Well I have been a member of this forum for a little while and I thought it was time to share my journey. I will try to keep it as short as possible.
The first time I can remember having symptoms was in my late teens. At that time, I had persistent diarrhea and abdominal pain but it all passed within a couple of weeks so I thought nothing more of it. I continued to have bouts of severe diarrhea throughout my early twenties but thought it must just be normal and so never sought medical advice.
As the years have gone on there have been many more seemingly unrelated symptoms that until now I thought were just separate medical problems.
OK fast forward, I am 28, married and have a second child on the way. My wife and I run our own business and things are looking rosy. Enter a very sore pimple beside my anus. Multiple times, I squeeze the puss from the pimple to relieve the pain. After about 2 months, the pimple is still there and getting sorer all the time so I get my wife who is a nurse to have a look. She tells me to go to a doctor and get it checked, which I do.
The doctor tells me the pimple is in fact an anal fistula and I will need to have an operation as soon as possible. In the meantime, I go to see a gastro doctor and he tells me I will need a colonoscopy to investigate the cause of the fistula. Over the next couple of weeks, I have a colonoscopy and a gaping big hole cut into my anus to remove the fistula.
The colonoscopy results come back, Diagnosis Crohns disease. The gastro doctor recommends removal of the Colon and rectum, to which I said you have to be joking. I have severe diarrhea ever since the colonoscopy and the wound from the fistula leaks constantly. The gastro doctor puts me on a 50mg dose of prednisolone and 4000mg of salofalk and tells me to monitor my symptoms. This goes on for about a month and there is no improvement at all with the diarrhea and the wound in my anus will not heal so I look for a second opinion and a new gastro doctor. Over the next couple of years, the new gastro tries to get me off the pred but every time I get to 25mg, the diarrhea starts again and I have to increase the pred to get it under control again. Imuran is started to get me off the pred and I finish up getting many infections that see me too sick to go to work. Due to sickness we sell our business, which by now has been so neglected it, is not worth much. This process continues for about the next 10 years and I manage somehow to hold down a job and remain hopeful that a cure will be found for this painful, embarrassing and frustrating disease.
Two months before my fortieth birthday I start to get excruciating pain in the left side of my back and side and finish up in hospital having scans to find the cause of the pain. The scans show a blood clot has destroyed 1/3 of my spleen but they also show a small shadow in my left kidney. The doctors stopped the Imuran immediately and scheduled more scans in 6 months to see if the shadow in my left kidney changes at all. A very slow 6 months passed and the scheduled scans show the shadow in my left kidney is now a cancerous carcinoma that takes up the whole interior of my left kidney. The doctors advise that it would be very wise to remove the kidney as soon as possible and I agree.
The shock of all this sparked me into action and I decided that if I was to survive this cancer I would have to be fit and as healthy as possible. I quit smoking straightaway and bought a new mountain bike to get myself fit and ready for the kidney removal operation. I started to ride every day and before long, I was clocking up 10 hours a week on the bike and starting to become very fit.
November 2007 I had my left kidney removed and thankfully the carcinoma was contained to the interior of the kidney and so no chemo was recommended.
January 2nd 2008 I was out on my bike and had a simple accident that seen me fall over the handlebars and land on my head. The resulting injuries from this seemingly simple accident have me on the ground unable to move with what was later to be found broken vertebrae at C7, T3, T4 and T5. C meaning cervical and T meaning Thoracic.
So for the next 4 months my wife endured having to look after my every need while I was at home with a broken neck and back, locked into a body cast and head hallo which was only removed to give me a sponge bath every second day. After 6 months I went back to work and continued on my way with yo-yoing prednisolone and diarrhea.
Fifth of January 2010 I woke up in the middle of the night with severe pain and went off to the toilet. I spent the next 3 weeks at home unable to leave the house with severe pain and diarrhea. During those 3 weeks, I finally reached the breaking point with Crohns and the associated meds I was taking and I started to do some research on the internet. I went to see a naturopath but after he picked my pocket and sold me a heap of supplements, I decided to buy the book "How to break the vicious cycle". I started on the suggested diet only to find after 3 weeks my diarrhea was even worse and I was starting to think that medications were the only way to treat my Crohns. More research and I found the book "Life without Bread". I read the book and started the diet contained inside and found after only 2 weeks my diarrhea was much better. Following the low carb diet over the last 9 months, I have been able to finally get my Crohns under control where I am now not taking any meds at all and my BM's are down to 2-3 per day, which for me is fantastic. I had another colonoscopy 3 weeks ago and the inflammation in the colon has improved remarkably, I am scheduled for another colonoscopy in June next year to see if there is any further improvement. I am absolutely convinced my colon will show no signs of inflammation by then.
In my opinion, the Imuran weakened my immune system to the point where the cancer was able to grow.
The prednisolone was definitely the cause of the weakened bones.
Now the only side effects I have are good health. I came to this forum to share the good news that if you truly want to get better you can with diet.
