I just found this forum...and thought I would join I am semi-new to Crohn's disease but had IBS since I was about 12 or 13 (I am 26 now)
In 2004 (at 22), I moved from Rural Alberta to Victoria, BC. Shortly after that, my little tummy problems were becoming bigger tummy problems. I was sleeping with a hot water bottle almost every night. I was sensitive to almost everything I was eating. I found doctor in town that was accepting new patients...luckily, he suffered from IBS as well, so he understood. He sent me for a couple tests and was concerned about the results. 6 months later...I was at the Gastroenterologist.
He wanted me to have an MRI for diagnosis. It was an 'experimental' thing at the hospital, and I was a good candidate. 2 weeks later, I got the results...I officially had Crohn's Disease...UGH.
He put me on Pentasa, and it did absolutely nothing for me but make me feel sicker...just in a different way. So I stopped taking it, and committed myself to a healthy diet, and exercise plan. It was working perfectly for 2 years. But after a while, I started to slip...and was eating carelessly, and not taking care of myself as well.
Fast forward to mid-October of 2008 - I had a bad cramp in the lower right side of my abdomen...I worked through it for 2 weeks, but it wouldn't go away. My honey moon was in a week...and I was worried. I went to my GP. He was concerned, and sent me to the Emerg here in Victoria to get ultrasound. I honestly thought it was an ovarian cyst...and that I could get it easily taken care of in a week. So on Halloween (of ALL days), I sat in the emergency for EIGHT HOURS...But I finally got a CT Scan...and my 'mild' case of Crohn's was not so mild anymore. I would need surgery asap.
The surgeon explained to me that my intestines looked like 'congealed spaghetti'...interesting analogy, and that I had a fever of 41C (105F)-HOT.
So in the end of it all...I ended up with 18 inches less of my small intestine, 1cm less of my colon, and the valve that connects the two. They also found a golf-ball sized cyst on my right ovary, and hollowed out half of the ovary.
I was in the hospital for 8 days, and sent home to recover for 7 weeks.
Today, just 2 months after the surgery, I am about 80% back to normal, feeling better than I have since I was 12 years old...it's really amazing. I am on Imuran now, taking 3 pills a day. I still find that I am VERY sensitive to certain foods, and my trigger foods are different than they were before the surgery. Weird. But trying to manage this new lifestyle, and I am really looking forward to researching these boards a little bit more.
Thanks for listening, if you made it this far...that was LONG!
In 2004 (at 22), I moved from Rural Alberta to Victoria, BC. Shortly after that, my little tummy problems were becoming bigger tummy problems. I was sleeping with a hot water bottle almost every night. I was sensitive to almost everything I was eating. I found doctor in town that was accepting new patients...luckily, he suffered from IBS as well, so he understood. He sent me for a couple tests and was concerned about the results. 6 months later...I was at the Gastroenterologist.
He wanted me to have an MRI for diagnosis. It was an 'experimental' thing at the hospital, and I was a good candidate. 2 weeks later, I got the results...I officially had Crohn's Disease...UGH.
He put me on Pentasa, and it did absolutely nothing for me but make me feel sicker...just in a different way. So I stopped taking it, and committed myself to a healthy diet, and exercise plan. It was working perfectly for 2 years. But after a while, I started to slip...and was eating carelessly, and not taking care of myself as well.
Fast forward to mid-October of 2008 - I had a bad cramp in the lower right side of my abdomen...I worked through it for 2 weeks, but it wouldn't go away. My honey moon was in a week...and I was worried. I went to my GP. He was concerned, and sent me to the Emerg here in Victoria to get ultrasound. I honestly thought it was an ovarian cyst...and that I could get it easily taken care of in a week. So on Halloween (of ALL days), I sat in the emergency for EIGHT HOURS...But I finally got a CT Scan...and my 'mild' case of Crohn's was not so mild anymore. I would need surgery asap.
The surgeon explained to me that my intestines looked like 'congealed spaghetti'...interesting analogy, and that I had a fever of 41C (105F)-HOT.
So in the end of it all...I ended up with 18 inches less of my small intestine, 1cm less of my colon, and the valve that connects the two. They also found a golf-ball sized cyst on my right ovary, and hollowed out half of the ovary.
I was in the hospital for 8 days, and sent home to recover for 7 weeks.
Today, just 2 months after the surgery, I am about 80% back to normal, feeling better than I have since I was 12 years old...it's really amazing. I am on Imuran now, taking 3 pills a day. I still find that I am VERY sensitive to certain foods, and my trigger foods are different than they were before the surgery. Weird. But trying to manage this new lifestyle, and I am really looking forward to researching these boards a little bit more.
Thanks for listening, if you made it this far...that was LONG!