my story!
So I guess I will start with a little blurb about myself. I am 19 years old and working to finish up my first year of college (STILL). Everything started the weekend I got back to school after a wonderful spring break with my girlfriends in FL. I started to feel disconnected and just wanted to be in bed constantly, and my appetite went from a food lover to "oh is it time to go eat?" basically overnight. The pains and such all felt like they started overnight as well. I went from being a-somewhat active, young, healthy, excited teenager to what my friends and I later labeled it...a SLOTH. I had zero energy to even get out of bed, something I didnt do for weeks at a time-sometimes due to sheer exhaustion and pain, and other times because the act of getting out of bed was too painful. Thankfully my roomate had left, so I was living in a single and didnt have to worry about someone seeing me at my absolute lowest. I started calling my parents daily (something I had never done when away from home before) and cried about how I was struggling in school (something that had never been a problem before!) and how much physical pain I was in. They thought I was simply over exaggerating (I wont deny a history with this one), but I knew I wasnt. I went to the on-campus health center and they thought it was a stomach bug--something that would pass. But I knew this was definitely something worse, I started researching all the odd pains I was having and came to the conclusion-I was going to die in my bed in my college dorm room-every possible disease fit my situation somehow, so I felt stuck. After almost a full month of tears, (my parents had me talk to a doctor from home over the phone who said I was depressed) pain and falling very far behind in schoolwork/missing class for weeks at a time, I finally decided it was time to go home and get help. My pediatrician had bloodwork done and said it was probably a virus and that my bloodwork was perfectly normal. Little did I know, my bloodwork was far from normal. I was severely anemic, and it was getting worse every day. Back at school I felt like I was getting a little bit better for about 2 weeks, and tried to live a more normal life, and get back on track. But something was still not right, I couldnt actually eat anything without immediate pain or later vomiting. On the last day of classes one of my friends found me vomiting and took me to the health center where they did more bloodwork and thought I was going to need my appendix out immediately-thus sending me to the hospital. After a 3 day stay there, they didnt do any surgery and had my parents come pick me up and take me home where I continued my journey with surgeons, doctors and online schoolwork. After a colonoscopy I ended up with the diagnosis of Crohn's Disease. Since my diagnosis, everything is making sense, the bathroom visits, the pains, the digestion problems....everything. So now it has been a month of medications and I still feel sick regularly. I feel like I am not getting any better, and it is taking a huge toll on my life, my family, myself as a person and my friends. I am definitely not the same person I was a year ago, and it is putting a lot of stress on my friendships-i have actually lost a lot of friends because I am pretty bad about dealing with stress. I found this website and felt so much less alone immediately! Your stories are so inspiring, and I am hoping the different forums will help me find guidance to a better life with my crohn's.
any advice, is welcome! Clearly I am a newbie with the whole situation.
So I guess I will start with a little blurb about myself. I am 19 years old and working to finish up my first year of college (STILL). Everything started the weekend I got back to school after a wonderful spring break with my girlfriends in FL. I started to feel disconnected and just wanted to be in bed constantly, and my appetite went from a food lover to "oh is it time to go eat?" basically overnight. The pains and such all felt like they started overnight as well. I went from being a-somewhat active, young, healthy, excited teenager to what my friends and I later labeled it...a SLOTH. I had zero energy to even get out of bed, something I didnt do for weeks at a time-sometimes due to sheer exhaustion and pain, and other times because the act of getting out of bed was too painful. Thankfully my roomate had left, so I was living in a single and didnt have to worry about someone seeing me at my absolute lowest. I started calling my parents daily (something I had never done when away from home before) and cried about how I was struggling in school (something that had never been a problem before!) and how much physical pain I was in. They thought I was simply over exaggerating (I wont deny a history with this one), but I knew I wasnt. I went to the on-campus health center and they thought it was a stomach bug--something that would pass. But I knew this was definitely something worse, I started researching all the odd pains I was having and came to the conclusion-I was going to die in my bed in my college dorm room-every possible disease fit my situation somehow, so I felt stuck. After almost a full month of tears, (my parents had me talk to a doctor from home over the phone who said I was depressed) pain and falling very far behind in schoolwork/missing class for weeks at a time, I finally decided it was time to go home and get help. My pediatrician had bloodwork done and said it was probably a virus and that my bloodwork was perfectly normal. Little did I know, my bloodwork was far from normal. I was severely anemic, and it was getting worse every day. Back at school I felt like I was getting a little bit better for about 2 weeks, and tried to live a more normal life, and get back on track. But something was still not right, I couldnt actually eat anything without immediate pain or later vomiting. On the last day of classes one of my friends found me vomiting and took me to the health center where they did more bloodwork and thought I was going to need my appendix out immediately-thus sending me to the hospital. After a 3 day stay there, they didnt do any surgery and had my parents come pick me up and take me home where I continued my journey with surgeons, doctors and online schoolwork. After a colonoscopy I ended up with the diagnosis of Crohn's Disease. Since my diagnosis, everything is making sense, the bathroom visits, the pains, the digestion problems....everything. So now it has been a month of medications and I still feel sick regularly. I feel like I am not getting any better, and it is taking a huge toll on my life, my family, myself as a person and my friends. I am definitely not the same person I was a year ago, and it is putting a lot of stress on my friendships-i have actually lost a lot of friends because I am pretty bad about dealing with stress. I found this website and felt so much less alone immediately! Your stories are so inspiring, and I am hoping the different forums will help me find guidance to a better life with my crohn's.
any advice, is welcome! Clearly I am a newbie with the whole situation.
I'm sorry to hear you've been having so much trouble but am pleased that you at least finally have a diagnosis.