My Crohn's Story

Hi everyone. My name is Dave I am 31 years old and live in New Jersey I just recently got diagnosed with Chron's and I also have a hiatal hernia :depressed: . From the beginning back in (December of 2007) I had green diarrhea then turned to yellow for 2 weeks with very bad stomach pain. Went to the ER they found nothing. I got better on my own. This past (December 2008) it started all over again same exact thing. I've had Endoscopy, Colonscopy, Xray, Catscan, MRI'. The only thing that picked up ulcers in my intestines was the Capsule Endoscopy. By then it had been almost 3 months and I ended up in the hospital for a 4 days. I am now on Prednisone 20mg x3 a day and Pentasa 500mg x2 4 times a day. I am still in a lot of pain but not as much as I was. But I am very scared about the Prednisone because I also have panic/anxiety disorder and I have read all the side effects on the Prednisone and I am feeling them already. I have felt like I don't want to live anymore because of this and I'm trying to be positive but it's not working What makes me mad :ymad: is why would you have to take medicine that suppresses your immune system instead of making it stronger? Now I know I have read up and somehow that your body is fighting something off and thats why your are getting the ulcers in your intestines. So why is there not something to take "antibiotics" that just kills off the bacteria and then supplement yourself with good bacteria to replace the good ones that die off from the "antibiotics" :confused2:

Please
:sign0085:
Dave

I'm a little rusty on this part, so please people, correctly if I am wrong.

Basically, your immune system has gone Don Quixote on you. Your immune system has gone a little nutty and decided to tilt a few intestinal windmills. Think of the immune suppressors as anti psychotics for your immune system. Hopefully they will convince your body into believing that there are no monsters to fight.

Welcome aboard. We all wish you did not have a reason to be here, but you've found a good place with lots of good advice and support.

Feel Better!

Dan

Hi Dave
Believe me this to will pass. You will get better or learn to live with it. The Pred is
important bc it stops the inflammation. Pentasa is also important bc it also stops
the inflammation. You should try to take a probiotic. This will put the good bacteria
back into your bowel. I know it seems that all is against you now but i assure you
will get through it and get off the pred. I hope all goes well with you Take it easy
Maybe you need some anti anxiety med. Take care
Beth

If you would like to use a different method other than suppressing the immune system to prevent symptoms of the disease, then you should look into Low Dose Naltrexone.

I was not convinced that was the best way to handle the disease so I used an unapproved method to clear out bacteria in my guts and then went on LDN to attempt to correct the faulty immune system function. It does not suppress the immune system. If anything it makes it stronger so it is able to kill the pathogens that your body is battling with.

I am happy I went this route as I am symptom free. I still try to eat well and take a few other supplements to help out, but I feel much more comfortable with this approach, and it is working for me.

Another possibility is to try using Transfer Factor. It is supposed to switch your immune system to work more normal. I have never used it, and I do not know if it works. The theory is good, but I would consider it experimental.

http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/

Dan

I like what someone else said, and I'm gonna put it into my words... this is how i explain it all to people...

picture having an army in your body, this army is called whites (white blood cells) they normally want to fight off any enemy that comes into your body (such as kingdom flu or kingdom allergy) but now picture having too many whites and they get bored so they start fighting each other (your body in this case) after so much fighting adventually they will leave thier marks (the test's find these and you feel them)

also I have been diagnosed a little over a year now and finally I had a Dr tell me just a coupple weeks ago about how i came to get this. As we all know it is an autoimmune disease but we usually ask how and why alot. Well, my grandmother and great grandmother on my moms side of the family had rumatory arthritis .. that is an auto immune disease. All i had known before then that it was genetic so maybe that will clear things up for you some. Autoimmune issues come in many forms, do some family research and maybe that will clear things up for you as well.

Im also on pred but I take 20mgs twice a day. The main thing I want to say is be sure that the Dr refills the script if you do stay on it!!! I just resently switched Dr's because mine got too bz to do so and well.... adrenal shock is something you seriously don't want to go through... I thought I was going to die... seriously!!!

hello dave,
i've been into Crohn since 8 years, i alreday go through pentasa, and now i'm taking imuran.
you have to think logically, the Crohn is just part of your body, you have to take care of it. as much as you care of it, as much as he will not cause you pain. as simple as that.
good luck for you.

Hi Dave -

I'm in NJ as well - whereabouts in NJ are you?

A few of my family/friends asked me why I can't just take antibiotics to get rid of my Crohn's, but I explain to them that unfortunately there isn't anything to "fight off" with antibiotics, my body is being wacky and is accidentally fighting my intestines! That kind of helps them understand. It's kind of hard to deal with the idea that your immune system has gone nuts and is attacking you - I feel a lot of anger about that.

I hope you start feeling better soon.