Hi guys, 
I hope you're all well and I apologise in advance for the wall of text!
Since I was twelve I had a grumbling appendix once a year. At 17 I finally had appendicitis and had it removed.
Since then I developed different problems with various pains in my bowels, but during one particular painful bout four years ago I visited my doctor here in London. He said the first test would be an ultrasound, but he did everything he could to persuade me not to bother, it was nothing, suggested it was mild IBS, gave me Colfac to treat it and sent me on my way. I completely changed my lifestyle and diet and that seemed to help me a lot.
Two Saturdays ago I collapsed in the cinema and was taken to A&E and have re-visited the hospital 5 times in the last two weeks. Other than the visits to my doctor and the hospital, I've been at home, trying to get on with some work but finding it difficult. My symptoms have been:
Diarrhea – Every time I go to the bathroom I feel like I need to do a number 2, but nothing comes. When it eventually does come roughly once a day it ranges from very small amounts of bright yellow to very dark faeces and from soft/liquid, to solid.
Stomach tenderness
Fever – random episodes with random bouts of sweating.
Exhaustion - Can't work, play computer games or do anything else. The more this illness continues, the harder I'm finding it to rest/sleep. I seem to not have the energy even to rest.
Palpitations – My heart is constantly beating between 90 and 110 BMP although it does occasionally slow back to normal. They've suggested this is anxiety but I'm not hyperventilating so I don't know how they come to this conclusion.
Huge loss of weight of roughly 1 stone (6kgs), which could easily be explained by the lack of food.
Dry skin rash has developed on the back of my left hand in the last week.
Loss of libido and appetite – I'm forcing myself to eat small amounts every 90 minutes but as my body isn't regulating itself like it usually does I'm unsure how much to eat and when. I don't feel as though eating gives me any more energy.
A year ago I had blood in my stool, but I looked it up online and because it was bright red and wasn't dark and sticky, I did nothing about it (since they say that's not cancer) and decided to get on with things. A few weeks ago I had the same again and decided to ignore it again. I've had no blood in my stool at all since my first collapse on the 27th of November 2012.
In my first visit to hospital my blood tests showed elevated white cell counts, nutrifil and eosinophil counts, with low potassium. So they assumed I may have got food poisoning from the hotdog I ate at the cinema. In my most recent visit they gave me the results and all are back to normal.
They've now suggested one of two things: I have 'viral fatigue' and am exhausted after two weeks of being attacked by a virus. Or they say there's a tiny possibility that I have Crohn's disease. They've done an x-ray of my stomach, and said all is fine there. They've tested my stool and say all is fine there. And they say the inflammation markers in my blood results are normal.
So the only way to test for any form of IBD is to have an colonoscopy, which they say will take six weeks to arrange and they're not going to book it until I've had one more blood test.
I'm exhausted beyond any reasonable amount guys. I've been very ill before and never had issues like this. Eating does nothing for me and I even feel as though breathing deeply doesn't get me the oxygen I need. Yet all blood tests say I'm fine. I've been eating freshly-made soup that my girlfriend (who has been AMAZING) has been making for me with veggetables, chicken or turkey – no dairy.
I'd really appreciate any advice you guys have as to how to move forward and especially how to deal with these symptoms while I wait to have the colonoscopy in possibly 7 weeks time now.
Take care all – I hope you're all well!
I hope you're all well and I apologise in advance for the wall of text!
Since I was twelve I had a grumbling appendix once a year. At 17 I finally had appendicitis and had it removed.
Since then I developed different problems with various pains in my bowels, but during one particular painful bout four years ago I visited my doctor here in London. He said the first test would be an ultrasound, but he did everything he could to persuade me not to bother, it was nothing, suggested it was mild IBS, gave me Colfac to treat it and sent me on my way. I completely changed my lifestyle and diet and that seemed to help me a lot.
Two Saturdays ago I collapsed in the cinema and was taken to A&E and have re-visited the hospital 5 times in the last two weeks. Other than the visits to my doctor and the hospital, I've been at home, trying to get on with some work but finding it difficult. My symptoms have been:
Diarrhea – Every time I go to the bathroom I feel like I need to do a number 2, but nothing comes. When it eventually does come roughly once a day it ranges from very small amounts of bright yellow to very dark faeces and from soft/liquid, to solid.
Stomach tenderness
Fever – random episodes with random bouts of sweating.
Exhaustion - Can't work, play computer games or do anything else. The more this illness continues, the harder I'm finding it to rest/sleep. I seem to not have the energy even to rest.
Palpitations – My heart is constantly beating between 90 and 110 BMP although it does occasionally slow back to normal. They've suggested this is anxiety but I'm not hyperventilating so I don't know how they come to this conclusion.
Huge loss of weight of roughly 1 stone (6kgs), which could easily be explained by the lack of food.
Dry skin rash has developed on the back of my left hand in the last week.
Loss of libido and appetite – I'm forcing myself to eat small amounts every 90 minutes but as my body isn't regulating itself like it usually does I'm unsure how much to eat and when. I don't feel as though eating gives me any more energy.
A year ago I had blood in my stool, but I looked it up online and because it was bright red and wasn't dark and sticky, I did nothing about it (since they say that's not cancer) and decided to get on with things. A few weeks ago I had the same again and decided to ignore it again. I've had no blood in my stool at all since my first collapse on the 27th of November 2012.
In my first visit to hospital my blood tests showed elevated white cell counts, nutrifil and eosinophil counts, with low potassium. So they assumed I may have got food poisoning from the hotdog I ate at the cinema. In my most recent visit they gave me the results and all are back to normal.
They've now suggested one of two things: I have 'viral fatigue' and am exhausted after two weeks of being attacked by a virus. Or they say there's a tiny possibility that I have Crohn's disease. They've done an x-ray of my stomach, and said all is fine there. They've tested my stool and say all is fine there. And they say the inflammation markers in my blood results are normal.
So the only way to test for any form of IBD is to have an colonoscopy, which they say will take six weeks to arrange and they're not going to book it until I've had one more blood test.
I'm exhausted beyond any reasonable amount guys. I've been very ill before and never had issues like this. Eating does nothing for me and I even feel as though breathing deeply doesn't get me the oxygen I need. Yet all blood tests say I'm fine. I've been eating freshly-made soup that my girlfriend (who has been AMAZING) has been making for me with veggetables, chicken or turkey – no dairy.
I'd really appreciate any advice you guys have as to how to move forward and especially how to deal with these symptoms while I wait to have the colonoscopy in possibly 7 weeks time now.
Take care all – I hope you're all well!
