Did you get the reference?
Hi, I'm Kathryn. And I have Crohn's disease.
At around 1 am on a Sunday on April of 2005, I woke up with horrible stomach cramps and ran to the bathroom. I spent all night in the bathroom and then all of the next day. And then the day after that. I was visiting my parents but had to make it back to school for a test on Wednesday, so I left late Tuesday with the hopes I could make the five hour drive without having to stop for the bathroom. No such luck. I think I stopped maybe 6 times to use the facilities. Wednesday morning I woke up and felt so horrible, I ditched my classes and instead called up a local gastroenterologist and made an emergency appointment.
He saw me three hours later, made an appt for me to come in the next morning for a colonoscopy and boom... diagnosis.
He wasn't able to get my disease under control in the next two months and I ended up taking medical leave from school and moving home to live with my parents in a larger city with bigger and better doctors and hospitals. In September of that year, I spent a week in the hospital followed by another year of it not being under control and then another week in the hospital in October of '06. It was all just one big flare-up that we couldn't get under control. We tried Pentasa, Entocort, prednisone, azathioprine, and Remicaide.
Finally, my body started to respond to high doses of steroids along with a combination of azathioprine and Remicaide. I began to see a therapist to help me come to terms with having a disease and needing to treat it rather than ignore it, or waiting until the last minute to express what was going on with my body to my doctor.
After about four months of that, I was well enough to start working on a regular basis and I came off of the steroids and the Remicaide. Since then, I've had some flare-ups here and there but nothing as bad as that first year. I only take the azathioprine now and have managed to get it down to a sub-therapeutic level. I take other drugs to help me with occasional nausea and heartburn and stress, but nothing else specifically for Crohn's.
When my doctor and I started going over my medical history, he was able to start connecting the dots that showed I had probably had it a lot longer before my diagnosis. I had JRA until I was about 22, had suffered from a lot of stomach "illnesses" in my youth and had rectal bleeding on and off for a number of years. Funny how it always takes that one big flare-up to really find out what's wrong with you. Eh.
In any case, now, for the most part, I'm okay. I moved last year, have a new GI who I really like, and try to stay on track medically. I still have flare-ups but they are much smaller now and just take quick rounds of steroids when necessary to fix. I think my biggest problem is that I really do not like taking drugs, I never have, and have a tendency to take myself off my azathioprine without telling my doctor. It's a horrible habit and has caused issues in the past (forgetting to taper off of steroids and just stopping) but it's something I am trying to work on now. Continuously, really.
I've never really sought out other people with Crohn's disease before but I'm looking forward to learning from other people's experiences to better live my life. And sometimes, I'm looking for someone to commiserate with as well. I figure it's got to be occasionally easier to explain what's going on without editing out the horror.
-Kathryn
Hi, I'm Kathryn. And I have Crohn's disease.
At around 1 am on a Sunday on April of 2005, I woke up with horrible stomach cramps and ran to the bathroom. I spent all night in the bathroom and then all of the next day. And then the day after that. I was visiting my parents but had to make it back to school for a test on Wednesday, so I left late Tuesday with the hopes I could make the five hour drive without having to stop for the bathroom. No such luck. I think I stopped maybe 6 times to use the facilities. Wednesday morning I woke up and felt so horrible, I ditched my classes and instead called up a local gastroenterologist and made an emergency appointment.
He saw me three hours later, made an appt for me to come in the next morning for a colonoscopy and boom... diagnosis.
He wasn't able to get my disease under control in the next two months and I ended up taking medical leave from school and moving home to live with my parents in a larger city with bigger and better doctors and hospitals. In September of that year, I spent a week in the hospital followed by another year of it not being under control and then another week in the hospital in October of '06. It was all just one big flare-up that we couldn't get under control. We tried Pentasa, Entocort, prednisone, azathioprine, and Remicaide.
Finally, my body started to respond to high doses of steroids along with a combination of azathioprine and Remicaide. I began to see a therapist to help me come to terms with having a disease and needing to treat it rather than ignore it, or waiting until the last minute to express what was going on with my body to my doctor.
After about four months of that, I was well enough to start working on a regular basis and I came off of the steroids and the Remicaide. Since then, I've had some flare-ups here and there but nothing as bad as that first year. I only take the azathioprine now and have managed to get it down to a sub-therapeutic level. I take other drugs to help me with occasional nausea and heartburn and stress, but nothing else specifically for Crohn's.
When my doctor and I started going over my medical history, he was able to start connecting the dots that showed I had probably had it a lot longer before my diagnosis. I had JRA until I was about 22, had suffered from a lot of stomach "illnesses" in my youth and had rectal bleeding on and off for a number of years. Funny how it always takes that one big flare-up to really find out what's wrong with you. Eh.
In any case, now, for the most part, I'm okay. I moved last year, have a new GI who I really like, and try to stay on track medically. I still have flare-ups but they are much smaller now and just take quick rounds of steroids when necessary to fix. I think my biggest problem is that I really do not like taking drugs, I never have, and have a tendency to take myself off my azathioprine without telling my doctor. It's a horrible habit and has caused issues in the past (forgetting to taper off of steroids and just stopping) but it's something I am trying to work on now. Continuously, really.
I've never really sought out other people with Crohn's disease before but I'm looking forward to learning from other people's experiences to better live my life. And sometimes, I'm looking for someone to commiserate with as well. I figure it's got to be occasionally easier to explain what's going on without editing out the horror.
-Kathryn
