My name is Briana. I'm 15 years old. I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease on my 14th birthday which was June 6th, 2011. I first started having symptoms and was getting sick in April of 2011. I was using constantly going to the bathroom and had blood in my stools. At first, it wasn't so much blood but then the whole toilet was full of it. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I started loosing weight and was paler than I usually am. One day, I decided to tell my mom about it and she rushed me to the hospital. They didn't really do anything there, they couldn't find out what was wrong with me. So my mom took me to my regular doctor. He thought it might be a parasite in my stomach. But when the medicine wasn't working, he sent me to a specialist. She thought I had Ulcerative Colitis. But when the results of my colonoscopy came back, she realized I had Crohn's Disease. She said it was the worst case she had ever seen. My whole colon was bloody. She put me on all kinds of medicine but none of it worked. She put me on Asacol, prednisone, pentasa, and imuran. The prednisone made me gain 30 pounds, made my face swell up and break out, and it made me sweat like crazy.The imuran made me really tired and made my hair fall out a lot. When I went to school, the kids made fun of me for all of that. Which was really hard to deal with. But I just laughed and pretended like it didn't bother me. My specialist finally put me on Remicade sometime in November of 2011. The Remicade is the only medicine that makes my stomach not hurt as much and makes me not use the bathroom a lot. But I have allergic reactions to it and it has bad side effects as well. It makes me have difficulty breathing, my heart starts beating really fast, I feel like I'm about to pass out, I'm tired all the time, my hair falls out a little, I have horrible headaches and fevers alot, and I have a hard time concentrating on things. Me and my mom used to have to drive 2 and a half hours to my specialists hospital to get my Remicade infusion done. But now I have a nurse come to my house and give it to me. Before she gives it to me, she gives me benadryl since I have an allergic reaction to it. But she says she gives it to everyone before she gives them the Remicade. I'm finally doing much better now. My stomach doesn't hurt as much as it used to, but it still hurts a lot. I hardly even use the bathroom. The only time when my stomach bothers me is when I'm on my period or a week or two before I get my Remicade. I have really bad periods and really bad cramps. So it's really awful during that time. A week or two before I get my medicine, I start getting sick again. My stomach hurts really bad and I start using the bathroom a lot. But other than that, I'm okay. Sometimes it's hard to do chores around the house. I have somedays where I hurt so bad that I don't wanna get out of bed. But I also have days where I feel really good.
I became homeschooled so it would be easier for me. It was hard going to regular school with my stomach hurting, kids making fun of me for my face being swelled up, and being scared that I would have to run to the bathroom. It's been hard with the work though. It's hard for me to concentrate on what I'm reading.
Ever since I got sick, I've been struggling with depression. It's just hard for me to deal with it. I try to deal with it and be strong but I have times where it really gets to me. I've tried talking to other people but they don't really understand. My older brother just recently got diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. I talk to him sometimes about it and I try to help him out. But I'm still really depressed. I have no idea how to get out of this depression.
I became homeschooled so it would be easier for me. It was hard going to regular school with my stomach hurting, kids making fun of me for my face being swelled up, and being scared that I would have to run to the bathroom. It's been hard with the work though. It's hard for me to concentrate on what I'm reading.
Ever since I got sick, I've been struggling with depression. It's just hard for me to deal with it. I try to deal with it and be strong but I have times where it really gets to me. I've tried talking to other people but they don't really understand. My older brother just recently got diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. I talk to him sometimes about it and I try to help him out. But I'm still really depressed. I have no idea how to get out of this depression.
