Introducing myself

introducing myself

Hello everyone, I just came across this site a couple days ago, and have been hesistant about posting my story.
Firstly, I was diagnosed with Crohn's back in 1993. This whole time, I thought I could deal with my condition ( i.e., not complain about my condition with people). Between '93 and '03, I had been in the hospital three times, mostly due to anemia. I've been on prednisone, dipentum, imuran, in the past. After my last hospital stay in 2001, I was finally taken off prednisone (a very low dosage) and the dipentum, and put on asacol.
But in 2005, I developed an anal fistula, due to the past prednisone usage. Unfortunately, I've had four surgeries since then, and right now I'm recovering from the last procedure. Additionally, I spent a couple weeks in the hospital last April because I became nuprigenic (did I spell that right?), due to a high dosage of 6mp! Because of the fistula, I've been put on remicade, but for some reason, the fistula/abcesses keep recurring.
I guess the point of my post is that now, I've become depressed because of this point I've reached with my condition. I feel like a kind of abnormal person. Before the fistula, I never passed gas, and now it's a regular occurrence! I'm so embarrassed when I'm at home, I dread whenever it happens in public.
Sorry for the long story. But how do some of you cope with this, if you have similar situations to mine? Thanks for reading!

Welcome to the forum.

You have had quite a history with this disease. I am sorry you are in a bad spot now.

I guess we are all abnormal as far as having this disease is concerned. I do not have an answer to the gas problem, other than possibly some OTC remedy such as Beano, and that may not help being it is likely a Crohn's related symptom.

I think the whole trick to this disease is to do what we can for ourselves via diet and any helpful supplements and work with the doctor to find an effective medication.

Sounds easy enough, except that every person's case is a little different. One drug works for one person and not another. Same with diet and supplements.

There are others here who have fought with the fistulas, and maybe they have some ideas.

Feel free to post whenever the mood strikes you. We all help each other here when we can. You don't have to worry about any embarrassing problems on this forum. We all have them or have had them. I am not to wild about examining every stool like a rare coin, but this disease forces things on us that others do not have to deal with.

Hope you enjoy it here.

Dan Bergman

hi & welcome wesb.

i havent had any experience with fistulas... but i have figured that gas production is partly connected to the dietary intake. veggies make more gas than anything, particularly green ones, and onions.. also carbonated drinks. also letting myself get hungry/empty then eating will invariably cause a build-up of gas, sometimes painful.

experimenting with foods and watching their effect is probably the best way to sort out the gas/diet problem. unfortunately crohns itself causes gas too, particularly when its active.

i totally get what you're saying about the depression thing... this kind of condition does pull us down in more ways than one. try to keep hope in the forefront of your mind, and i wish that things settle for you soon and make life more manageable.

dingbat.

There's no way that you never passed gas before Crohn's... I mean a healthy person farts! It's a sign of healthiness... maybe us Crohn's people are just ahead of the pack!!! ...

ok all jokes aside... you've found the right place to complain to others and cope and find support. Welcome.

Yeah, whether it's good bacteria, or bad ones, either will create intestinal gas. it's far worse while ill, perhaps due to over production of the bad bacteria, or resulting from the casualties of the good bacteria. I've even noticed that it smells far worse
which I attribute to the inclusion of 'bad' blood (blood really has a distinctive 'bad' smell to it as it ages).. but that's just my humble, untrained/unqualified opinion.

Thanks guys

Hey guys, thanks for the replies, they helped a little.
As for dingbat's thoughts on dietary intake, I thought at first my gas problem was due to veggies and other particular foods. However, even when I don't eat, I still pass gas, especially at night, and I have really cut back on sodas in the last few years. I wonder if my body is making up for all the years I've never passed gas! Katie, don't get me wrong, I would pass gas occasionally before my fistula, but now it just seems like it happens all day! I sometimes feel like I'm one of the cowboys sitting around the campfire in Blazing Saddles!
Anyway, just wanted to say it's good to have a forum like this where I can vent to people who understand what I've been going through lately.
Happy Holidays everyone!

Yeah, when it comes to this disease, and this forum, venting has a two fold meaning.... My weak attempt at humor aside, the gas issue isn't to be taken lightly. The almost constant gas issue I've experienced since becoming ill REALLY has limited my scope of possible employment. I simply refuse to consider work in a 'public' environment, especially around other people. The embarrassment of the gas is just as real an impediment as any other physical aspect of this disease. I still, when dealing with family and friends, especially in a social gathering of any type, will find an excuse to 'exit' discretely whenever I feel an outburst coming on. some might percieve this as anti-social behaviour, when in fact, it is just sheer embarrassment on my part. The nature & extent of the gas from this disease (in my particular case) is just totally unbearable!!!

For quite sometime before and after diagnosis, the smell from the frequent gas I'd produce almost took the paint off the walls. The embarrassment was almost as unbearable as the cramping pain that would accompany it. Think it was the smell of the blood in my bowel because, as I stopped noticing blood in my stools the smell got loads better.

Even if it never returns, that smell will haunt me until the end of my days.