Ahoy,
Here's my story, it's a bit long and boring but i wrote it as an introduction and for my own personal reasons... kinda like a diary i suppose.
Where to start? Well I was officially diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in November of 2006 at age 23. Looking back my first clue that maybe something was wrong was when I became constipated twice, maybe a year apart, starting a few years before diagnosis; however, this could have been unrelated. Then I started seeing blood in my stool, but no other symptoms were present, and after ignoring it for a month or so I finally went to my primary doctor who suggested I have a colonoscopy. They concluded I had Crohn’s Disease, Crohns-Colitis to be specific. Like most I had never heard of Crohn’s, and to be honest I kind of ignored it to an extent to until somewhat recently. I ignored in the sense as I always believed I would be ‘OK’ and never foresaw how bad I could be affected, thus I did little research etc.
After diagnosis I was prescribed Asacol, however it never seemed to have an effect as the amount of blood steadily increased even when increased to 12 pills per day. Then a few months later I had I first flare which symptom-wise consisted of a further increase in blood, mucus, and the number of times and urgency which I had to use the bathroom. At this point I had not experienced many of the typical Crohn’s symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, significant fatigue, loss of appetite, pain, etc. I was aware that they were common among Crohnies but never thought I would experience these problems- out of ignorance and or hope I suppose. Anyways for my first real flare I was given Prednisone, and wow it worked great! It wasn’t until I was on Prednisone that I realized just how far from ‘normal’ I was feeling because I felt better than I had in maybe years.
After the flare passed the next 6 months or so were pretty uneventful, except for a continued increase in the prevalence of blood, these months also coincided with summer where I typically feel better. Then the following winter of 07-08 was steady flare, prednisone, flare, Prednisone etc until summer came and my ‘flare symptoms’ decreased and my only real issue was blood-however there was a lot. So in June my GI prescribed Azathioprine but I soon became violently ill from it and stopped taking it. Then this August of 2008 everything changed and I experienced what Crohns is really capable of.
What seemed like overnight I was hit with violent, dark-black, bloody diarrhea were I was going to the bathroom twenty plus times a day and sometimes ten minutes apart. Along with it came extreme day-long nausea and dizziness, loss of appetite, and general stomach pain. Soon I was only getting 5 hours of sleep a night from always having to go and stress. This went on for two months where in the end I lost 30 pounds, became close to anemic, and was in general dangerously poor health. All this time I was on Prednisone, around 60 mgs per day, but it didn’t really have an effect until I was laid-off and was able to get some rest and recover; somehow I was still able to work 50 hours per week during this but in retrospect I really should have gone to the Emergency Room. In addition it took five months until I was able to sleep for over seven hours straight.
Because my conditioned worsened so quickly and violently my GI and I were looking for answers. We did a CT scan which showed what looked to be inflammation in the small bowel, so he did a Small Bowel Enteroscopy in which he said there appeared to be evidence of past inflammation there. He also discovered I have Gastritis. Also did stool samples and Flexible Sigmoidoscopy. However he never really gave answer why I became so ill so quickly other than simply the progression of Crohn’s. After a couple months of recovery with the aid of Prednisone and rest I finally gained my weight back along with my health.
Then in November just before beginning my tamper down from 60 mgs I started Humira biweekly. By late January and weaning off of the Prednisone all of my symptoms were coming back including the diarrhea and nausea so I started taking Prednisone again the Humira seemed to have no effect. At first the Prednisone I got rid of my diarrhea fairly quickly but the nausea and loss of appetite persisted and I was going to the bathroom about 6 times a day but nothing was being ‘produced’ other than a little blood or a minute amount of stool. Then finally after about a month at 40 mg I finally had a ‘breakthrough’ and that is literally how it felt. I passed what appeared to old black stool, follow by ‘fresh’ stool a few minutes later, and immediately felt soooo much better and the next day my nausea was gone, appetite was back, and I felt great. I’m wondering what could have explain this? a blockage? any ideas?
My ‘breakthrough’ was only about a week ago, and I’m still at 40 mgs of Prednisone, but this week I just gave my first Methotrexate Injection… and oh boy…does it ever wipe me out! but that’s another tread...
