Recently diagnosed

[Respawn]

Hello all,

It has been a wild ride this year for me. I have visited three different doctors and four different hospitals but I have finally gotten results and treatment. I started to present with symptoms last year and since then I was confused and scared. But today my doctor confirmed that I have Crohn's disease and I have been on put on Mezavant to see if it can help me.

It has been a stressful time because I am in my last year of university and because of the hospital visits I have missed a lot of class and projects. However, throughout all the hospital visits and struggles with my diet change I came across this forum and it has helped immensely.

So thank you for this platform.

 

[ronroush7]

Welcome. I hope you can get the disease under control soon.

 

[valleysangel92]

Hello and welcome to the forum, I'm sorry you've been unwell but I'm really glad you've found us. Everyone here is in the same boat and we all do what we can to support one another, we don't always have the answers but at the very least we will be a hand to hold and will try to point you in the right direction.

Hopefully your medication will work well for you, but if it doesn't then don't be put off, there are lots of different treatments for Crohn's disease and sometimes it takes a little while to find the right combination for you as an individual. If you don't notice an improvement in a couple of months (some meds take a while to work) then make sure you report if to your team as it might be time to up your dose or to add something new.

Always report new symptoms and keep an eye on things like bleeding or vomiting, if you get severe pain accompanied by vomiting or stop going to the bathroom then you should contact your medical team. If this is also accompanied by a fever then you should seek help sooner rather than later. This is because people with Crohns disease can sometimes get blockages, which means food etc gets stuck in the intestine and it all gets backed up, sometimes this passes by itself after a few hours but other times it needs medical intervention, so if you're ever sat there thinking "maybe I should go to the hospital" then its time to go.

Talk to your university about whats been happening, most universities have a student support system and many will allow adjustments for students with chronic illnesses if they are made aware of the difficulties that they are experiencing. These adjustments can include things like allowing you more bathroom breaks or extra time on assignments or in exams, plus leniency with lateness or absences.