I just joined this forum, but I have been reading all the stories for quite awhile. I have been thankful to hear that I am not alone with this illness. However, my story with Crohn's started out a little different. In late September 2010 I started to get a really bad cold. This is not strange for me, as I run a home daycare and I usually get a terrible cold during the fall and then I do not get any colds during the winter. This cold was a little different. It brought skin problems, ezcema in strange places and the worst was the start of my problem with mouth ulcers. At the same time, my husband and I decided to separate, so I thought between my immune system down and the stress, this was the cause of my cankers. The mouth ulcers started out as one or two, but they were constant. I was never without a canker. As my cold got worse, so did the mouth ulcers, until finally I had about fifteen to twenty and could not eat anything without pain. At this point I had been to a couple doctors for other things and had the ulcers checked, but they kept putting it off as stress. I thought the same thing because I had no other symptoms except the unusual skin issues. By mid November, I could not bear it anymore and I went to a doctor specifically for the mouth ulcers. He tried to be very helpful, looking in books and on the computer and then decided to send me to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, even after I told him that my brother has Crohn's Disease. I also found that when I had many ulcers, I was exhausted and just felt ill. Once they eased up a little, I would feel better, but not great. Still at this point, I had no gut problems, at all. I ended up seeing the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist and he biopsied one of my ulcers. After waiting a month for the results, they came back just fine. However, after four months of just mouth ulcers, skin problems and fatigue, I started to have diarrhea many times a day, anal fissures and I always felt lousy. I informed my throat specialist, but he thought we could wait another month, to see if the symptoms went away. Yes, he also knew my brother has Crohn's. Unfortunately, a week later I ended up in the hospital with extremely low potassium levels from the diarrhea and not eating or drinking, my knee was full of fluid, I had inflammation bumps on my legs and my fissures were extemely painful. Within two hours of being in the ER, the hospital GI was called with all my symptoms and a colonscopy was scheduled for the next day. When the GI came in to talk to me, he was already talking like I had been diagnosed. The doctors told me that I was a text book case of Crohn's Disease, whatever that means.
It has been just over eight weeks since I have been diagnosed and I just finished with Prednisone and I am on 1000 mg of Pentasa four times a day.
I had to take a few weeks off from work to let the ulcers in my GI tract and colon get better, and I am still on a low residue diet to ease my bowels. I am now finding that I am having more bad days than good. My symptoms are not as extreme as some, but I always feel tired and lately I have been facing some naseau and dizziness. Often I am up in the night with cramps and diarrhea, which does not help with the fatigue. I am finding it hard to run my daycare, because I do not have the energy for the children and my joints ache so much. I may have to close it down and look for something else.
Some of the positive things to come out of this is that I lost 25 pounds and my husband and I worked things out and are doing well. He has been very supportive despite not fully understanding what I am going through!
It has been just over eight weeks since I have been diagnosed and I just finished with Prednisone and I am on 1000 mg of Pentasa four times a day.
I had to take a few weeks off from work to let the ulcers in my GI tract and colon get better, and I am still on a low residue diet to ease my bowels. I am now finding that I am having more bad days than good. My symptoms are not as extreme as some, but I always feel tired and lately I have been facing some naseau and dizziness. Often I am up in the night with cramps and diarrhea, which does not help with the fatigue. I am finding it hard to run my daycare, because I do not have the energy for the children and my joints ache so much. I may have to close it down and look for something else.
Some of the positive things to come out of this is that I lost 25 pounds and my husband and I worked things out and are doing well. He has been very supportive despite not fully understanding what I am going through!