Here's my story, it's a bit long and boring but i wrote it as an introduction and for my own personal reasons... kinda like a diary i suppose.
Where to start? Well I was officially diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in November of 2006 at age 23. Looking back my first clue that maybe something was wrong was when I became constipated twice, maybe a year apart, starting a few years before diagnosis; however, this could have been unrelated. Then I started seeing blood in my stool, but no other symptoms were present, and after ignoring it for a month or so I finally went to my primary doctor who suggested I have a colonoscopy. They concluded I had Crohn’s Disease, Crohns-Colitis to be specific. Like most I had never heard of Crohn’s, and to be honest I kind of ignored it to an extent to until somewhat recently. I ignored in the sense as I always believed I would be ‘OK’ and never foresaw how bad I could be affected, thus I did little research etc.
After diagnosis I was prescribed Asacol, however it never seemed to have an effect as the amount of blood steadily increased even when increased to 12 pills per day. Then a few months later I had I first flare which symptom-wise consisted of a further increase in blood, mucus, and the number of times and urgency which I had to use the bathroom. At this point I had not experienced many of the typical Crohn’s symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, significant fatigue, loss of appetite, pain, etc. I was aware that they were common among Crohnies but never thought I would experience these problems- out of ignorance and or hope I suppose. Anyways for my first real flare I was given Prednisone, and wow it worked great! It wasn’t until I was on Prednisone that I realized just how far from ‘normal’ I was feeling because I felt better than I had in maybe years.
After the flare passed the next 6 months or so were pretty uneventful, except for a continued increase in the prevalence of blood, these months also coincided with summer where I typically feel better. Then the following winter of 07-08 was steady flare, prednisone, flare, Prednisone etc until summer came and my ‘flare symptoms’ decreased and my only real issue was blood-however there was a lot. So in June my GI prescribed Azathioprine but I soon became violently ill from it and stopped taking it. Then this August of 2008 everything changed and I experienced what Crohns is really capable of.
What seemed like overnight I was hit with violent, dark-black, bloody diarrhea were I was going to the bathroom twenty plus times a day and sometimes ten minutes apart. Along with it came extreme day-long nausea and dizziness, loss of appetite, and general stomach pain. Soon I was only getting 5 hours of sleep a night from always having to go and stress. This went on for two months where in the end I lost 30 pounds, became close to anemic, and was in general dangerously poor health. All this time I was on Prednisone, around 60 mgs per day, but it didn’t really have an effect until I was laid-off and was able to get some rest and recover; somehow I was still able to work 50 hours per week during this but in retrospect I really should have gone to the Emergency Room. In addition it took five months until I was able to sleep for over seven hours straight.
Because my conditioned worsened so quickly and violently my GI and I were looking for answers. We did a CT scan which showed what looked to be inflammation in the small bowel, so he did a Small Bowel Enteroscopy in which he said there appeared to be evidence of past inflammation there. He also discovered I have Gastritis. Also did stool samples and Flexible Sigmoidoscopy. However he never really gave answer why I became so ill so quickly other than simply the progression of Crohn’s. After a couple months of recovery with the aid of Prednisone and rest I finally gained my weight back along with my health.
Then in November just before beginning my tamper down from 60 mgs I started Humira biweekly. By late January and weaning off of the Prednisone all of my symptoms were coming back including the diarrhea and nausea so I started taking Prednisone again the Humira seemed to have no effect. At first the Prednisone I got rid of my diarrhea fairly quickly but the nausea and loss of appetite persisted and I was going to the bathroom about 6 times a day but nothing was being ‘produced’ other than a little blood or a minute amount of stool. Then finally after about a month at 40 mg I finally had a ‘breakthrough’ and that is literally how it felt. I passed what appeared to old black stool, follow by ‘fresh’ stool a few minutes later, and immediately felt soooo much better and the next day my nausea was gone, appetite was back, and I felt great. I’m wondering what could have explain this? a blockage? any ideas?
My ‘breakthrough’ was only about a week ago, and I’m still at 40 mgs of Prednisone, but this week I just gave my first Methotrexate Injection… and oh boy…does it ever wipe me out! but that’s another tread...