:tongue: Hi, my name is Leslie, and this is a quick look at my story. I am 49. I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease when I was about 25. When I look back on it, I believe I had symptoms of Crohn's in High School but being a shy girl, I never brought it up because I assumed the pain was due to my Mentrual cycle. Which took me years to discuss.
At the time of my diagnosis, I had never heard of Crohn's Disease and either did anyone that I new of. The first time I was hospitalized for it just so happened to be exactly 2 days after my childhood best friend was killed in a horrible car accident. I thought that I was having some kind of a nervous breakdown because of it. I did suffer for weeks (months?) before hand with bloody diarrhea and severe stomach pains but on the day I decided to admit myself to the hospital, I had chills and couldn't stop shaking and freezing. I don't remember the initial Er visit because there are so many that they just blend into each other. I was admitted though and I stayed at that first (local, not specialized) hospital for almost a month, undiagnosed, getting thinner and more lethargic by the day. At some point my mother took charge and had me ambulanced to another hospital where I was diagnosed after about 2 days and many horrible tests, which I thought I would would kill me but they didn't even though at the time I wished they would have. After being diagnosed, I was taken off all food for a month and put given everything I needed intravenously except for pain medicines which were then given intramuscularly. It did not take me long before I then developed a serious drug dependency which wound up being harder to deal with in the long run then the Crohn's Disease. :voodoo:
I finally did get out of the hospital, but as I said, I then had Crohn's Disease and an addiction problem to pain medicine. It took me many years to learn how to deal with my Crohn's because I was in denial about the addiction for most of my "Crohn's life". I believe I put myself through much torture that did not need to happen because I was to afraid too have the pain medicine taken away.
Now, I am 49 years old and have not been on hard Narcotics for about 5 years. I have a colostomy, which I have had for 16 or so years. For much of my "Crohn's Life" I tried to avoid having a colostomy at any cost. I switched doctors, left hospitals pulling out my intravenous lines. (I need a break)
At the time of my diagnosis, I had never heard of Crohn's Disease and either did anyone that I new of. The first time I was hospitalized for it just so happened to be exactly 2 days after my childhood best friend was killed in a horrible car accident. I thought that I was having some kind of a nervous breakdown because of it. I did suffer for weeks (months?) before hand with bloody diarrhea and severe stomach pains but on the day I decided to admit myself to the hospital, I had chills and couldn't stop shaking and freezing. I don't remember the initial Er visit because there are so many that they just blend into each other. I was admitted though and I stayed at that first (local, not specialized) hospital for almost a month, undiagnosed, getting thinner and more lethargic by the day. At some point my mother took charge and had me ambulanced to another hospital where I was diagnosed after about 2 days and many horrible tests, which I thought I would would kill me but they didn't even though at the time I wished they would have. After being diagnosed, I was taken off all food for a month and put given everything I needed intravenously except for pain medicines which were then given intramuscularly. It did not take me long before I then developed a serious drug dependency which wound up being harder to deal with in the long run then the Crohn's Disease. :voodoo:
I finally did get out of the hospital, but as I said, I then had Crohn's Disease and an addiction problem to pain medicine. It took me many years to learn how to deal with my Crohn's because I was in denial about the addiction for most of my "Crohn's life". I believe I put myself through much torture that did not need to happen because I was to afraid too have the pain medicine taken away.
Now, I am 49 years old and have not been on hard Narcotics for about 5 years. I have a colostomy, which I have had for 16 or so years. For much of my "Crohn's Life" I tried to avoid having a colostomy at any cost. I switched doctors, left hospitals pulling out my intravenous lines. (I need a break)