Hello everybody,
I am a moderate Crohn's disease sufferer and thought it wouldn't hurt to join a forum made up of people that'll better understand what I go through on a day to day basis.
After experiencing bloody diarrhea for two weeks, I decided to visit my doctor. He set me up with a GI, and I underwent my first colonoscopy in October. The initial diagnosis was ulcerative colitis, but at my follow-up appointment my GI changed her mind and said it was Crohn's. She said that the presence of a duodenal ulcer as well as the distribution of the ulcers in my colon made it looks more like Crohn's disease and less like UC. Most of my inflammation and other symptoms makes it feel more like proctitis, but with the presence of ulcers in my duodenum and ileum, I knew it wasn't just that.
I am still currently experiencing my first flare up. I usually have between 7 - 10 bowel movements a day and it's always worse in the morning. A lot of tenesmus occurring and mucus buildup on the toilet tissue.
If I'm sitting on the porcelain throne as the ball drops in Times Square, that will mark 4 constant months of a Crohn's flare. Luckily I'm not experiencing any pain. Just some moderate discomfort while straining in the restroom.
As far as treatment is concerned, I have been placed on several different ASA-5 derivatives including Lialda, Apriso, and now I'm currently taking 750 mg a day of balsalazide disodium. I was also on Uceris for a short time without any improvement.
On top of all this, I have gallbladder agenesis. My first duodenal ulcer of my life led to the discovery that I did not have a gallbladder. Not only that, but I never did have one. With that on top of Crohn's, I have cut out read meat nearly completely from my diet; I eat it only when cured due to jerky being 95%+ fat free. I no longer drink milk, eat ice cream, yogurt, cheese, sour cream, and have butter very sparingly. I notice a lot more blood in the toilet the day after drinking cow's milk.
I have also been using a small dosage of cannabidiol drops sublingually and they seem to do a little on cutting down the bleeding. Only from a 100 mg bottle, so I'm not sure if that's just a placebo effect. I have ordered a 750 mg bottle and will post what happens when I start using it.
So that's my condition and how I've been dealing with it in a nutshell. No end in sight, but I feel like I haven't given the balsalazide disodium much of a chance yet. I have only been on it for about 3 weeks and the effective therapy time is about 12 weeks.
I am a moderate Crohn's disease sufferer and thought it wouldn't hurt to join a forum made up of people that'll better understand what I go through on a day to day basis.
After experiencing bloody diarrhea for two weeks, I decided to visit my doctor. He set me up with a GI, and I underwent my first colonoscopy in October. The initial diagnosis was ulcerative colitis, but at my follow-up appointment my GI changed her mind and said it was Crohn's. She said that the presence of a duodenal ulcer as well as the distribution of the ulcers in my colon made it looks more like Crohn's disease and less like UC. Most of my inflammation and other symptoms makes it feel more like proctitis, but with the presence of ulcers in my duodenum and ileum, I knew it wasn't just that.
I am still currently experiencing my first flare up. I usually have between 7 - 10 bowel movements a day and it's always worse in the morning. A lot of tenesmus occurring and mucus buildup on the toilet tissue.
If I'm sitting on the porcelain throne as the ball drops in Times Square, that will mark 4 constant months of a Crohn's flare. Luckily I'm not experiencing any pain. Just some moderate discomfort while straining in the restroom.
As far as treatment is concerned, I have been placed on several different ASA-5 derivatives including Lialda, Apriso, and now I'm currently taking 750 mg a day of balsalazide disodium. I was also on Uceris for a short time without any improvement.
On top of all this, I have gallbladder agenesis. My first duodenal ulcer of my life led to the discovery that I did not have a gallbladder. Not only that, but I never did have one. With that on top of Crohn's, I have cut out read meat nearly completely from my diet; I eat it only when cured due to jerky being 95%+ fat free. I no longer drink milk, eat ice cream, yogurt, cheese, sour cream, and have butter very sparingly. I notice a lot more blood in the toilet the day after drinking cow's milk.
I have also been using a small dosage of cannabidiol drops sublingually and they seem to do a little on cutting down the bleeding. Only from a 100 mg bottle, so I'm not sure if that's just a placebo effect. I have ordered a 750 mg bottle and will post what happens when I start using it.
So that's my condition and how I've been dealing with it in a nutshell. No end in sight, but I feel like I haven't given the balsalazide disodium much of a chance yet. I have only been on it for about 3 weeks and the effective therapy time is about 12 weeks.
