Some crohn's symptoms, some not so much.

Hey guys, i have posted in the 'My Story' section but thought it would be a good idea to post here too since i am un-dx'ed.

So i have had eczema/psoriasis my whole life, i am 24 now and since i was 20 it has been of the autoimmune kind(which basically means that i have flare-ups and it itches and hurts all the time without provocation). I also have been diagnosed with leaky-gut-syndrome(advanced perforation of the small intestine).

I have been on the verge of suicide with it, at one point i looked like my skin was turned inside out and it felt that way too, when you go to sleep and you're skin is that sore, itchy and raw you have horrible nightmares and my life was a living hell. Things are a lot better now but my life is still very very restricted in every way.

I have tried many many different treatments, from a full year-long detox/health program to immunosuppressant drugs and every therapy in between. I have been for a colonoscopy and biopsy both of which came back negative for crohns in my large colon but my colon hydrotherapist said she would be shocked if the results of my upcoming endoscopy don't show crohn's.

Reasons for thinking i DO have crohn's

1: If i eat ANYTHING fibrous or anything that converts into starch in my body i have a full autoimmune attack with my eczema, and i'm not talking just glucose or even grains, a teaspoon of carrot juice contains enough sugar to spark a reaction .

2: Even though i only have one B.M per day TOPS(and it has to be induced through a water enema) when it does come out it is very loose and watery, and maybe the reason i don't have D more is the enemas plus the fact that i get one colonic hydrotherapy session per week.

3: My digestive tract in general seems to be/seems always to have been very inflamed, and isn' that basically what crohn's is?

Reasons for thinking i DON'T have crohn's

1: I don't get D, in fact i am always constipated, not helped by the fact that i

A. Weigh 120 lbs and am 5"11. Or by

B. That i have been on a ketogenic diet(all meat and fats) for 2 months to calm my eczema, but even when i was a vegetarian for over a year i still would only have one B.M a day and i had to give myself a water enema to even achieve that.

2: I never get stomach cramps or pains, my body's way of letting me know something is wrong through pain seems to be entirely manifested in my skin flaring up(and BOY does it flare up!), and depression.

3: My body responds very well to fats/oils/meats and not so much to any starches/grains, which i think is different to most crohn's sufferers.

Amazingly, since i have been on the all meat/fat diet i have been experiencing a massive worm die-off which is probably because of the total lack of sugars/starches in my diet, i will create a separate thread for this though because it's a long story.

I should mention that i take 4000 IU of D3 daily(is this too much?) and get 10-25 grams of vit C along with all my B complex vits by IV. on a regular basis.

Any thoughts or help would be great. Thanks guys.

-Jude

Hi Jude and welcome! I sure hope you don't have Crohn's, but it does sound like it is possible. Even some of your reasons for why you don't think you have Crohn's points to Crohn's. For example, your first reason - no D. To be honest, constipation IS a sign of Crohns. Several members suffer from constipation.

I wish you luck with your upcoming endoscopy!

Like Jill said, Constipation can be a symptom of Crohn's. I have suffered with constipation my entire life and I was just dx'd with sever, advanced Crohn's in October. If I had D they would have looked in my gut sooner and dx'd long ago.

Hang in there and don't give up....life is always worth fighting for!!!!!

Hugs!

Thanks you two .

My story is a little similar...

Hi, My story is a little similar, and I WAS diagnosed with Crohn's.
I think I may have had Crohn's lurking as a teenager, but it was barely noticed. I only remember one attack of sever stomach pain that left me writhing on the floor and heading to the ER.

Only when I had my baby did things start picking up-
for 2 years I shuffled from doctor to doctor w/o a diagnosis, until finally one PCP picked up on the IBD factor.

My symptoms for 2 years were:

Fever every 2 weeks,
Shingles,
Recurring pink-eye,
recurring ear infections,
recurring yeast infections,
Swollen right leg- almost always swollen
HORRIBLE EXCEMA!

Then slowly eggs starting sending me into the fetal position with tears streaming down my face in agony... but still I ate eggs, but only baked in things, which were easier to digest. Finally, I cut out eggs all together- and the excema disappeared! Its seems my body couldn't tolerate ANY eggs at that time- and even though I didnt feel pain, my skin showed me that everything inside was inflamed.

What really triggered the Crohn's to come out was an episode of anaphalaxis.

I am severly allergic to milk, and in October I ate something that I didn't know had milk in it, and I was at Death's Door... The paramedics barely managed to stabilize me, and my husband said my face was purple.

Thank G-d, I am fine today, but as crazy as it may seem, when I was gasping for breath in the ambulance, holding seconds away from losing my life- severe stomach cramps started up. It was even worse than not having oxygen!

I was on prednisone for 4 days after being released from the hospital,
and then on the 4th day when I finished the RX- I started suffering the most painful abdominal possible. For a full week I had these pains, until I went on a starvation diet- and then a few days later I was better.

Shortly after I went for an endoscopy and a colonoscopy, and Crohn's was confirmed.


The bottom line is that a person CAN have Crohn's, but its lurking underneath- waiting for some form of severe stress or trauma to the body to bring it out fullblast. That is what happened with me.

It should be noted that I have been following the SCD diet since diagnosis, and I feel AMAZING... Finally after being on it for about a month and a half,
I feel almost normal. Its worth the effort.

Mysterious-
I'm interested in your skin symptoms; did they say that can be an indicator of Crohn's? Recently I went into what looked like a Crohn's like GI flare, so I was put on prednisone for about 3 months. As soon as I went off of it, I got this horrible itchy rash on my body. So, back on the prednison, but little relief.