- Location
- Houston,
Hi all :banana: I'm Athena and I don't have a diagnosis yet but I am confused and scared and :confused2:
first, my dad was diagnosed with Crohn's when I was a baby, so I have seen it most of my life. 3 years ago he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and that resection left him with an ostomy so Crohn's and IBD terrifies me.
I have had bowel issues my entire life, and when I was 21 (26 now) went to a GI who told me that it was irritable bowel and I needed to just get over it and learn to live with it. The following year I saw another GI who wanted to do a colonoscopy but I had fissures so I had to wait until those healed and because of what I had been told before and when the fissures healed I was feeling a lot better, so I was like, who need a colonoscopy? Hah, NOT ME! But recently my bowel issues have been taken to the next level and have changed from what they were 5 years ago.
Since about June, I have had diarrhea almost constantly, which even taking multiple Imodium doesn't really help. I get bad abdominal pain and cramping; last weekend my abdomen was so tender I couldn't lie on my stomach and I am a stomach sleeper so that was fun. I also get heartburn so bad that even water burns going down. I will get sore throats from the reflux, and this week I have had this one spot in my chest that when anything passes by it the pain is so bad I want to cry. Some OTC meds relieve the severity temporarily, but it is so little relief it really doesn't make a difference. I have been getting sores in my mouth, and they have been occurring more frequently, making eating painful even when the other stuff isn't going on. I have been living on Ensure lately because it is the only thing that doesn't really bother me because I have no appetite all the time and am nauseous most of the time. I have lost 10 pounds in the last month, have anal skin tags (diagnosed by my last primary and the last GI I went to...five years ago) that make even the good days where I am only in the bathroom four or five times irritating at best. I get the sensation when I go to the bathroom that I am not fully emptying (and often, am not). I will go from being okay temperature wise while I am in my apartment to having to put three layers of clothes on and get back into bed while still having chills (and I live in Texas...it's not exactly cold here, especially right now) but other nights I wake up drenched in sweat in the middle of the night when the temperature in my apartment is 70 degrees. I don't know why it didn't occur to me until a few days ago to check my temperature but it didn't and I have consistently been running a fever of 99 to 101 (sometimes a little higher, but not often) while I am not otherwise sick. I am also constantly fatigued; I come home from work and am in bed by 6 or 7 pm and have been sleeping through my alarm and am still tired.
I have a GI appointment in two weeks. I can't go any sooner because new job and it isn't like they know or care how sick I am. I am far away from all my family and I am scared, so that is mostly why I am posting here without a diagnosis. :ybatty:
first, my dad was diagnosed with Crohn's when I was a baby, so I have seen it most of my life. 3 years ago he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and that resection left him with an ostomy so Crohn's and IBD terrifies me.
I have had bowel issues my entire life, and when I was 21 (26 now) went to a GI who told me that it was irritable bowel and I needed to just get over it and learn to live with it. The following year I saw another GI who wanted to do a colonoscopy but I had fissures so I had to wait until those healed and because of what I had been told before and when the fissures healed I was feeling a lot better, so I was like, who need a colonoscopy? Hah, NOT ME! But recently my bowel issues have been taken to the next level and have changed from what they were 5 years ago.
Since about June, I have had diarrhea almost constantly, which even taking multiple Imodium doesn't really help. I get bad abdominal pain and cramping; last weekend my abdomen was so tender I couldn't lie on my stomach and I am a stomach sleeper so that was fun. I also get heartburn so bad that even water burns going down. I will get sore throats from the reflux, and this week I have had this one spot in my chest that when anything passes by it the pain is so bad I want to cry. Some OTC meds relieve the severity temporarily, but it is so little relief it really doesn't make a difference. I have been getting sores in my mouth, and they have been occurring more frequently, making eating painful even when the other stuff isn't going on. I have been living on Ensure lately because it is the only thing that doesn't really bother me because I have no appetite all the time and am nauseous most of the time. I have lost 10 pounds in the last month, have anal skin tags (diagnosed by my last primary and the last GI I went to...five years ago) that make even the good days where I am only in the bathroom four or five times irritating at best. I get the sensation when I go to the bathroom that I am not fully emptying (and often, am not). I will go from being okay temperature wise while I am in my apartment to having to put three layers of clothes on and get back into bed while still having chills (and I live in Texas...it's not exactly cold here, especially right now) but other nights I wake up drenched in sweat in the middle of the night when the temperature in my apartment is 70 degrees. I don't know why it didn't occur to me until a few days ago to check my temperature but it didn't and I have consistently been running a fever of 99 to 101 (sometimes a little higher, but not often) while I am not otherwise sick. I am also constantly fatigued; I come home from work and am in bed by 6 or 7 pm and have been sleeping through my alarm and am still tired.
I have a GI appointment in two weeks. I can't go any sooner because new job and it isn't like they know or care how sick I am. I am far away from all my family and I am scared, so that is mostly why I am posting here without a diagnosis. :ybatty:
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