, but due to the contrast from the CT scan still being in my system, they couldn't do it. I got to have a wonderful enema to remove the contrast. I went for the series again on Tuesday and there was still too much contrast (On the bright side, my NG tube came out that day). 2 more enemas later, and we were able to do the series on Wednesday. The small bowel series showed a stricture of about 9-10 cm in my jejunum with about 8 cm of inflammation.
I was allowed to finally take liquids on Thursday and moved up to low fiber on Saturday. I remained in the hospital until that Saturday (almost a week for those keeping count) to ensure I was having BMs. I was discharged on pred (40mg/day) and a low fiber diet. Since I was discharged, I've had an MR Enterography to determine if the stricture is fibrotic or inflammation. I found out yesterday that it appears to be mostly fibrotic, but it has improved since my hospital stay. It also showed inflammation in the ileum. There's a total of about 34cm of affected intestines (including the 10cm stricture).
Because I've had no issues since leaving the hospital other than minor cramping with certain foods and loud digestive sounds, my GI has decided to keep an eye on the stricture for now and start me on Humira. He prescribed Entocort (9mg/day) yesterday and has instructed me to taper down to 20mg/day on the Pred. I have a colonoscopy scheduled for Tuesday, 7/22, and shortly after that I should be starting Humira. My GI's major concern with Humira is the possibility of Lymphoma in young males (27 yo). However, the benefits would appear to outweigh the risks.
It's funny to me now that I've been diagnosed and share it with people, just about every single one of them says, "oh yeah, my father, brother, husband, sister, friend has that." Anyways, I just wanted to share my story. I'm looking forward to getting into remission and hopefully one day eating some fresh fruits and vegetables again.