IN MY OPINION AND EXPERIENCE IT IS THAT SIMPLE
Peter:goodluck:
The first time I can remember having symptoms was in my late teens. At that time, I had persistent diarrhea and abdominal pain but it all passed within a couple of weeks so I thought nothing more of it. I continued to have bouts of severe diarrhea throughout my early twenties but thought it must just be normal and so never sought medical advice.
As the years have gone on there have been many more seemingly unrelated symptoms that until now I thought were just separate medical problems.
OK fast forward, I am 28, married and have a second child on the way. My wife and I run our own business and things are looking rosy. Enter a very sore pimple beside my anus. Multiple times, I squeeze the puss from the pimple to relieve the pain. After about 2 months, the pimple is still there and getting sorer all the time so I get my wife who is a nurse to have a look. She tells me to go to a doctor and get it checked, which I do.
The doctor tells me the pimple is in fact an anal fistula and I will need to have an operation as soon as possible. In the meantime, I go to see a gastro doctor and he tells me I will need a colonoscopy to investigate the cause of the fistula. Over the next couple of weeks, I have a colonoscopy and a gaping big hole cut into my anus to remove the fistula.
The colonoscopy results come back, Diagnosis Crohns disease. The gastro doctor recommends removal of the Colon and rectum, to which I said you have to be joking. I have severe diarrhea ever since the colonoscopy and the wound from the fistula leaks constantly. The gastro doctor puts me on a 50mg dose of prednisolone and 4000mg of salofalk and tells me to monitor my symptoms. This goes on for about a month and there is no improvement at all with the diarrhea and the wound in my anus will not heal so I look for a second opinion and a new gastro doctor. Over the next couple of years, the new gastro tries to get me off the pred but every time I get to 25mg, the diarrhea starts again and I have to increase the pred to get it under control again. Imuran is started to get me off the pred and I finish up getting many infections that see me too sick to go to work. Due to sickness we sell our business, which by now has been so neglected it, is not worth much. This process continues for about the next 10 years and I manage somehow to hold down a job and remain hopeful that a cure will be found for this painful, embarrassing and frustrating disease.
Two months before my fortieth birthday I start to get excruciating pain in the left side of my back and side and finish up in hospital having scans to find the cause of the pain. The scans show a blood clot has destroyed 1/3 of my spleen but they also show a small shadow in my left kidney. The doctors stopped the Imuran immediately and scheduled more scans in 6 months to see if the shadow in my left kidney changes at all. A very slow 6 months passed and the scheduled scans show the shadow in my left kidney is now a cancerous carcinoma that takes up the whole interior of my left kidney. The doctors advise that it would be very wise to remove the kidney as soon as possible and I agree.
The shock of all this sparked me into action and I decided that if I was to survive this cancer I would have to be fit and as healthy as possible. I quit smoking straightaway and bought a new mountain bike to get myself fit and ready for the kidney removal operation. I started to ride every day and before long, I was clocking up 10 hours a week on the bike and starting to become very fit.
November 2007 I had my left kidney removed and thankfully the carcinoma was contained to the interior of the kidney and so no chemo was recommended.
January 2nd 2008 I was out on my bike and had a simple accident that seen me fall over the handlebars and land on my head. The resulting injuries from this seemingly simple accident have me on the ground unable to move with what was later to be found broken vertebrae at C7, T3, T4 and T5. C meaning cervical and T meaning Thoracic.
So for the next 4 months my wife endured having to look after my every need while I was at home with a broken neck and back, locked into a body cast and head hallo which was only removed to give me a sponge bath every second day. After 6 months I went back to work and continued on my way with yo-yoing prednisolone and diarrhea.
Fifth of January 2010 I woke up in the middle of the night with severe pain and went off to the toilet. I spent the next 3 weeks at home unable to leave the house with severe pain and diarrhea. During those 3 weeks, I finally reached the breaking point with Crohns and the associated meds I was taking and I started to do some research on the internet. I went to see a naturopath but after he picked my pocket and sold me a heap of supplements, I decided to buy the book "How to break the vicious cycle". I started on the suggested diet only to find after 3 weeks my diarrhea was even worse and I was starting to think that medications were the only way to treat my Crohns. More research and I found the book "Life without Bread". I read the book and started the diet contained inside and found after only 2 weeks my diarrhea was much better. Following the low carb diet over the last 9 months, I have been able to finally get my Crohns under control where I am now not taking any meds at all and my BM's are down to 2-3 per day, which for me is fantastic. I had another colonoscopy 3 weeks ago and the inflammation in the colon has improved remarkably, I am scheduled for another colonoscopy in June next year to see if there is any further improvement. I am absolutely convinced my colon will show no signs of inflammation by then.
In my opinion, the Imuran weakened my immune system to the point where the cancer was able to grow.
The prednisolone was definitely the cause of the weakened bones.
Now the only side effects I have are good health. I came to this forum to share the good news that if you truly want to get better you can with diet.
IN MY OPINION AND EXPERIENCE IT IS THAT SIMPLE
Peter:goodluck:
