Work colleague with crohns too

[minky]

Hi all,

Alert: rant ahead!!!

Ok am newly diagnosed with crohns (4 years waiting for diagnosis). I dont suffer every days, would be good for a few weeks and die then for a few weeks. i was out of work there recently for 6 weeks due to a bad flare and I was put on pentasa which did me no favours(caused gastritis).

Anywhoo, am back at work now and not a well bunny but just gambling on and eating hardly anything.

But there is a girl at work who also has crohns since she was a kid. Now maybe I'm a drama queen but she never seems to be sick or miss a day off work. She has said to me that she is in a constant flare but refuses to take meds. I said what about the D, she says that she has it all the time and getting sick as well. Her part of the job involves a lot of travelling so i asked how does she cope with that? She said she is able to hold until she is near a toilet etc. She doesnt really want to talk about it at all, now I know that some people wouldnt so thats understandable.

This is how we differ, if I have to go to the toilet I have to go now within minutes, often at the side of the road etc. I have no choice. I dont travel anywhere as I am afraid of what if?? She seems to take it all in her stride and is only back from travelling abroad.

For lunch she ate a banana, apple and a bag of taytos and often has chips etc and seems fine.

Im constantly feeling sick and this just p*sses me off as I feel like a dosser when she never misses a day off.

Is it just that she has had it for years that she is better able to cope or have we both got different things??

Look forward to your views.

 

[lucitcha]

Hi. I believe it´s not only the years of coping with it. I believe each person has a different chrons. I´m not diagnosed yet (it´s a doc´s suspition, but no confirmation). I went to Europe last year, for a month. Gladly I was with my loving husband and he was always up to searching for bathrooms, we became like a radar so we always knew where the closest bathroom was (I get terrible Ds and HAVE to go when I have to go - more in Europe since I wasn´t eating properly). I had no accidents there. Fortunately Imodium works for me and my doc lets me take it on emergencies (like when I have to take a plane or there´s an important meeting at work).

There are those weeks when I can´t eat a thing and I´m weak and get thin, but most of the times it´s just about having a clean bathroom nearby (I do at my office) and access to "good food" (wathever is not hurting me at the time - I have a frigobar at work so I can take whatever I want, including gatorades).

But I know for some people it´s just harder and they can´t get out of bed. It happens. Doesn´t mean you´re not able to cope - means you´re getting a worse time out of it. While at college I had a really bad flare and had to skip important tests - what can you do?

 

[kenny]

agree with the different crohns bit.

I only have occasional bouts of D. I have pain and restriction issues in the upper GI due to my guts growing together like Medusa head with fistulas. And I feel tugging at times as I have one attached my abdominal wall. I also have rheumatoid arthritis that effects how well I move and balance. This is due to the underling condition the creates crohns. I would probably annoy you as much much as she does as I sit there all day eating constantly

 

[my.december]

I agree with everyone about it being different for everyone.

I'm kinda diagnosed, kinda not. lol, if THAT makes any sense. Last year, a scope showed ulceration and inflammation in my terminal ileum. This year, unmedicated, it was clear. So I'm not ENTIRELY sure where the doc is going with my dx.

However, I'm the employee that does still manage to work a 40 hour week. I'm definitely not 100% some days, but I get through. I credit part of it to an extremely high pain tolerance. Even docs have remarked before that things I just try to work through are things that would have reduced some others to sobbing messes. I'm also extremely stubborn, not always to the benefit of myself or others. About a year ago, I somehow caught pertussis, aka whooping cough. It was miserable. I was miserable. Once a coughing fit started, it would keep going until I was red, sweating, my head was throbbing, and I threw up. Yet, I didn't miss a day of work. Also kept insisting it was "just a cold" and refused to go to the doc until my mom actually drug me there 2 weeks in. Yeah, that was bad... I was busy spreading it all over the place.

Anyways, my point of that is that it's just my personality, and it's not necessarily a good trait. I'm stubborn and obstinate and have been known to do myself more harm than good because I just try to push through everything. Heck, I'm the one who's worked the entire day of a colonoscopy prep... twice! And the next day, all hungover from the anesthesia.

Also, my "schedule," even at the worst of times, is fairly nice to me. The mornings are bad, so I have to allow myself extra time to get ready. During the day, I get pains, but I don't have to GO as much. Maybe 3-4 times usually. At night, somewhere around 8pm I believe, all hell breaks loose, and I'm pretty much useless. That's when I'm on the toilet every 1/2 hour or more. I may go 6-8 times (this is on a BAD day) before 6pm, and 12+ times from 6pm til bedtime... then a couple middle of the night wakeups to go.

I'm just grateful I get that "break" time during the day that allows me to work. I can work through the pain, but if my daytime was like my nights, I wouldn't be able to function at all.

 

[lucitcha]

MD you´re nuts... SERIOUSLY? You worked through colono prep AND the next day? LOL
I´m not nearly that brave...

 

[my.december]

I am nuts, and I did.

