Brand new to the forum, I think it is pretty cool something like this is available for people who are looking for ideas, info, and probably most of all: peace of mind. Which is why I am here! Bear with me, I have been through a lot in the past 6 months!
My story begins on the other side of the world in Asia where I was living for 3 months. It was about March of '12 when I began to feel an 'abnormal' pain in my lower right side that radiated to my back and stomach. The pain was certainly uncomfortable but being the "man" I am I would pop a couple ibuprofen and live with it. At the time I had no symptoms of diarrhea or stomach cramps. Well, after about a month of living with this weird pain (luckily I was on my way home from my Asia experience) it was getting worse and worse and to the point where I decided I needed to see a Doctor as soon as I got home. On my first Doctor visit I was instantly ordered to go get a battery of tests, blood work, CT scan etc. A couple days later I got a call that said I had the mysterious and controversial "chronic appendicitis," I was actually somewhat relieved. My symptoms slowly got worse and I and went saw a surgeon who actually specializes in the areas of the colon and rectum. He read my CT scan and decided surgery needed to wait. I had let my "problem" go for so long that operating on me was high risk because of what looked like an abcess and infection. After two days in the hospital and a large dose of antibiotics I was sent home to take antibiotics orally before surgery would be performed. Well, once I got home symptoms took a major turn for the worse as I began vomiting, was in severe pain, and obviously had no appetite, etc. I was rushed to the emergency room and was ordered another CT scan, the only thing I can remember is my surgeon coming into my room and saying, "it looks very bad."
I woke up from surgery and was told that they had removed my appendix and 6 inches of my colon. After recovering for 5 nights and 6 days in the hospital I was finally allowed to go home, thinking I was on the road to recovery. Turns out, my post-op pathology report has become somewhat of a medical dilemma. After a couple of different opinions and reports, they finally rested on the fact that it probably wasn't Crohns and was infectious, most likely infected by the bacteria Yersinia Pseudotuberculosis or Yersinia Entercolitica. I would post my pathology report but it is so long and complicated that I doubt that would be of service to anyone.
This is where the questions begin, is there a link between these two? Yersinia and Crohns? I have read several articles that talk about how strikingly similar they are and the difficulty with distinguishing them. There were a few scholarly articles that suggested a subsequent diagnosis of Crohn's after Yersinia infection was possible and happened in several cases, usually less than 10% of patients. My biggest concern is that just recently I woke up in the middle of the night with a severe stomach cramp, probably one of the worst I have ever experienced, it was accompanied by diarrhea. I initially attributed it to something I ate, but this general feeling of not being 100% has remained for the past couple days along with some diarrhea (maybe once a day) and stomach cramping (sometimes before the diarrhea but not always). I have no joint pain, eye infections, mouth ulcers, or any of the other possible symptoms.
I have been out of the hospital for 6 weeks, and am wondering if maybe my Yersinia infection has somehow progressed into a beginning stage of Crohns. It could all just be that I need more time and something is bothering my recently resected system as well. But do any of you Crohns patients remember the first time you got that SEVERE stomach cramp or was it always kind of just present. It seems odd that Crohns would up and start on me randomly one night like it did.
I will be sure to keep updating as time goes on!
My story begins on the other side of the world in Asia where I was living for 3 months. It was about March of '12 when I began to feel an 'abnormal' pain in my lower right side that radiated to my back and stomach. The pain was certainly uncomfortable but being the "man" I am I would pop a couple ibuprofen and live with it. At the time I had no symptoms of diarrhea or stomach cramps. Well, after about a month of living with this weird pain (luckily I was on my way home from my Asia experience) it was getting worse and worse and to the point where I decided I needed to see a Doctor as soon as I got home. On my first Doctor visit I was instantly ordered to go get a battery of tests, blood work, CT scan etc. A couple days later I got a call that said I had the mysterious and controversial "chronic appendicitis," I was actually somewhat relieved. My symptoms slowly got worse and I and went saw a surgeon who actually specializes in the areas of the colon and rectum. He read my CT scan and decided surgery needed to wait. I had let my "problem" go for so long that operating on me was high risk because of what looked like an abcess and infection. After two days in the hospital and a large dose of antibiotics I was sent home to take antibiotics orally before surgery would be performed. Well, once I got home symptoms took a major turn for the worse as I began vomiting, was in severe pain, and obviously had no appetite, etc. I was rushed to the emergency room and was ordered another CT scan, the only thing I can remember is my surgeon coming into my room and saying, "it looks very bad."
I woke up from surgery and was told that they had removed my appendix and 6 inches of my colon. After recovering for 5 nights and 6 days in the hospital I was finally allowed to go home, thinking I was on the road to recovery. Turns out, my post-op pathology report has become somewhat of a medical dilemma. After a couple of different opinions and reports, they finally rested on the fact that it probably wasn't Crohns and was infectious, most likely infected by the bacteria Yersinia Pseudotuberculosis or Yersinia Entercolitica. I would post my pathology report but it is so long and complicated that I doubt that would be of service to anyone.
This is where the questions begin, is there a link between these two? Yersinia and Crohns? I have read several articles that talk about how strikingly similar they are and the difficulty with distinguishing them. There were a few scholarly articles that suggested a subsequent diagnosis of Crohn's after Yersinia infection was possible and happened in several cases, usually less than 10% of patients. My biggest concern is that just recently I woke up in the middle of the night with a severe stomach cramp, probably one of the worst I have ever experienced, it was accompanied by diarrhea. I initially attributed it to something I ate, but this general feeling of not being 100% has remained for the past couple days along with some diarrhea (maybe once a day) and stomach cramping (sometimes before the diarrhea but not always). I have no joint pain, eye infections, mouth ulcers, or any of the other possible symptoms.
I have been out of the hospital for 6 weeks, and am wondering if maybe my Yersinia infection has somehow progressed into a beginning stage of Crohns. It could all just be that I need more time and something is bothering my recently resected system as well. But do any of you Crohns patients remember the first time you got that SEVERE stomach cramp or was it always kind of just present. It seems odd that Crohns would up and start on me randomly one night like it did.
I will be sure to keep updating as time goes on!