UK Newbie

[Mr Bedfordshire]

Evening all,

Heres a bit about me and a short introduction, look forward to becoming part of the family and helping out where i can. Here goes....

It all began for me back in 2003 when, after a brilliant and epic clubbing holiday to Ibiza, i came home with blood in my stools and after tests 'salmonella food poisoning'. After being put on meds, it didnt clear up and then after several trips to my doctor and the good old camera up the you know where, docs said i had colitis?!

Looking back, my days of having colitis were a nightmare and the meds i was on never really controlled it and i remember on quite a few occasions sprinting to the loo before it was too late - oops!

Then, after a severe stomach ache 1 day, i was rushed to hospital and the long and short of it was that i ended up with a colostomy bag for 8mths before having it reversed.

Once reversed, i started to live a pretty normal life, and really got into my weight training and hitting the gym. but, it was all in vain as over the past 2years my health has deterioated (spell check) and ive lost weight, have no energy and can no longer exercise. getting up in the night to visit the loo was the biggest shock as when waking up to the alarm, it felt like i hadnt even been asleep??!

So, after god knows how many tests, a new consultant at my local hospital, went the extra mile and i had an MRI scan, CT scan, blood tests, and the good old camera up the you know what and he found ulcers and abcesses, a kidney stone and said that i now had crohns?!:eek2:

So, that was a month ago and after being on 2g pentasa granules, an anti-inflammatory steriod and antibiotics i started to feel, much much better. After being on all that ive just started azathioprine and am winding of the others apart from the pentasa granules and i have to admit i dont feel 'as good' as i did before starting the aza.

Anyhoo - good to be here, i look forward to posting and helping where i can.

My long term plan is to get the energy levels up and get back down the gym and make myself look something other than a 12yr old boy (im 30) as well as try and enjoy life and not let crohns get me down.

 

[Astra]

Hi Mr Bed
and welcome fellow Brit

hurrah for the new consultant!
So the meds that you were on, was one of them Prednisolone?
This gave me loads of energy and much needed weight gain, as well as saving my life!
Glad you found us, lots of friends here for you, all paddling in the same boat!
lotsa luv
Joan xxx

 

[Mr Bedfordshire]

Hi Mr Bed
and welcome fellow Brit

hurrah for the new consultant!
So the meds that you were on, was one of them Prednisolone?
This gave me loads of energy and much needed weight gain, as well as saving my life!
Glad you found us, lots of friends here for you, all paddling in the same boat!
lotsa luv
Joan xxx

Hi Joan,

i was on metronizadol, then had some sort of suppositories (spell check) then some enema thingys that i had to do myself at home. the only thing that made me feel good was codeine, which i originally took for pain for a stomach ulcer and i could go upto 8hrs a day without going to the loo - woo hoo!! was on prednisolone whilst battling with colitis but it didnt do anything for me unfortunately.

one thing to add is that after 3 surgeries i had a j-pouch formed and over the past 2 years had pouchitis (inflammation of the pouch) and ive not been right for sometime but the past few weeks felt very good, but not as much now ive started the azathioprine.

 

[Michelle]

Hi

Hi there, as a fellow newbie, I thought I'd say hello, so glad you finally have a diagnosis. I remember when i was diagnosed grinning like a cheshire cat, they must have thought I was insane:eek2: but I was just so glad that there was a name for what was wrong with me. Im on Azathioprine at the minute and I remember my consultant saying that it takes about 12weeks for it build up to full strength in your system, but the first month or so I felt awful on it, nausea, fatigue, headaches .. If you can, stick it out, it usually settles down Ive been on it a few years now and its doing the job for me.:smile: I hope it does for you too and Im sure you'll be down the gym in no time, take care and nice to meet you

 

[Mr Bedfordshire]

Hi there, as a fellow newbie, I thought I'd say hello, so glad you finally have a diagnosis. I remember when i was diagnosed grinning like a cheshire cat, they must have thought I was insane:eek2: but I was just so glad that there was a name for what was wrong with me. Im on Azathioprine at the minute and I remember my consultant saying that it takes about 12weeks for it build up to full strength in your system, but the first month or so I felt awful on it, nausea, fatigue, headaches .. If you can, stick it out, it usually settles down Ive been on it a few years now and its doing the job for me.:smile: I hope it does for you too and Im sure you'll be down the gym in no time, take care and nice to meet you

Thanks michelle. yes - azathioprine has given me some terrible headaches this week and at around 3pm everday i feel like an afternoon nap?! I too was pleased that they finally got to the bottom of it (no pun intended) and im looking forward to moving on with improving my health and getting back to normal. its also started giving me some stomach pains so im back on buscopan and sticking with the codeine.

