Thanks for listening

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thanks for listening

Hi. So my story is....February 28, 2011 I went to the hospital with a stomach ache. Doctor said it was an appendisitis. A CT scan was done and the small intenstine and colon were also inflamed. Tried to drink all the stuff for a colonoscopy but it wouldn't go down (blockage). Three days later they decide it's both active Crohn's and an appendisitis. February 26th I felt fine, March 3rd, I now have a 10 inch slice through my tummy, lots of pain, and a life-long illness...not a good day. I've learned a lot about Crohn's since my March diagnosis, but I still have some questions. I'm 50 and was in good health, I've read that this is a younger persons disease (so not fair for kids and young adults), why me, why now? Although I do have two siblings with the disease. I've been very slow in recovering, still have pain (Tramadol doesn't help much), and just last week the surgical incision got infected and opened in two places, that seems rather late in the healing process; is that normal? And my last observation/question...I haven't ever had a colonoscopy, why do it now that the bad part has been taken out? What will the doctor be able to see? If the Crohn's is active I'd have much more pain and other symptons. Anway, this is a great forum...I know my family is tired of hearing me talk about all that confuses me about the disease and the whole experience of surgery and recovery. Thank you all for letting me participate. Hearing all your experiences gives me a lot of hope and strength to face each new day of challenges.
 
Hi Lucy and welcome! Unfortunately, I don't think we'll get an answer anytime soon on how or why we got Crohn's disease.

As far as a colonoscopy, I figure your GI just wants to be sure there aren't other affected areas that he could have overlooked. I know it is far from a pleasant test, but it is the best one to get a true picture of what is going on inside.

I sure hope you start feeling better soon. What type of maintenance medication are you taking?
 
Hi Jill,
Thanks for responding! I did a couple weeks on Prednisone and now I'm taking Pentasa and Tramadol. There are so many meds. How do you tell if your doctor's doing the right thing, or is it a hit or miss kind of thing? This is really a lousy disease...and the young people! Sorry, I guess I'm still in the "I can't beleive this is happening to me" stage. I get angry about it all sometimes. Thanks for your response.
 
Oh, yes, I was in that stage for a long time. It is hard to accept.

Honestly, the forum helped me realize that my doctor is doing the right things. I have learned so much on this site. But if you feel your doctor isn't providing proper treatment, I highly suggest a second opinion. Many on here (including myself) needed to change doctors a few times to find "the right one".
 
Thanks Jill. I've always been healthy and have been to the doctor less than you can count on one hand before all this. Now I see there are a lot of doctors that don't have a lot of compassion for what they do. Maybe they just see too many patients. I do have an appointment tomorrow with a different GI doctor; I'm hoping I can get on a good maintenance drug therapy plan then just have my GP (I like her) keep up the maintenance meds during remission. Thanks again for "threading" with me.
 
I hope you have a good appointment tomorrow, too. Keep me posted!
 
Hiya Lucy
and welcome

I hope it all goes well with your doc.
As regards to treatment it is a hit n miss thing! Most blitz any inflammation with steroids and use an amniosalicylate like Pentasa to maintain. That's was my med regime too.
But if the pain is still there, chances are the steroids haven't finished their work on you yet, Pentasa can't help with inflammation, it acts like an anti inflammatory, but won't get rid of it.
Your new gastro should be able to suss this out for you, so good luck!
And yeah, this disease sucks at our age, any age really!
lotsa luv
Joan xxx
 

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