Taking a poll - Travel prior to Crohn's

[Ms Cordelia]

I'm curious. Before you had your first Crohn's symptoms, did you travel anywhere outside of the US? My husband first got sick while on a trip to Peru. When his symptoms would not go away, we thought he had Malaria or a parasite. It took a year before they diagnosed him with Crohn's. He was hospitalized 7 times that 1st year. That was 7 years ago. He has tried everything and is scheduled to go on Tysabri next week. That's another story altogether. I just always seemed to think that his trip to Peru had something to do with his disease. Tell me your story...

 

[farm]

At the time I was dx with crohns I had never been outside of the united states.

 

[AIjen]

I've been to Jamaica about 11 years or so ago and Mexico about 2 years ago, but didn't get sick at either place. And I think I may have had this for a long time. Maybe not 11 years, but who knows?

 

[forum contributor]

Hi, Ms Cordelia.
I was on my 10-year anniversary trip w/my husband, on a cruise in the Caribbean, and on the second day of the trip, I started having uncontrollable and bloody diarrhea and nausea. That was a little over a year ago. I think it was too coincidental...

 

[Cookie]

I think that most people here are of the general opinion that we have a genetic predisposition to IBD, but something happened to "trigger" it. There are several threads related to this discussion...I could only find one of them (below) but I know there is another. A lot of people seem to have an intestinal bacterial infection in common, in many cases resulting from travel to a foreign country.

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=5858


Welcome to the forum...I hope you get some of the answers you are looking for.

 

[Ms Cordelia]

Thanks Shadycat. I really do think that MAP is involved in causing this horrible disease. Unfortunately, most doctors will dismiss this theory. They rather "suppress" symptoms instead of treating the cause. My husband and I have decided to take our health into our own hands, realizing that there really is no incentive for the medical community to cure you of any ailment. This may sound cynical, but we have had such a rough ride for the past 7 years. 5 of those years, we did what the Dr. told us.

 

[Wiggles]

My symptoms first became apparent during a trip to Africa (I live in Australia, though). Before that I had never been sick at all.

 

[Ms Cordelia]

I'm starting to feel that my suspicions were right. I also saw more stories about Crohn's surfacing after travel abroad in the post Shadycat mentioned above.

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=5858

Also, predominant antibiotic use during adolescence. My husband was a tetracycline baby because his mother took the antibiotic in her pregnancy. His teeth are stained because of it.

Interesting...

 

[fenway1971]

I've traveled extensively outside US - over 25 countries, most before I was diagnosed. Who knows...but i think I've had it since I was a kid. I do bite my nails and have wondered if that was the culprit.