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Delayed Treatment

Hey guys my name is Tom I am 29 years old and I have been battling crohns disease as long as I can remember. I have never been the type to tell people how i feel and always kept my pain hidden even as a child. As a kid I had an undiagnosed perianal fistula that required surgery this complication lasted for around a year and I believe was my first encounter with crohns. Over the next several years I always had constipation and bad pain in my LLQ before a bowel movement, however I kept this to myself due to a fear doctors. Things were also bad as my diet slipped as a teenager however I delt with the pains that came almost hourly in silence, which no doubt affected my performance in high school. I had already accepted pain and constipation as part of life when in 2002 I got the first symptom that actually scared me into getting checked out when I started passing blood in my stools. Went for a barium enima then a colonoscopy and was told I either had crohns or colitis but they did not know which. I decided not to follow a treatment plan because it had always worked for me just dealing with it so I continued to for another 2 years. In November 2004 I was in very bad pain and could not keep food or water down, after some test at the hospital it was determined my colon had ruptured and I was rushed in to emergency surgery, I was given the diagnosis of crohns. Waking up with a colostomy I was told it would be temporary but found life easyer to manage with it and decided not to get hooked back up. In 2007 I was back in the hospital because excessive scar tissue had blocked my small intestine. I continued avoiding treatment until May this year when I started getting all kinds of different pain, fatigue and sleep problems. I am currently on prednisone but it dosnt appear to be working and my GI doc is talking about AZA. So that's a quick overview of my life with crohns, thanks for takin the time to read.
 

xJillx

Your Story Forum Monitor
Hi Tom and welcome. It seems like you have learned the importance of speaking up and taking care of yourself. And I am glad you are now seeing your GI regularly and are taking medication. I hope AZA will do the trick. Do you still have your colostomy?
 
Ya I originally went for a colonoscopy in April to see I there was any chance I could get reattached but the swelling is just to bad. So I will continue on with an ostomy for now and hope some form of medicine will reduce the inflammation soon.
 

David

Co-Founder
Location
Naples, Florida
Goodness Tom, it sure sounds like you've been through a lot :( That sucks. I AM glad you found your way here though! While I can certainly understand your way of dealing with the pain, I hope you might choose to work a little more closely with your doctors to get into remission. It sounds like you're starting to do that which is great.

I hope to see you around. Take care and all my best to you.
 
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