- Location
- Ontario, Canada
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.