Suspecting Crohns

[RogerDoger]

Hello,

I've been having problems for a couple of years now, and I'm finally suspecting Crohns. It started the day after a Leonard Cohen concert; I was getting pain in
my lower right abdomen. I thought, that's it, last night's bottles of wine finally did in my liver. Got an ultrasound; fatty liver. Nothing too bad. But then I noticed my abdomen bulging a bit. I was worried about cancer. I had little idea what Crohns was.

So I lived with my occasional pain. Then last winter I started getting intestinal issues. Sever nausea. Really putrid stinky sickening burps. I assumed it was gluten intolerance and eliminated wheat. That seemed to help.

And now this winter I have started getting intense pain issues. It got so bad that I went to the emergency room. I couldn't believe how crazy the pain was, and it was everywhere. My hips ache too. Luckily, the intense pain subsided, but I still have lingering aches, sometimes manageable, other time not so much.

I used to love popcorn, oatmeal, buckwheat, brown rice, etc, but now all that stuff gives me abdomen pain and weakness and nausea.

I have terrible insomnia lately too.

I don't have diarrhea though.

I'm scheduled to have a colonscopy sometime in the future, but this is Canada and there's a long waiting list.

So, does this story sound familiar?

Thanks,

RogerDoger

 

[Peaches]

Well....hard to say at this point I guess. I hate that you have to wait so long for some conclusive tests to get run. The main thing to watch out for is if your pain level is higher than a 7 out of 10 or you start running fevers - you should get back to the ER. I'm hoping with the diagnosis of fatty liver you cut back on the alcohol? Sometimes Crohn's can give you funky liver readings as well. But if you do have Crohn's you are really going to want as healthy of a liver as possible since many of the drugs we have to take can effect the liver. Better to start with a leg up on that one than a leg down. Keep us posted on your progress and let us know how your tests turn out!

 

[Crohn's 35]

Welcome Rodgedoger ( I have heard that in ages lol). I am in Canada and it depends on your location and your Gp's knowlege of GI's. Usually 3-4 months, but like I say, depends where you are, bigger the city the longer the wait.

It sounds like Crohns and it does sound familiar, not everyone gets Diahreah, some constipate. You need something to tie you over, the longer you wait for treatment the worse it could get. I have had Crohns over 35 years, any questions feel free to ask, lots of support here, everyone is great.

Are you in Ontario? Take care, glad you found us.

 

[Lisa.H]

My husband had some of those same symptoms; minus the drinking. Little about him: this is a guy who played hockey, dislocated his shoulder, and finished playing the game. So he has an unbelievable tolerance for pain. (and I thought I did! lol) In his case the pain got so intense, he could barely move one day. I got him to our doctor ASAP. He ordered an immediate CT scan and found out he had diverticulitis. The diverticula was badly inflamed. Luckily, that was easy for him to manage and get under control. Lucky :|

The sooner you get diagnosed, the sooner you know which animal you are dealing with. With the diverticulitis, he made a few changes to his diet and hasn't had another episode in over a year.

 

[RogerDoger]

Thanks for the replies. I forgot to mention that I was getting chills and sweats at night too. Not so much anymore though, but when I was in that intense pain, yep,
lots of chills and sweats.

Peaches: Yes, I reduced my alcohol consumption. I was drinking too much back then. I still indulge in a bottle of organic red wine per week, but I fear even that will one day soon end.

Jettalady: Nova Scotia!

 

[imisspopcorn]

:welcome: Roger Doger.....I hope you get things figured out soon. It's crazy that you don't have a scheduled date yet for the colonoscopy. Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

[RogerDoger]

Hello folks,

Actually, I'm on Pariet (rabeprazole) now, Zantac previously.

After the flareup of intense pain just before Christmas, the doctor put me
on Tylenol Arthritis, but after two weeks of that my stomach was shot: nausea and burning, culminating in tight chest and faintness. So I stopped the T3 and those
symptoms haven't returned.