 

[Fog Ducker]

Dec, I am much the same as you, too stubborn to admit defeat. I worked construction with a madly broken hand for a week, and again with a broken arm again for a week. Iwould still go and in before I was diagnosed and was in a huge flare that was causing inflimation in my hips, knees and ankles, so bad that I could barely walk. Everyone asked I said I tripped and hut my knee cause I didnt want to tell them I was actually not ok!

But like everyone has said, each person is different and everyones disease enven though all under the same CD or UC blanket is completely different.
Like you Dec I have it bad n the morning, like 4 or 5 trips, then off to work and maybe 2 or 3 all day untill relax time at nite when maybe 4 or so more. I dont have it near as bad as you though, 12+ times at nite!! Thats no fun at all! And the middle of the nite wake ups suck! I had tem when in my flare. Such a pain getting outa a nice warm bed.

Minky, you cant compare, just cause what your coworker is doing works for her doesnt mean it will work for anyone else. It sucks I know, but you gotta figure it out yourself. Man do I wish everyone was the same and all the trial and error were already figured out.

 

[CrohnsHobo]

It is different for everyone. I am probably similar to your coworker. I can hold it till I can get somewhere 90% of the time. I have a pretty varied diet, even in a flare like I am the last year. I rarely if ever miss work. I just get thinner and thinner and have a lot of pain, but I deal. But like your coworker I have had 15 years to get into a routine.

 

[Guestly]

Everyone, and every day I think is different.

I know my crohn's isn't as bad as some peoples, it might be worse than other people's.... the only disease I am an expert on is my own.

Yesterday I couldn't leave the house for cramps, vomiting and D, yet today I was able to stroll to the local cafe with my husband, eat a light lunch and make it home again with NO ill effects - bliss! I actually felt a bit furtive because I thought if anyone saw me they would wonder why on earth I had the nerve to be off sick from work these past few months???

Unfortunately I have no idea what tomorrow will hold, and I probably won't know even when I wake up, I might feel great at 7am, and be sweating and gurning in the loo by 11... or it could be a great day... for me my disease is totaly unpredictable.

Don't let some apparent "superwoman" make you feel inadequate or flaky... if you are anything like me you are probably darned good at beating yourself up over this disease without some super stoic hero making you feel worse.

HUGS

Lishyloo x

 

[Brad P]

Yes, everyone is different and yes, if you've had it for many years you learn to cope with it...you also adapt to it. My GI told me once that yes, I may feel good at the moment, but to a healthy person how I feel may not be good to them.

I've had CD now for 23 years this year. I say to myself...if someone normal felt like I do now (and I may feel ok at the moment), they would probably think they are sick, and stay home. But having CD for 23 years doesn't allow me to pause life all the time unless its serious pain/agony etc

Since the late 90's, I can probably count on one hand how many days I have lost due to feeling too sick/pain from Crohn's to go to work. I've probably missed more time due to dr appts, tests, etc than from Crohn's itself oddly enough.

I've known fellow CD'ers who were dx'ed and had surgery within a few years or even months. I had surgery 21 years after being dx'ed and that was only because I had cancer! Otherwise, I wouldn't have had surgery (not at that point in time anyway). I was able to keep is under some control for years.

 

[Sue-2009]

I want to be like the first persons co worker... Sue

 

[xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx]

I'm quite similar to your co worker too. The only time I had off college during diagnosis was for hospital appointments. I can usualy hold it for a while and I can't tell which foods effect me. I know that I'm rly lucky compared to other people, but it does still have an emotional effect.
x x x x

 

[Brad P]

I know that I'm rly lucky compared to other people, but it does still have an emotional effect.
x x x x

Ditto on being lucky....up until Fall 2008 anyway!

Although my GI told me I was like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Unfortunately it was not a grenade but a nuclear bomb! :eek2:

 

[Guest1]

Ditto what everyone else said. My symptoms seem very similar to your coworker.

 

[Nytefyre]

yeah agreed, each person's disease and how that person handles it will vary. It seems like since my surgery in 2007 I have extremely sensitive to pain and D. If I have to go, I have to go! So yeah, I miss quite a few days at work as a result. As far as I now, there is not another Crohnie or IBD sufferer at my work.

 

[Tan]

My symptoms are similar to your co-workers too I seem to be able to hold it if I need to which I know isn't always the case for most people with Crohns. I did however have a few weeks off work while being diagnosed as I tend to get extreme nausea and vomiting which is very draining.
Like everyone said no two people with crohns are the same!

 

[pain in the butt]

First of all I'm really sorry to hear what your going through and no I don't think your a drama queen . Don't let anyone make you feel bad because you get to sick to work sometimes. Its not even about who has a higher tolerence for pain etc. I dought she's in a constant flare and sick all the time and still able to travel and never miss a day of work . and don't forget she has control when she has to go and you don't .that in itself is hard enough. Your being to hard on yourself. and I bet you cope better than you think. HANG IN THERE !