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A quick hello!

Hello! I've promised a quick one so I'll try keep my little story brief! I've been mooching on here for about two weeks and it's so useful, so thank you.

I am a 23 year old female who, until recently of course, had no gastro issues at all.

26th of nov 2013 I had a meal at my parents and made my way back to my apartment. Nothing funny or different about the meal, but started to feel 'not right' around midnight. Queue 3 hours of vomiting, sweating, shaking....then a huge pain in my ribs and my shoulder blade, followed by more vomiting until I could not bare it anymore. 6am I was in A&e and on morphine (thankfully!). To cut it short like I promised, they suspected gallstones but ultrasound did not find anything. I was discharged and told to come back in 3 months.

Christmas came and went, I was in agony everyday. My pain threshold is high, stupidly so I think at times. So I went to see a Gi surgeon (who had treated my sister previously), I had a hida scan which showed my gallbladder did not function fully but I was sent to a medical Gi to rule out any other underlying causes before they whipped the little begger (my gallbladder) out. Endoscopy clear, barium meal showed small bowel inflammation and colonoscopy confirmed crohns in the ileum. It was like a nightmare (as I'm sure you all know the feeling too well....).

So as of last Monday (the date of my colonoscopy) I have been on budnsoside and mebreverine and I have little joy from it. I've never had diarrhoea, but from Tuesday my Bm's have been irregular...

So if anyone can shed any light on this story....

Is the 'episode' I had in November a flare up? I feel like I've never recovered from it!

What could the constipation be from? Lord knows my backside is telling me to go, I run to the toilet and nothing! I've been twice in 6 days.

I've suffered in the last few years from kidney infections, could this be related to the crohns?

Thanks so much for any help you can throw my way, but I'm really just here to say hello!
 

valleysangel92

Moderator
Staff member
Hello! Welcome to the forum! I'm sorry to hear what you have been dealing with, but I'm glad that you have found us. This place is full of helpful, friendly people who all know what this disease can do and who will do their best to help and support you.

Many of us are familiar with the way a diagnosis can make you feel, so if you need a rant or a shoulder to cry on, you can always find that here.

Buedesonide is a steroid, it can take a few weeks to start having an effect so it's not a surprise you haven't felt a benefit yet, so keep going with it, if you still aren't getting any relief in a few weeks tell your GI. You may need a short course of a more aggressive steroid called prednisolone which can target inflammation in the whole body (buedesonide is topical) but it does have more side effects. In the long term, you will need to think about maintenance medications as steroids are usually a shorter term medication.

The other drug is an anti-spasmodic which are used to help calm down spasms in the digestive tract and reduce cramping pains. These could be contributing to the constipation as they can slow down digestive transit. Some people will get used to the medication and the side effects will pass, but if it is too uncomfortable or it doesn't relent, tell your GI.

The 'episode ' in November could well be a flare. Or, if you have any narrowings in your bowels (strictures) you could of developed a partial obstruction which can cause severe pain and vomiting, so if it happens again you may need to go back to the A+E

Crohns can lower our ability to fight infection, and so it is possible that it made you more susceptible to kidney infections and it can cause difficulties outside of the digestive tract.

How are you managing with the pain and sickness now? Have you had any of your vitamin and mineral levels checked?
 
Hello! Thank you for the reply, I feel very welcome :)

I'm more than up for giving the steroids the time they need. I've found that the pain isn't as constant, but maybe comes in bigger hits. Then goes away til the next time. The nausea has kind of subsided which I'm glad of because it was relentless. As for my levels, I am seeing my Gi in exactly a week for a more in depth chat, all that was said after the colonoscopy was " that's confirmed it, we'll start this treatment". So I'm sure I'll get more info then. No strictures that I'm aware of! I'm hoping that my Bm's get back to normal, I forgot to mention about a month ago I had (what I thought was) food poisioning. I had pretty much explosive diarrhea for 3/4 days (I know that's lucky compared to what people live with, in that respect I'm very grateful). So is that another flare as such?

Thank you again, I'm really glad I said hello
 

valleysangel92

Moderator
Staff member
I understand what you mean with the pain, I was the same at times. You may want to try keeping a symptom diary. Record your symptoms, how severe (rate pain 1-10 with 10 being the worst imaginable and 1 being no pain) , when they happen (time of day) and what you were doing, what you've eaten and give yourself a stress score (again, 1-10, 10 is the worst).
Heat packs can be really good for pain, and so can basic painkillers like paracetamol, don't use any NSAIDs like ibuprofen or aspirin. This is because these drugs have been found to cause ulcers and encourage bleeding in the digestive tract which are both common in crohns, so it is advisable not to take them. If paracetamol isn't enough, you can go to your GP for stronger pain meds.

Yes the period of D could be another flare or you could of been having one all along. It's possible for flares to last months or maybe even a year, as a flare is basically a period of active disease. Even within the same flare, symptoms can change in severity and type.
 
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