Just registered and would like to introduce myself

I just signed up for this forum and would like to take the time to introduce myself. I am a 32 year old male currently living in Florida and I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease 10 years ago. I sort of fit the profile of some types of people suffering from this disease. I've got all kinds of issues with anxiety and suffer from crippling shyness and am uncomfortable around large groups of people. I had a very difficult childhood and hated going to school. I don't handle stress very well and will let stress get to me on any kind of job that is anything more than entry level which never ceases to induce a flare up. Because of this I've never really gone as far in my career as I could or should have.

The good news is that several years ago I started taking about 2 table spoons of slippery elm a day plus the usual round of anti-inflammatory drugs and I've not needed to take prednisone since 2003. I haven't needed surgery like many people and if I can keep stress to a minimum I can live in remission indefinitely.

Here is the bad news:

• Since the disease started in my early 20s I've had no libido whatsoever. It's very difficult to get aroused and if I can get in the mood, it's very hard to stay in the mood for more than a few minutes. I've been like this now for almost a decade. I'm in south miami and see beautiful women every day, but I feel almost nothing!
  
• I feel like I'm "flatlining", if such a word exists. I feel numb inside and have a hard time feeling or caring about anything. I don't think I'm capable of falling in love or loving anything. The good point of this is that I never feel depressed either. I'm just sort of "OK" all the time
  
• I have no appetite anymore. The only way I really know it's time to eat is when I start to feel light headed and dizzy. I do feel hunger sometimes, but it's a mild sensation and nothing like what it should be.

Of all of these problems, the libido problem bothers me the most. I wonder if there are other people who have lost their libido under crohn's and successfully gotten it back? I am very depressed about this because I want to date and have a relationship, but I can't really have a good relationship with no libido.

Hi Joetz, welcome to the forum. Congrats on the remission status, that is 'great' news. I'm sure you'll get inquiries about the 'slippery elm'. anyway, the libido issue has been raised by a few others on here in the past, but it (pardon the phrase) doesn't seem to come up that often. I don't know if that's a reflection of it being atypical, or people are too embarrassed to ask about it. considering topics we do discuss on here, I'm guessing the latter isn't the case.
Another thing to bear in mind is that we aren't trained/qualified medicos on here, just common folks sharing their opinions and personal experiences, OK? I ain't a doctor, just someone who played one as a kid. One thing that seems to jump out at me in reading your post is that you have no apetitie for food, N no appetite for sex, N no appetite for life... to my untrained ear that all sounds a bit like some form of clinical depression... I mean, no real deep black core sort of depression, just one where all of the joy in life seems to have dissappeared.
I would suggest talking to one of those 'professional' doctors, the real ones, to see if perhaps you have a mild form of depression, possibly resulting from this, or from hormonal or chemical issues. That's what it sounds like to me, and if I had those issues, that is exactly what I'd be doing about it. Just my 2 cents, OK?

Welcome! I actually took slippery elm for a bit in my early diagnosis stage, but I was already taking Pred and Imuran and Fosamax, Calcium, Vitamin C, Iron, B Vitamins, and something else... so I stopped taking it, just because I was tired of taking 26 pills before breakfast and 8 before dinner. I went to this... well I call her a voodoo doctor... but she's not that, she's a natural healing therapy person. She uses God and spirituality as well as natural supplements to heal. She was really good for my emotional health, but as far as my physical health goes, she was lacking. My disease was just too much for her, and I needed medical help. I dunno... I really can't say whether she helped me out at all or not, but when she switched my iron type to a more natural form, my hemoglobin dropped from 9.1 to 8.8... that can't be good. I really think that you have to believe in what she's doing to benefit from it, and I was highly skeptical.

Sorry to go off on my tangent! ANYWHO! Welcome again, and I hope you like it here!

Kev said:

Hi Joetz, welcome to the forum. Congrats on the remission status, that is 'great' news. I'm sure you'll get inquiries about the 'slippery elm'. anyway, the libido issue has been raised by a few others on here in the past, but it (pardon the phrase) doesn't seem to come up that often. I don't know if that's a reflection of it being atypical, or people are too embarrassed to ask about it. considering topics we do discuss on here, I'm guessing the latter isn't the case.
Another thing to bear in mind is that we aren't trained/qualified medicos on here, just common folks sharing their opinions and personal experiences, OK? I ain't a doctor, just someone who played one as a kid. One thing that seems to jump out at me in reading your post is that you have no apetitie for food, N no appetite for sex, N no appetite for life... to my untrained ear that all sounds a bit like some form of clinical depression... I mean, no real deep black core sort of depression, just one where all of the joy in life seems to have dissappeared.
I would suggest talking to one of those 'professional' doctors, the real ones, to see if perhaps you have a mild form of depression, possibly resulting from this, or from hormonal or chemical issues. That's what it sounds like to me, and if I had those issues, that is exactly what I'd be doing about it. Just my 2 cents, OK?

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Thanks, I think you are right. I have a feeling if I could fix the appetite for food sex and life, the crohn's would get better too. There is a big psychological component to this disease...I'm 100% convinced of that.

katiesue1506 said:

Welcome! I actually took slippery elm for a bit in my early diagnosis stage, but I was already taking Pred and Imuran and Fosamax, Calcium, Vitamin C, Iron, B Vitamins, and something else... so I stopped taking it, just because I was tired of taking 26 pills before breakfast and 8 before dinner. I went to this... well I call her a voodoo doctor... but she's not that, she's a natural healing therapy person. She uses God and spirituality as well as natural supplements to heal. She was really good for my emotional health, but as far as my physical health goes, she was lacking. My disease was just too much for her, and I needed medical help. I dunno... I really can't say whether she helped me out at all or not, but when she switched my iron type to a more natural form, my hemoglobin dropped from 9.1 to 8.8... that can't be good. I really think that you have to believe in what she's doing to benefit from it, and I was highly skeptical.

Sorry to go off on my tangent! ANYWHO! Welcome again, and I hope you like it here!

Click to expand...

I think the problem with this disease is that it affects everyone differently. I can buy the slippery elm powder at wild oats in Miami Beach, FL. If I take a table spoon of it in the morning, mix it with honey and swallow it with a glass of water and then do the same thing when I go to bed, I can eat any garbage I want and have no symptoms and lead a normal life. I've been doing since 2003 and feel pretty good. If I stop taking the slippery elm, the cramping and bleeding starts immediately. If you are already a mess it takes a few months for the slippery elm to kick in and really start working. I think the reason for this is that the body just can't hold the stuff in for it to make any kind of difference. I would be screaming from the rooftops that I cured it with slippery elm, but I am not sure this will work for everyone. Everyone's body is different.