IBD and Teenagers

Hi there, I'm new to the forum.

I felt the need to join and tell all of the teenagers out there with IBD that you're not alone in it!

I was diagnosed with IBD 2 years ago, in October 2010, when I was 16.
It took 4 months for me to be diagnosed, and although when I started getting symptoms we were pretty sure what it was as my Dad is a sufferer too, it was a horrible blow.

I took it all in my stride, as although I had symptoms, they were not severe.
I was given a 6 week treatment of steroids from this point and was also put on asacolon.

I was feeling a lot better until the week of Christmas when I got a very bad flu. I went to the GP but unfortunately my regular GP was away and there was a stand-in there. He gave me Klassid, which completely messed up my system, it didn't even help my flu. I had to go back to the GP again and was given a second antibiotic, augmentine. The two antibiotics caused me to have a severe flare up and I went through absolute hell for the next few months.

I was out of school for 3 months, in a year that I was supposed to be enjoying my last few months of school with my friends and preparing for exams. None of my peers even knew what was wrong with me as I was too embarrassed to tell them. I had a course of steroids, which eventually settled me to the point where I could leave the house again, although I was still constantly unwell. I started back to school which was a huge struggle, I couldn't stay awake during classes, plus the extreme cramps whenever I ate, the constant need to run to the toilet and when I got home in the evening I just fell asleep for a few hours. It was awful. Steroids actually make me very sleepy instead of hyper.

However, I managed to push through and even managed to get myself a part-time job. In my first two weeks there I felt another flare up coming on and went to my consultant. In June 2011, he decided to change my medication to Imuran. The change in medication made the biggest change, I felt much better and luckily I have not had a flare up since. I have my days where I am unwell and I suffer badly with fatigue, but I can have a life now with out worrying about what I'm doing.

Luckily I did very well in my final exams, I took a year out after school to work and just settle down after the crazy year I had, but I have now started college and have another part-time job. I am also more comfortable with telling people what I have.

I thought I was never going to get better, but it did happen. I am lucky to be able to live a relatively normal life now.

My reasoning for telling my story now is that I have never known anyone of a similar age to me who has suffered with IBD, and I want to let others know that there are people in the same position.

Hello and welcome to the forum

I am glad you are now doing well, out of interest what dosage of the Imuran are you on? How often do you have days that you are unwell and what symptoms do you get - could you say it is food related at all? With regards to the ongoing fatigue do you know if your vitamin levels have ever been checked? Deficiences in this area are common with crohn's so it might be worth asking your doc to have a look at this and especially check your B12.

There is a lot of helpful info and support here so do have a good look around.

AB
xx

Welcome to the forum! I appreciate your confidence and willingness to share your story with not only us but also those around you. I was diagnosed at 2 years old and I'm now 22 and still don't feel comfortable/confident talking about it because of the stigma that comes with having a bowel disease. In my teens I even lost friends because I would rather make up excuses to not hang out rather than tell them I was too sick.

I believe we have a few teenagers around the forum which you might find in the "Teens-only" section (I think we still have it). If not, there are a few of us who aren't much older than you.

See you around!

Hi and welcome. We do still have the teen's only section and here is a link to it: http://www.crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=67

I am glad that you are feeling better now and that you would like to share you experience with others. I was just recently diagnosised a few months ago but I have been sick all my life with various illnesses and I also missed a lot of school. Most of my friends did not understand about me being sick so most of my days were spent at home reading books.

I wish I had the confidence that you have when I was your age. Stay strong and always keep that positive attitude that you have.

Thanks everyone, never knew about this forum until I stumbled upon it today while looking for information on antibiotics, so thank you for the link to the teen section!

I'm on 75mg of Imuran, which I have blood tests for every 3 months. I am very lucky that I have a huge amount more good days than bad days, I can go through a few weeks with out having a bad day. It can be food related, but it can also be random. Yes, I'm anaemic also so that is a huge factor!

There is still a lot of stigma, and I think that is the worst thing as unfortunately there are a huge amount of sufferers, not only that but people who don't have the disease can suffer with their stomach too and can't talk about it. Yes a lot of my friends were not sure how to take the news of what I had, and it took a long time for me to actually explain what it was.

Thanks for the great comments, I can't believe I never knew about this little community before!