Hello all, my name is Cheryl and I'm here to introduce myself as a new member of the forum and share 'my story' among the ranks of so many others. I am the first to admit that I know absolutely NOTHING about Crohn's Disease....only that I was right.
To sum it all up, I was recently, FINALLY, *OFFICIALLY* diagnosed with Crohns Disease after a 'flare up' that landed me in the hospital for 3 days. It was a real party. I would have LOVED to have told my old physician I TOLD YOU SO! But with my new, and now former, health insurance-- that was not possible. :ymad:
I have known something was VERY wrong with my gut, as it were, since my youngest child, now 15, was just a year or so old....I would get sick once or so every month for a few days at a time or after smoking. It has gradually worsened to that point that now it is quite simply out of control. Until the last two years we have always had health insurance....now we do not. That has put a serious kink in my ability to get help though prior to now the only diagnosis I was ever given was IBS and as this disease has continued to progress I knew there was NO way this was simply IBS; not when I would have situations that well......were beyond horrific.
Last year I began noticing commercials for Crohns Disease, did what little research I could (I am dumbfounded by the lack of information that is available on the internet!) on what it is, what causes it, and what can be done to prevent it....all I see are symptoms. OK, symptoms are great but CD is more than just a bunch of symptom, isn't it?!
Anyway....to break it all down-- I found myself in the hospital for three days after a flare up. It was definitely not my first, nor my worst....it just so happened that I had a doctors appointment that day and he thought it was my appendix; I gladly played along if that's what it took to get help.
So here I am, FINALLY diagnosed with what I've known all along. However, I no longer have insurance...and I'm living off of Immodium AD again. It's a great time, :yfaint:
I'm not usually so cynical (ok....that's not entirely true...) but I think with years of frustration under my belt, I'm to the point where when there's little to laugh at, and that's supposed to be the best medicine, cynicism seems the next logical prescription. :ybatty:
To sum it all up, I was recently, FINALLY, *OFFICIALLY* diagnosed with Crohns Disease after a 'flare up' that landed me in the hospital for 3 days. It was a real party. I would have LOVED to have told my old physician I TOLD YOU SO! But with my new, and now former, health insurance-- that was not possible. :ymad:
I have known something was VERY wrong with my gut, as it were, since my youngest child, now 15, was just a year or so old....I would get sick once or so every month for a few days at a time or after smoking. It has gradually worsened to that point that now it is quite simply out of control. Until the last two years we have always had health insurance....now we do not. That has put a serious kink in my ability to get help though prior to now the only diagnosis I was ever given was IBS and as this disease has continued to progress I knew there was NO way this was simply IBS; not when I would have situations that well......were beyond horrific.
Last year I began noticing commercials for Crohns Disease, did what little research I could (I am dumbfounded by the lack of information that is available on the internet!) on what it is, what causes it, and what can be done to prevent it....all I see are symptoms. OK, symptoms are great but CD is more than just a bunch of symptom, isn't it?!
Anyway....to break it all down-- I found myself in the hospital for three days after a flare up. It was definitely not my first, nor my worst....it just so happened that I had a doctors appointment that day and he thought it was my appendix; I gladly played along if that's what it took to get help.
So here I am, FINALLY diagnosed with what I've known all along. However, I no longer have insurance...and I'm living off of Immodium AD again. It's a great time, :yfaint:
I'm not usually so cynical (ok....that's not entirely true...) but I think with years of frustration under my belt, I'm to the point where when there's little to laugh at, and that's supposed to be the best medicine, cynicism seems the next logical prescription. :ybatty:
