I'm a 22 year old guy diagnosed with Crohn's in Fall 2010. All my life, I've had a sensitive stomach but nothing set me off in particular. Usually, just over-eating would do the trick.
In March of 2005, I had severe pain in my right side just under my ribs (usually after I ate a high-fat food), and an ultrasound revealed a gallstone. Subsequently, I had my gallbladder removed. Thought this was the cause of all my problems.
However, throughout the rest of high school, I would continue to have a sensitive stomach. After every meal at school, it seemed, I'd be running to the bathroom with violent abdominal cramps.
In May of 2007, I was hospitalized after having a fever of 104 and similar abdominal cramping. I lost roughly 10 pounds in 36 hours from all the vomiting/diarrhea. This similar situation would happen again later.
I attended college in fall 2007, and it was extremely stressful for me because of a traumatic relationship breakup. The stress levels calmed down as months went by, and my stomach calmed down a bit. I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. When I turned 21, I did drink alcohol, but very very rarely in excess. In July of 2010, I returned to the hospital once again violently ill like in May '07. Same pain and same symptoms. IV fluids and Cipro fixed this.
In September of 2010, I had a "good" night out with college friends where I drank more than I should of. I woke up with the expected hangover, but the sick feeling proceeded to stay with me for weeks. I then started noticing some blood when I went to the bathroom. I, like everybody else, was too embarrassed to mention it at first. A month later, I eventually went to the hospital to get checked out and blood was found in my BM. Recommended to a GI specialist.
Colonoscopy #1 revealed ulcers in the descending colon and on the transverse colon. A pill study showed no inflammation in the small intestine. The bleeding was minimal but definitely present. I was prescribed Asacol 3 pills, 3 times daily. I've been on this ever since. A month or so after starting the Asacol, I started to feel much better and began to once again stop watching what I ate because I felt better. Had the occasional beer or two, and enjoyed my spicy food.
Colonoscopy #2 six months later revealed a healing colon with no further damage. All blood tests came back normal with some signs of chronic inflammation (hence the Crohn's diagnosis).
I'm not sure when, but at some point within the past six months, some very minor bleeding came back. The blood is always on the surface of the BM and very bright. I've been led to believe that this means the bleeding is occurring late in the digestive tract and is not as troublesome as small intestine/ascending colon bleeding.
In May of 2011, I began to have what seemed like a sinus infection. I took Zithromax which commonly causes bowel irritation. Sure enough, it did, and the bleeding started to become more frequent. Extreme abdominal cramping followed. Everything that I ate, drank, or thought about eating/drinking sent me into a terrible spasm that would last 30 seconds to a minute. This went on 10+ times a day for a couple months. In August 2011, My GI doctor put me on a cortico-steroid to help with the spasms/bleeding. The spasms went away in 2 days and I feel great. The diarrhea/bleeding persisted to some degree.
It's now 3 weeks into my cortico-steroid treatment (while still on Asacol), and I have no pain, no weakness, sleeping fine, no sensitivity to any particular foods (at least while on the steroids), and there is still a loose, minimally bloody BM.
Shouldn't the steroids have cleared up the bleeding by now? If not, how long can the bleeding go on for?? Like I said, I was told it's a mild case, and the bleeding is minimal. All my blood work shows good CBC and Iron levels, and all my vitamin levels are perfect. Blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels, physical fitness, appetite, and energy are all perfect. I am an athlete and just want to have a routine that will let me keep up an active lifestyle while not worrying about needing a bathroom or having to avoid every food on the planet. I also want to take as few medications as possible (0 is the goal).
I've started the specific carbohydrate diet and it's only been 2 days on that. I find that I'm always hungry on this diet because I'm used to such a heavily mixed diet of fats and grains.
Are there any other people out there with a similar situation and recommendations for me? I'll be seeing my GI doc in a couple weeks to re-evaluate the situation.
Thanks all,
Pat
In March of 2005, I had severe pain in my right side just under my ribs (usually after I ate a high-fat food), and an ultrasound revealed a gallstone. Subsequently, I had my gallbladder removed. Thought this was the cause of all my problems.
However, throughout the rest of high school, I would continue to have a sensitive stomach. After every meal at school, it seemed, I'd be running to the bathroom with violent abdominal cramps.
In May of 2007, I was hospitalized after having a fever of 104 and similar abdominal cramping. I lost roughly 10 pounds in 36 hours from all the vomiting/diarrhea. This similar situation would happen again later.
I attended college in fall 2007, and it was extremely stressful for me because of a traumatic relationship breakup. The stress levels calmed down as months went by, and my stomach calmed down a bit. I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. When I turned 21, I did drink alcohol, but very very rarely in excess. In July of 2010, I returned to the hospital once again violently ill like in May '07. Same pain and same symptoms. IV fluids and Cipro fixed this.
In September of 2010, I had a "good" night out with college friends where I drank more than I should of. I woke up with the expected hangover, but the sick feeling proceeded to stay with me for weeks. I then started noticing some blood when I went to the bathroom. I, like everybody else, was too embarrassed to mention it at first. A month later, I eventually went to the hospital to get checked out and blood was found in my BM. Recommended to a GI specialist.
Colonoscopy #1 revealed ulcers in the descending colon and on the transverse colon. A pill study showed no inflammation in the small intestine. The bleeding was minimal but definitely present. I was prescribed Asacol 3 pills, 3 times daily. I've been on this ever since. A month or so after starting the Asacol, I started to feel much better and began to once again stop watching what I ate because I felt better. Had the occasional beer or two, and enjoyed my spicy food.
Colonoscopy #2 six months later revealed a healing colon with no further damage. All blood tests came back normal with some signs of chronic inflammation (hence the Crohn's diagnosis).
I'm not sure when, but at some point within the past six months, some very minor bleeding came back. The blood is always on the surface of the BM and very bright. I've been led to believe that this means the bleeding is occurring late in the digestive tract and is not as troublesome as small intestine/ascending colon bleeding.
In May of 2011, I began to have what seemed like a sinus infection. I took Zithromax which commonly causes bowel irritation. Sure enough, it did, and the bleeding started to become more frequent. Extreme abdominal cramping followed. Everything that I ate, drank, or thought about eating/drinking sent me into a terrible spasm that would last 30 seconds to a minute. This went on 10+ times a day for a couple months. In August 2011, My GI doctor put me on a cortico-steroid to help with the spasms/bleeding. The spasms went away in 2 days and I feel great. The diarrhea/bleeding persisted to some degree.
It's now 3 weeks into my cortico-steroid treatment (while still on Asacol), and I have no pain, no weakness, sleeping fine, no sensitivity to any particular foods (at least while on the steroids), and there is still a loose, minimally bloody BM.
Shouldn't the steroids have cleared up the bleeding by now? If not, how long can the bleeding go on for?? Like I said, I was told it's a mild case, and the bleeding is minimal. All my blood work shows good CBC and Iron levels, and all my vitamin levels are perfect. Blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels, physical fitness, appetite, and energy are all perfect. I am an athlete and just want to have a routine that will let me keep up an active lifestyle while not worrying about needing a bathroom or having to avoid every food on the planet. I also want to take as few medications as possible (0 is the goal).
I've started the specific carbohydrate diet and it's only been 2 days on that. I find that I'm always hungry on this diet because I'm used to such a heavily mixed diet of fats and grains.
Are there any other people out there with a similar situation and recommendations for me? I'll be seeing my GI doc in a couple weeks to re-evaluate the situation.
Thanks all,
Pat