 

[rygon]

enema im taking is predfoam.. so possibly the same?

With regards to the gym take it very slowly. Remember that fitness also stresses the body which can make the crohns worse. I found that out going kickboxing 4hrs a week thinking i was fine. 5weeks later it came back.

Theres posts on here about what sort of whey protein to take if your into that

So what sort of music are you into? Always wanted to go to ibiza but looking how much the decent clubs cost im not so sure now

 

[Mr Bedfordshire]

enema im taking is predfoam.. so possibly the same?

With regards to the gym take it very slowly. Remember that fitness also stresses the body which can make the crohns worse. I found that out going kickboxing 4hrs a week thinking i was fine. 5weeks later it came back.

Theres posts on here about what sort of whey protein to take if your into that

So what sort of music are you into? Always wanted to go to ibiza but looking how much the decent clubs cost im not so sure now

it was similiar to the enema you have when you have a scope done. it just made me go to the loo a lot more to be honest. the supposits were b!oody awful and after that i asked to see someone else and im sooo glad i did because hes found out what all the problems were - not a flare of colitis but infact its crohns.

music - im a dance and house fan, have been for years and thats all you'll find on my ipod from start to finish. been to ibiza 5 times back in the day, defo recommend it, just start saving now!!

 

[beth]

Hello Mr Bedfordshire just up the road from me!
:welcome:

 

[rygon]

cool, ive just bought the latest Global underground albums.. theyre awesome.
Im into nuskoolbreaks, dnb, house, hip hop.. anything really. Got any decent djs/mixes you can recommend?

 

[Misty-Eyed]

Hi Mr Bedfordshire.. I live in Bedfordshire too!! What a coincidence.

Welcome though and sounds annoyed to keep being diagnosed with different things. It's good that you want to try and keep up the exercise. I started running a few months ago and am loving it. Although I get really annoyed when my stomach decides to play up on me and not want me to. Grr

 

[Mr Bedfordshire]

Hi Mr Bedfordshire.. I live in Bedfordshire too!! What a coincidence.

Welcome though and sounds annoyed to keep being diagnosed with different things. It's good that you want to try and keep up the exercise. I started running a few months ago and am loving it. Although I get really annoyed when my stomach decides to play up on me and not want me to. Grr

Yep, was very annoying when basically my old consultant was just clutching at straws and didnt know what to do with me. In the end he referred me to another consultant at my local hospital and with the good old camera went the furthest round the bowel than anyone has ever been and there he found the ulcers and abcesses as well as an inflammed jpouch just to top it off.

Walking the dog is my only current exercise, but im going to wait a few more weeks to see how the azathioprine settles in as its only been 2 weeks, before i hit the gym or get some weights in at home. just got to be careful not to over do it, but im fed up with people who i havent seen for ages saying to me "blimey, havent you lost a lot of weight" or "dont you go to the gym anymore then" aaaarrrrggggghhhh!!!

 

[Mr Bedfordshire]

cool, ive just bought the latest Global underground albums.. theyre awesome.
Im into nuskoolbreaks, dnb, house, hip hop.. anything really. Got any decent djs/mixes you can recommend?

listening to afrojack, aeroplane and new deadmau5 mixes and sets at the moment. always alot of tracks leaked on youtube, plus good clips of live sets from the likes of eric prydz (pryda) and swedish house mafia with it seems all and sundrie now owning an iphone.

 

[rygon]

try this fb page
http://www.facebook.com/#!/GlobalGatheringOfficial

everyso often they have some decent mixes to dl like
http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?b...e_de_crecy_mix_part_one_free_mp3_d&more=1&c=1

 

[Misty-Eyed]

Hmm how annoying! At least they got there in the end, I guess.

Well walking the dog is A LOT more than I used to do. I'd say just start it slow. I tried to start working out a year or so ago and I was so anaemic and didn't realise it at the time and nearly passed out! lol Opps. But yes, it must be frustrating when people comment like that but at least you're not all puffy and chubby from pred. People always used to comment on how 'well' I looked because I was extra tubby rather than looking like a stick when I was first diagnosed. I guess there's just no winning lol.

 

[DustyKat]

Hi Mr Bedfordshire, :bigwave:

Good to see you here and welcome to the forum!

Take care,
Dusty

 

[Dexky]

Welcome Mr. B!! You guys listen to what??? Haha, oh well sorry for the dx but at least you know who the enemy is now!! Good luck!!