Pat's Crohn's Story

I have had Crohn's Disease since I was in my 20's, almost 40 years, but I'm happy to say that the disease itself has been mostly inactive for the past 15 or so years and quite minimally active for the past 25. It was very bad at first and especially because it was not diagnosed right away. Lahey Clinic thought it was an emotional problem, depression, and suggested therapy and eventually shock treatments. When the pain got worse after 2 of those, they did exploratory surgery and found the Crohn's. My depression was from the pain, not the other way around. Duh!!!
I had 2 more surgeries after that first one, the third being after they discovered a duodenal Crohn's ulcer. Since then, no intestinal surgeries, but many kidney stone surgeries. I consider myself quite lucky but I do have to deal with malabsorption, B12 shots, Very low Vitamin D, etc, etc, you all know the problems I'm sure. I also have a tendency to get every
stomach virus that goes around, but have helped that by curbing take-out and restaurant meals quite a bit.
Recently I have been experiencing more arthritis pain and am not sure what is safe pain medication for those of us with Crohn's to use so that's one reason I registered for this forum.
Forgot to mention problems with Psoriasis and once in a very great while low blood sugar from dumping I guess.
And Really harsh acid reflux!!!

Welcome Pat! Glad to hear that you haven't had TOO many issues, but I am sorry to hear it took so long to get your diagnosis. I hear that is pretty normal though. Mine was found accidently. Didn't even have any symptoms. Go figure.

As for medications, I was told (and that's pretty much ALL I was told) that Tylenol is all I can take because meds like Ibuprofin and Naproxen cause stomach irritation, so they are no-no's for Crohn's people. I"m interested to see what other people say about this though.

Glad you found us!

Thanks for the welcome Aljen. I had plenty of symptoms, but the tests didn't pick it up for some reason.
I was told the same thing about pain medications and stomach irritation.
I take percocet, with no problems, for kidney stone pain and occasional
back spasms, but otherwise I just take tylenol and it doesn't really help too much.

I was told nothing over the counter except Tylenol. Not sure about prescription meds.

Welcome to the forum Pat!

Welcome Pat, since I have only been recently diagnosed and am young it's comforting to hear of people who have gone long periods of time without too much hassle with Crohn's. It does sound like you've been through it a little but atleast perhaps now you're in better spirits than originally.

In terms of pain medication, I'm on an awful lot of stuff but it's all been prescribed by either a pain management consultant or my gastro, so I wouldn't like to comment there really. I'd suggest contacting your doctor for advice on that one.

Other than that, hope to talk with your more soon, take care. Xxx

Hi Pat,

Good to see you found us! You will find several of us here with deficiences of all sorts from bile salts, vit D, anaemia, B12 etc etc..

On the arthritis front it is possible to have meds that work for both crohns and it. I have been on methotrexate for my arthritis but the hope what it would help my crohns also. Pain med wise stay away from anti inflammatories like ibuprofen and diclofenac, aspirin etc. I currently use tramadol when the pain is bad.

Arthritis can be linked inflammatory wise to crohns believe it or not and skin problems too. So dont suffer or overlook them by any means, make sure you get some relief and decent treatment!

Looking forward to seeing you around Pat ((hugs))

Hi Pat,God your'e really going through the mill.I have been on so many pan killers I've lost count.Thankfully I only have Crohns and noth the other problems you have so don't know if I'm any help.At the moment I am taking Tradol.Find Tradol good,but takes a long time to kick in and only lasts a couple of hours.Not sure if it is any good for arthritis,just says for moderate to severe pain.Don't know here your'e from so names could be different.I am on Humira,this is also used for arthritis and psoriasis,remicade is also.Don't know if your doctor has mentioned them.
Hope you find something that works for you.