The Pariet seems to be working better than the Zantac.

I hate taking drugs. If intense pain and nausea becomes a regular occurence,
then I believe I'll be investigating natural, God-given pain alleviants before succumbing to pharmaceuticals. I don't want to take anything that will weaken my immune system, because that's all we have between our health and the bad stuff.

One thing I know for sure, when I eat fibre-laden food in the evening, a night of horrors ensues; gut pain, nausea, insomnia, next-day fatigue-weakness. I ate a limited diet yesterday and slept like a baby last night.

Now that I think of it, I did have a lot of diarrhea in the past, but it was usually after a night of drinking and eating donairs. If you don't know what a donair is, lucky you!

I was surprised to learn last night that Nova Scotia and Alberta were tied as the provinces of most occurence for Crohns, with a rate of about 1 in 330. I know two people who have Crohns (though I never realized what the disease actually was),
and since I'm of a somewhat reclusive and solitary nature, that's saying something.

Well, starting today, I'm going on a Crohns diet. The idea of surgery and losing intestinal tract greatly alarms me.


Roger Doger

 

[RogerDoger]

I have a Jack Lalanne Juicer. Before my December flareup, I used it sporadically at best. Now I use it every day. I have a daily juice of apple, carrot, cabbage, and broccoli. It seems to be helping. I also take a daily high quality vitamin (New Chapter) and cod liver oil (Carlsons).

 

[Crohn's 35]

Those Jack Lalanne juicers are amazing. My husband made Apple cider and other juices, and I have a blender to make smoothies on my flare ups. They are the cats behind lol.

 

[desere]

sounds familiar

Sorry to hear you are going through this, but if you suspect something, get your family dr. to set you up an appointment with a specialist! I suffered, not knowing what I had, for a year and a half because i kept getting miss diagnosed. I ended up in emergency in may 2007 and woke up from emergency surgury with a bag attached to my stomach. What a way to find out you have crohns! It has been a long road finding out what is wrong with me and it really puts a strain on relationships too (when you are sick and tired all the time) So please get someone to recognize your symptoms and hopefully the colonoscoy will find the problem. They didn't find out what was wrong with me untill I was 24 hours away from death. My surgeon kept reminding me of that....and not to ignore the signs your body is sending you. Take care, and I hope all goes well for you. Some herbals help in the mean time and i felt that an Adrenal health supplement helps too. Good luck.

 

[Astra]

Does anyone know whether Preds are immunosuppressants too?
woke up this morning with stinking cold and sore throat and banging head.
Drinking loads of Ribena but feel like crap
xxx

 

[Creepy Lurker]

Does anyone know whether Preds are immunosuppressants too?
woke up this morning with stinking cold and sore throat and banging head.
Drinking loads of Ribena but feel like crap
xxx

Yup, they are.

 

[Nyx]

Sorry to hear you are going through this, but if you suspect something, get your family dr. to set you up an appointment with a specialist! I suffered, not knowing what I had, for a year and a half because i kept getting miss diagnosed. I ended up in emergency in may 2007 and woke up from emergency surgury with a bag attached to my stomach. What a way to find out you have crohns! It has been a long road finding out what is wrong with me and it really puts a strain on relationships too (when you are sick and tired all the time) So please get someone to recognize your symptoms and hopefully the colonoscoy will find the problem. They didn't find out what was wrong with me untill I was 24 hours away from death. My surgeon kept reminding me of that....and not to ignore the signs your body is sending you. Take care, and I hope all goes well for you. Some herbals help in the mean time and i felt that an Adrenal health supplement helps too. Good luck.

I woke up with a bag too!! It's turned out to be the best thing for me though

Welcome Rogerdoger...I hope you get this diagnosed soon and find some relief. Hopefully you don't wake up in hospital with a bag like me and desere. Good luck!

Cindy

 

[RogerDoger]

Desere and Cindy,

I'm curious, what kind of symptoms did you have when you went to the hospital?

