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Recently dx & seeking advice from mild crohn's patients

Hi!

I would like to share you my story pre/post diagnosis and would like some fair opinion from people that got like me a mild case of C.D! I'm a 34 year old, from belgium, that enjoys fitness.

Pre-diagnosis symptoms: Mild diarrhea(no blood, mucus rarely), an hemmoroid, heartburn, indigestion, anorexia, fatigue.

Diagnosis: Endoscopy:

Mild crohn's on the ileum. Focally enhanced gastritis (stomach). Colitis (tiny aphthous ulcers) on +- 25cm of the colon. Rest of the colon and rectum is on a microscopic level normal. No oesopaghus reflux. Duodenum: normal. No hernia. No presence of h.pylori.

CT Enteroscopy: No clear indication of inflammation for the small intestines. Everything else normal.

Medication: Colitofalk(mezalamine) 3g/day. Pantomed(pantoprazole) 40mg 1x/morning. Ranitidine 1x/evening 300mg.

Gastroenterologist proposed Humira after my 3 weeks on mezalamine, i declined because mezalamine was doing wonders & my symtoms were slowly declining. She requested a fecal calprotectine, and tomorrow after 4 weeks i'll know my results.

Here are my symptoms on 2 months of medication:

A) Gastritis is healing well, minus the globus sensation that comes & goes, no other troubles. Medication are clearly doing good work here. My question is the following, should i request a gastroscopy to see the evolution of my stomach inflammation, because i'd like to cut PPI & antacids ASAP as they're usually not recommended for long term use. Thoughts?

B) Colitis: Since mezalamine, i might have had 1 tiny diarrhea in 8 weeks. It's clearly doing an amazing job. Most of my stools are formed, i sometimes have a greasy looking stool that looks like indigestion. No pain during BM or after. Usually no pain during the day or very rarely. I managed to put 4 kilos and i put back lifting on the menu (5x/week).

In my opinion, mezalamine is doing a great job for reducing the symptoms to the minimum, i read that very few people managed to go into remission with only that medecine. I also read, that mezalamine is not suppose to induce remission for people with crohn's, on the contrary for UC. But still some lucky people managed to get remission and i'm wondering if what i'm experiencing right now is remission or not.

C) The only thing that has been appearing are hemmorhoids, i also have a scalopped tongue with a light white coating on the back. I tried daktarin gel (anti-fungus) and had a bit of effect. No idea what it could be.

So this is it, i'm feeling pretty ok, i'm taking a lot of supplements (vsl3, omega3 fish oil, curcumin & vitamins) for fighting the fatigue. Now to the people that had mild crohn's at your first diagnosis, how did your journey go, what would you recommend? Did you jump on the big guns right away or waited it's course. I know it's a bad strategy to await complications and i'd like to know when should be the moment i need to start biologics. Also, does my age (34) has an impact on the evolution of the disease, does it stabilize more than people that got it a lot earlier for example?

Cheers from Belgium
 
Last edited:

Lynda Lynda

Member
:welcome:
Hi.
Wow, I think your questions are for the "big guns" here to answer, people that have serious knowledge of these things.
I am glad you mentioned this scalloped tongue / light white coating because this is what I am experiencing right now. I have a dentist's appointment soon. So maybe they will know what it is.
This is a great forum.
Sending you my support.
Lynda 🌼
 
Hey Lynda,

Thanks for the warm welcome! I think the scalopped tongue can be a sign of vitamin deficiency. The white coating can be a sign of auto-immune issues. I will see my G.E today, i'll keep you updated!
 
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