When did your Crohns start

[MICWOOL]

Hi guys I was just wondering how old all of you when your Crohns or Colitis first made its appearance and what was you doing at that time in your life. For me I was 21 and just starting my last year at University.

 

[crohnsproof]

OK, I'll bite the hook. I was 21 with my first symptoms. Lived with pain and suffering and was diagnosed @ 30, with my first bowel recection. I'm 59 now and doing pretty well, considering all of the surgeries and meds I've had during the past years. :mario2:

 

[Nausea]

I really noticed it about a year ago, i had two months of stomache pain all day everyday. Didnt know what to do about it. After awhile of putting off seeing the DR i finally found out i have Crohn's. Im only 18 by the way.

 

[Dawn]

I now realize my symptoms started in my early 20's. Fistulectomy at 24, diagnosed with Crohn's at 24/25.

 

[jooles6377]

Diagnosed in 2000, years after all my symptoms began

 

[MICWOOL]

Okay then, it seems like the most common age for crohns to really begin is early 20's. Im sorry muddin gal that youve been suffering since you were 2 years old, how terrible. How ya doin now though?

 

[seaofdreams]

The symptoms first became really noticable to me when I was 17. At the time I was struggling with anxiety problems and was struggling with high school because of that.

 

[NatalieMT]

I was 16 when I first started getting symptoms, I was diagnosed March 2009 I'm 18 now so it's not been that long. I think the main aspect of my life Crohn's initially interrupted was my study. I couldn't go to 6th form because I was either just too exhausted or too ill and in hospital. I was lying in bed on a surgical ward in January as my final year exams started. It did affect my job but not to such an extent as my manager was very understanding.

A part of me feels I did miss out, I dropped off the radar of a lot of my friends, I hardly heard from a lot of them when I needed it most. They've all gone off to university now and I am simply not well enough to consider moving away and effectively living alone. The medications I'm on and am due to start with soon are all things that need monitoring by my GP or the hospital and it seems like a massive hassle to move my treatment at this stage. I have a lot of shall we say mental health problems too and I think it would just be too much.

 

[chelli]

I started with the big D 2 months before I turned 40. I was officially diagnosed 5 months later. I have always had a sensitive stomach though.

BTW, I'll be 41 in about 2 months.

 

[CrohnieCarolyn]

I've read that it is most common for people in their late teens or early twenties for it to appear - I was 30 when I started to feel sick and went 2 years before they finally found it - by that time had to have surgery - so I guess I am lucky in that I wasn't younger but I had returned to college finally when it hit and I had to drop out as i was too sick to attend -

 

[violetcreams]

I was 34 when I was diagnosed.

 

[bethyd78]

I was about 34. But had always had problems with my GI tract. Even then they didn't actually say I had Crohns they said I had AutoImmune Hepatitis. It was only in January of this yr. that I got the big Crohns diagnosis and I am 52.

 

[Becky]

My stomach issues began when I was in highschool. I was told it was IBS. I finally got diag. in 2006 when I was 28

 

[Jiriji]

I think mine started in my late teens, 20 years before it was diagnosed. I was told it was IBS plus a gastric ulcer plus a "grumbling appendix" and other weird autoimmune stuff. Then later on I was told it was maybe Ulcerative Colitis. I think Crohns was down the bottom of the list because I was not losing weight or passing blood.

At least these days people aren't ignored because they don't fit the medical profession's idea of a "typical" patient.

 

[JillianB82]

I've always had problems from as far back as I can remember. When I was 26, I became very ill & they thought I had everything from a viral infection, to a parasite, to my gallbladder needing to come out, to in the end find out that I have CD. I am now 27

 

[Angee]

Mine started when I was 28 but didnt get diagnosed until I was 29

 

[egg]

Hi I havent had an official diagnoses yet but saw my specialist on thursday and he seems to think it could be Crohns. Im 34 now but looking back I have always had D I used to joke that I hadnt had a solid poo in 10 years I thought that was normal!!!!! Its not. So I think it sarted in my early twenties x

 

[shazamataz]

I am 38 and was diagnosed in July. I would say I have had symptoms on and of for about 6 years prior to that.

 

[misscris]

I got diagnosed at 30. I didn't have any idea i had this disease (was diagnosed in surgery) but looking back, I can come up with about 3 instances that were possibly Crohns rearing it's ugly head. I had been diagnosed with possibly endometreosis (spelling?) and went to the ER once for abdominal pain that they thought might be appendicitis. So t hose all took place about 3 or 4 years ago. I've obviously had this going on for years, because I had to have a resection and a lot was going wrong in there when diagnosed.

 

[Crohn's_Doll]

I was diagnosed at 6 years old, one month stay in hosp, it came back a year later when I was 7 and was in the hospital for another month, had exploratory surgery with appendix removed and was out on prednisone and a liquid diet. Went into a long remission. Started to feel bad again into my teens but dr.'s told me it was just IBS grrrr. Now in my mid 30's and feel it's getting worse and worse. Still hoping the new course of prednisone will whip me into shape.