When you said you were 24 hours away from death, how would death have come? How is Crohns lethal? I'm just wondering.

Thanks,

Roger

 

[Nyx]

I had severe abdominal pain. My surgery was an emergency as I had perforated my sigmoid colon and distended my bowel just trying to go to the bathroom. I was experiencing extreme constipation prior to being admitted to the hospital (it had been 7 days since I'd had a bm). I suppose I could have died too, but I try not to think of that! But, on the bright side, I'm currently symptom free, med free, and pretty happy! I do still have to have surgery to get the rest of my intestine and rectum removed, but that won't be for a while. Oh, and there's the having to poop in a bag for the rest of my life thing....lol Oh the joys of Crohn's!

Cindy

 

[pain in the butt]

Welcome RogerDoger, Hope you get your scope soon, let us know when? Good Luck with your diet and cutting back on drinking. Hopefully you can stop all together one day. I know its probably not going to be easy. Hang in there an keep us posted

 

[RogerDoger]

Yikes, I almost regret asking. But at least you're feeling better now and, more importantly, have a positive attitude.

I thought I read somewhere that pineapple was okay, so I ate a bunch last night.
It was so ripe and juicy and sweet, I couldn't resist eating the whole bowl.
I was thinking, as I was eating it, that the pineapple seemed quite fibrous, especially the edges which were cut close to the fruit's core, but I thought, "Well, I read it was okay, so it must be."

Boy, did I regret that! I was up at 4am with intense abdominal pain. Went to the toilet. Fifteen minutes of painful constipation, then, like the cork in a champagne bottle popping, twenty minutes of painful diarrhea. At least the pain subsided and I could go back to sleep.

Pineapple. Off. The. List.

 

[kenny]

Similar To Nyx.......... back in 1997 I also had 8 days of excruciating pain.......no BM either. Finally my small intestine perforated and caused Peritonitis - this is the deadly condition where the intestinal juices flood the abdominal cavity causing blood poisoning....it can be lethal within 48 hours.

I woke up wth an ileostomy, and lost a whole lot of Ileum, appendix and cecum, and some colon.........all of which could have been prevented if I was correctly diagnosed and did not reach the stage of peritonotis!

If only I went for that colonoscopy!!

narrowly avoided that myself. I grew 3 fistulas from the terminal Ileum and ended up loosing less of the ileum but eventually had the same Ileoceacal(sp) resection you mentioned. Instead of popping like you did I got a big abscess that contained the infections somewhat. But it was all hooked into the muscle wall across the front of my abdomen and made a heck of a mess there

Its all about how bad off your are Roger. If its emergency stuff the space is made for you. But yea, electives get pushed back pretty far sometimes. I had an ultrasound that showed them enough to put me in the Ct machine within the hour. I was admitted over night and had a scope first thing in the morning. I went to IVR (Interventional Radiology) an hour after that and got a drain put in.

If you really feel bad get the heck into Emergency and tell them it hurts too much to eat.

 

[Astra]

Hi Roger
Yeah apparantly I nearly died 4 weeks ago too! CRP was 261! Gastos on stand by to open me up, but I responded to the Metronidazole, Hydrocortisone and Morphine and lived to tell the tale!
My point is, I will never ignore no BMs for over a week again, or severe D&V thinkin it was a bug, and will head off straight to A&E.
My colon was dilating and ready to perforate which turns to peritonitis, fatal for Crohnies!
Doing excellent now on Preds and tapering off this week
Lotsa luv
Joan
xx

 

[shazamataz]

Welcome Roger - sorry it's taken me so long to get here!!

In my limited experience I would say if you are having fevers and sweats as well as tummy pains - go to the ER. Exaggerate it if you have to. They will get you through a lot faster than waiting for an appointment. I did it this way as I was on a wait for a month for a CT> Turned out I had 3 abscesses and 2 fistulae as well as a stricture!!!