- Joined
- May 30, 2012
- Messages
- 51
hi all.
been reading the forums for a bit and thought I would share my story.
I was recently diagnosed (end of april) with crohn's. Must say it came as a bit of a shock as I don't think I've ever had a sick day in my life (currently age 25), never mind even visiting the doctors. Think I'm possibly still in denial about actually having it as I feel normal now that I'm on the meds.
The major symptoms started around march time. small amounts of blood in stool, going more frequently, and a bit of a dodgy stomach. I initially thought nothing of this and put it down to a stomach bug. The symptoms then cleared up after about a week and things were back to normal. But then about a week later it all came back but far worse. diarrhoea (6+ times a day), quite a lot of blood, and a really bad anal fissure (could hardly walk at that point the pain was that bad). Also had absolutely no appetite, and think by that point I had lost about 2 stone in weight from the start of the year (was 12st before it started).
At that point, I decided to go see my GP. after doing a blood test he found that I had high inflammation markers so he referred me to a GI consultant at the hospital. Waiting for that appointment to come around was absolute agony. Had to take the 2 weeks off work, and basically spend all day either lying in bed, on the toilet, or sat in the bath (as I found that was the only way to relieve the pain from my fissure, the GP gave me some cream but it didn't help that much).
So anyway the appointment comes around, I rock up at the hospital. I (naively) assumed that the consultant would give me a quick once over with the sigmoidoscope, give me a few tablets to take and I would be on my way. I was in for a bit of a shock. He took one look at me and said straight away that I need to stay in hospital for a week to go on an IV drip as I was very ill. :ywow: I then had a flexible sigmoidoscopy where he found severe inflammation in my colon.
So after that, I was put on a drip with saline and steroids. got my appetite back. in fact I got it back and then some, I just couldn't stop eating (was even loving the hospital food
) , and the diarrhoea stopped completely. started to feel much better. oh and the fissure healed up (yay). after 5 days I got let out (thank god as I was starting to go insane with boredom), and I started on prednisolone tablets. started on 40mg, have since tapered down to 20mg, will come off them in about a month. blood in the stools has completely stopped now.
since coming out I have also been for a ultrasound scan (looking at liver/bile ducts etc, results were normal), MRE (hope I never have to drink that foul liquid again,haven't had results from this yet), and will have a full colonoscopy in a few weeks time. I have also started on 100mg Azothioprine in the last week, no ill effects so far, but will see what the next blood test says.
but other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. hopefully the meds continue to do the trick, fingers crossed.
thanks for reading. :ysmile:
been reading the forums for a bit and thought I would share my story.
I was recently diagnosed (end of april) with crohn's. Must say it came as a bit of a shock as I don't think I've ever had a sick day in my life (currently age 25), never mind even visiting the doctors. Think I'm possibly still in denial about actually having it as I feel normal now that I'm on the meds.
The major symptoms started around march time. small amounts of blood in stool, going more frequently, and a bit of a dodgy stomach. I initially thought nothing of this and put it down to a stomach bug. The symptoms then cleared up after about a week and things were back to normal. But then about a week later it all came back but far worse. diarrhoea (6+ times a day), quite a lot of blood, and a really bad anal fissure (could hardly walk at that point the pain was that bad). Also had absolutely no appetite, and think by that point I had lost about 2 stone in weight from the start of the year (was 12st before it started).
At that point, I decided to go see my GP. after doing a blood test he found that I had high inflammation markers so he referred me to a GI consultant at the hospital. Waiting for that appointment to come around was absolute agony. Had to take the 2 weeks off work, and basically spend all day either lying in bed, on the toilet, or sat in the bath (as I found that was the only way to relieve the pain from my fissure, the GP gave me some cream but it didn't help that much).
So anyway the appointment comes around, I rock up at the hospital. I (naively) assumed that the consultant would give me a quick once over with the sigmoidoscope, give me a few tablets to take and I would be on my way. I was in for a bit of a shock. He took one look at me and said straight away that I need to stay in hospital for a week to go on an IV drip as I was very ill. :ywow: I then had a flexible sigmoidoscopy where he found severe inflammation in my colon.
So after that, I was put on a drip with saline and steroids. got my appetite back. in fact I got it back and then some, I just couldn't stop eating (was even loving the hospital food
) , and the diarrhoea stopped completely. started to feel much better. oh and the fissure healed up (yay). after 5 days I got let out (thank god as I was starting to go insane with boredom), and I started on prednisolone tablets. started on 40mg, have since tapered down to 20mg, will come off them in about a month. blood in the stools has completely stopped now.since coming out I have also been for a ultrasound scan (looking at liver/bile ducts etc, results were normal), MRE (hope I never have to drink that foul liquid again,haven't had results from this yet), and will have a full colonoscopy in a few weeks time. I have also started on 100mg Azothioprine in the last week, no ill effects so far, but will see what the next blood test says.
but other than that, I'm feeling pretty good. hopefully the meds continue to do the trick, fingers crossed.
thanks for reading. :ysmile:
