Help, questions!

Hey all my name is Casey and I am a 26 year old female. I have a lot of medical issues such as clotting disorders, migraines, heart problems, seizures, ocd etc. When I was little I had horrible problems with constipation and had exploratory bowel surgery at a young age. Nothing was ever found then. I had lap band surgery in 2007 too. Since then nothing has been the same. Ive had severe stomach pain at times, other times dull aching pain. I have diarrhea usually once a week. The rest of the time it is deff not normal bowel movements. They are hard to get out, yet its not constipation. I have had bright red blood in my stools and on the paper. Last week I went to the hospital by ambulance because I had severe stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hard time breathing, my face legs and arms were numb, my pupils were dialated, and I felt like I was dying. They did a CT scan and blood work and sent me home. A couple days ago I saw my Primary doctor and he said the CT showed inflammation in my duodenum. Ive had endoscopies several times, usually every time it shows inflammation in my stomach, and "gastritis". The last one I had the doctor was checking for celiac but everything came back normal. After my latest trip to the ER the doctor is thinking its either Gallbladder or Crohns. Sometimes what I eat causes worse pain sometimes it doesn't. I have been having chills and cold sweats, and a fever that ranges from normal up to 100.2 this has been going on for a week now. Last year my sed rate was also elevated. Im just wondering if any of this is common in Crohns patients? I have never had weight loss as a symptom, and only have the D once a week. If anyone can shed some light on this it would be greatly appreciated. Ive had horrible stomach pains for a long time. I usually take Bentyl for it. Right now my pain seems to be in the upper left part of my abdomen, and sometimes the lower left. Im just looking for input from anyone, and if any of this is common in crohns. Not too sure what to think right now. So please help!!!!!

I'm a 29 y/o female. First of all I want to say that I feel for you, it's not easy having health issues so young! To me it sounds like you don't have crohns. At least for me, when I have a flare up, i am constantly running to the washroom, lose weight and get sickly and run down. I hope for your sake it isn't! Hopefully it's something not serious causing your inflammation.

Maybe a colonoscopy to double check your colon as it is on the left side?? Crohn's is not just D and weight loss, constipation can be apart of it too. Good luck and hope you don't have to add crohn's to your list!

Thank you for the replies. Ive been tested for Celiac, and IBS, neither one are what I have. Its deff something, we just aren't sure what. I aslo have blood in my stools and on the paper, and a lot of mucos every time I go. So I know something isn't right internally, just the daunting task of figuring out what. I have asked for a colonoscopy before because of the blood. The GI doc at the time refused to give me one, said the blood was nothing to worry about. Yeah ok mister. Where did you get your degree....from a cracker jack box? Blood, no big deal? No it wouldn't be a big deal if it wasn't coming out of my butt. Anyways, thanks for the replies, I am determined to get to the bottom of this!!!!

Blood and mucous is usually a bigger symptom in Ulcerative Colitis. When they did the CT scan did they say there was any narrowing or stricturing? pain on the left side could be disease in the large intestines or a symptom of blockage, it really depends. The gastritis needs to be treated with a PPI it wont go away and will only get worse. What medications are you on and what is your doctors plan going forward? Like Smallfry I recommend a colonoscopy as you need to see if there is disease in your intestines. Just keep going to GI after GI until you find one that will listen, this is not normal and believe me it is possible to live a more normal life even if you have Crohns or UC.

I dont generally have a lot of blood just a little bit. I have mucous daily. The CT scan showed inflammation in my small intestine. In the duodenum. Just past where the stomach and intestines meet. Everytime I have an endoscopy or a CT it shows some sort of inflammation in my intestines. Last year, my sed rate was also high. I haven't had it tested since. I have an ultra sound on Friday to check my gallbladder, after that I have no idea what the plan is. The only thing im on for my stomach pain and problems is bentyl as needed. The doctors haven't believed there is anything wrong with me until I ended up going to the hospital by ambulance. Right now I have nausea, pain, and keep running a low fever for the past 2 weeks. So something is up. A doctor mentioned fissures once, but no one has ever done any testing for it. I will request a colonoscopy again. All I know is I have never had a normal bowel movement in my life. Something just isn't right with my digestive tract. I also have low Vitamin D, very low. Ive been on Vitamin D for a year now. So I have no idea if that has anything to do with it. As for now im patiently waiting until Friday, even though I know its not my gallbladder. After that something better be done. Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate it.

Hi Casey and welcome. I'm sorry you're having so much trouble

Next time you're at the doctor, based upon everything you said, I would strongly suggest having your vitamin B12, folate, vitamin K, and magnesium levels tested.

I would also ask your gastroenterologist if they'd be willing to conduct a capsule endoscopy (pill cam).

I hope they figure out what is wrong with you soon!

I did research on vitamin D when I was deficient and long story short being deficient just plays into the bigger picture of anemia of chronic disease due to malabsorption so I will save you the long story and just say the same thing David did and thats to get your vitamin levels checked. This is not really a common test and even to this day I have to specially request them to check my levels every 6 months. It upsets me this practice is not common as I went 15 years with this disease getting zero vitamin supplementation and the day I started to get everything under control I noticed that suddenly my life was far easier as many of my daily problems were due to low vitamin levels, long story short its a big deal and plays into the bigger role of healing your body by giving it the tools needed to heal not to mention the energy to fight another day. Otherwise I really suggest you ask your doctor for Nexium I imagine you will notice a big difference in a couple of days, which should allow you to pin point further pain better by taking your gastritis out of the picture. Gastritis can mimic pain across your entire abdomen and make it nearly impossible to pinpoint what you are exactly feeling and where. I almost at times feel gastritis pain is worse than Crohns because its so wide spread and bloating is a terrible terrible unsettling/annoying pain when it's constant. Let us know how Friday goes.

Thanks, I will for sure call my doctor and have him check my vitamin levels. I plan on calling him tomorrow because lately ive just been sitting doing nothing and I break out into a sweat, bad. I don't know if its from a fever, or what, but something is deff wrong, and its not going away. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of this. Its never lasted this long before. I am also having a period when I shouldn't be. I will be requesting blood work tomorrow. Hopefully friday goes well and eliminates the gallbladder.

Good luck. Please keep us updated how you're doing.