I have had Crohn's disease for many years, diagnosed in my 20s but suffered for two years before I was diagnosed - and that was through surgery which was felt to be an appendix rupture - but it was an abscessed blockage. I had been very very ill with severe weight loss but for a few months after the surgery, I was starting to get better. But... about four months post surgery, I flared bad and stayed in the hospital for 15 days - was put on steroids, antibiotics, sulfasalazine (sp), steroids via injections. It took me a couple of years to completely recover to a normal weight and health. This was in the mid 1980s. However, through the years, although I never got as ill as I did during that phase, I have had costocondritis, joint pains, rashes, chronic urticaria, and eye inflammation. The eye inflammation was here and there, and I cannot believe I had not educated myself more on the subject. I assumed it was merely "red eyes." It came and went, but I have always been sensitive to light, and actually had tender pain in my left eye. It was due to blurriness that I went to my eye doctor who saw the uveitis.
Right now I'm on the second week of steroid eye drops. My left eye still hurts and the blurriness hasn't completely resolved. I have heard uveitis can cause blindness and this scares me. I wish that I had understood what eye inflammation due to Crohn's really meant and how serious it is. Had a colonoscopy 8 months ago that was fine - an upper GI in May that showed severe inflammation at the base of my esophagus and underwent 4 iron infusions due to severe anemia from March until June. I am not anemic now fortunately but it took those last two infusions back to back to bring my levels up. Now the eye problem. I feel I had this illness under control but I know it can manifest itself in these other ways - it's just so frustrating. Been under a lot of stress the past year and I'm wondering if that is why I'm having so many problems.
Right now I'm on the second week of steroid eye drops. My left eye still hurts and the blurriness hasn't completely resolved. I have heard uveitis can cause blindness and this scares me. I wish that I had understood what eye inflammation due to Crohn's really meant and how serious it is. Had a colonoscopy 8 months ago that was fine - an upper GI in May that showed severe inflammation at the base of my esophagus and underwent 4 iron infusions due to severe anemia from March until June. I am not anemic now fortunately but it took those last two infusions back to back to bring my levels up. Now the eye problem. I feel I had this illness under control but I know it can manifest itself in these other ways - it's just so frustrating. Been under a lot of stress the past year and I'm wondering if that is why I'm having so many problems.