 

[Sunfire]

Mine started when I was 28 but didn't see the doctor until I was 30 and finally diagnosed at 31. It was just the symptoms I didn't want to talk to my doctor about. My husband finally convinced me to do it, especially when my weight started dropping like crazy.

 

[tmcuddles]

I was in and out of the doctors office for just over 6 months when I was 24. I had all the external symptoms (Nodusum in my legs, throat infection which they were going to remove my tonsels for, itchy eyes...) with little stomach pain. When I mentioned the stomach pain and not being able to keep anything down, all the docs said was that it was all the pain medication I was on. Finally, I started bleeding and they diagnosed me. I am now 26 and healthy.

 

[crohnsproof]

tmcuddles, what treatment did you have to turn you around? Bleeding is usually tied into colitis and other IBS. How did they actually diagnose Crohn's?

 

[imisspopcorn]

Age 27.

 

[farm]

I was 18 getting ready to join the Army to be a career soldier. Oh well. Hard to believe it's been 15 years now.

 

[planetalker]

I had the Promethius Lab blood test done 2 years ago and was identified at 58 years old to have Crohn's. Oh I just got out of the hospital today with a mild flare in my ileum. I guess my case would be considered very mild at this point but I just don't trust my body anymore. My last flare was 2 years ago and that was a really bad one that kept me in the hospital 5 days. I've now had 4 flares, all resulted in hospitalization. This last one I decided to go straight to the ER before the cramps were unbearable and I was lucky enough not to have to have an NG tube put in.

I can't afford any medication because it's too expensive.

Ok, I'll shut up now...

Oh one more thing. All my flares have happened in the fall.

 

[crohnsproof]

Let er rip Planetalker. We're here for ya! I sure do understand the ER visits. I did that for 2 years straight. The last year was a minimum of 3x a month. I'd always wait until the very last minute when I was throwing up bile before I would give in and go to the hospital. Looking back I can see that wasn't smart. Hope you get better soon.

 

[Peggy]

Mine started when I was 32, At first the symtems started like it was my appendix, they removed this, but said they new straight aay this was not the problem. A week later after being rearly Ill, they said it was Crohns. I had a resection about 3 years later which was great for some time, Several flare ups later being controled with Asacol and Prenisolone both IV and oral, apart from from the pain I have been ok. Peggy

 

[Pirate]

I was 28 when they told me I had CD. I had suffered for about 6 yrs before being diagnosed.
Our first GP. said I had a nervous stomach. I never could figure out what it was nervous about. It should have been my rectum that was nervous. Nobody was sticking things in my stomach for those first 6 yrs.

 

[GoJohnnyGo]

Early to mid-twenties when the symptoms first manifested themselves. Diagnosed at 27. Fairly typical.

 

[Everlong]

I was diagnosed at age 17. Though looking back now, I had experienced symptoms throughout high school.

I was finally diagnosed when I formed an abscess. I had no idea what it was at the time and was too embarrassed to tell anybody about it. I assumed whatever it was would just go away, but it didn't and instead got worse. Eventually I told my parents and after a few doctor appointments wound up in the hospital for surgery. I was diagnosed then. It wasn't fun. :thumbdown:

 

[Jer's Girl]

I was diagnosed when I was 14, but I was suffering for at least a year before that. I am 26 now. I have never been in remission, although I do go through times when I am not in as severe of a flair.

Pirate- They told me I had a “nervous stomach” too. My Dr. said that I was having fainting spells because girls brush their hair upside down and then faint. I kid you not. The only reason I got diagnosed when I did was because my usual Dr. was out one day and the person who filled in for him figured it out pretty much right away and set up the testing. I was heartbroken when I figured out that this wasn’t something that was going away.

At this point, I have accepted it better than my father has. He still thinks it is something I could learn to control through meditation and diet. He is a very good Daddy; he is just the type who wants to be able to fix things (you know, a typical man).

 

[cheeky]

thought i had replied to this, but it was probably an old thread...

my symptoms started around age 21/22... they began getting more and more severe, so by age 25 and onward... but I was finally diagnosed at age 29 (jan 09)

 

[cheeky]

I was about 34. But had always had problems with my GI tract. Even then they didn't actually say I had Crohns they said I had AutoImmune Hepatitis. It was only in January of this yr. that I got the big Crohns diagnosis and I am 52.

i remember i once had a false positive hep test... then they did further testing and it was inconclusive...

that was around the time my symptoms were getting worse and worse... i did read that with certain autoimmune disorders it is possible to get false positive hep tests.

it only happened to me once... then after always negative.

 

[lucitcha]

I don´t have a diagnose yet, but I suffer from pain and diarrea since I was 5, have long remission periods (no solid stools, though). Striked again real hard when I was 15, and that´s when doctors started suspectind IBD/irritated bowel syndrome (and that´s a completely different desease, with similar simptoms but better prognostics). So, pretty much my whole life. Mum told me this week that the firs crisis appeared right after my best friend moved away to Canada (I was very shy, and she was the one who stood up for me at school) - it was really stressfull on me.