Kiwi with Crohns 23/04/14
In 1998 I was diagnosed with Crohns Disease. It was a long period of stomach pain and weight loss that couldn't be explained and tormented me in highschool. I found that I had low energy and tummy troubles.
It was while I was training at a culinery school I that I tried my best not to let it control me. I ate food that made it flare up, like spicy and fatty junk foods and drank alot of beer with my friends, only for it to suddenly come back really terribly. My bowel habits increased something awful and I would be running to the loo every 20 mins. Stomach cramps, where sometimes there wasn't anything coming but mucous and blood. I was in agony. Being stubborn waited until it got so bad that I was rushed into the emergency room. I was hospitalised and given pain killers and after a night sent
in for a colonoscopy where they found how bad the inflamation had gotten. I spent about a month in hospital and needed blood transfusions and fed liquid food shakes to rest my gut.
I was given a course of steroids which really helped my recovery apart from obvious side effects that come with this.
I had to complete my schooling a second year where I was hospitalised again for a shorter period after it had flared up again. By this stage the correct combinations of medications had been found.
I think I was taking about about 20 or so tablets a day. Over the next 16 years I was lucky not to have any surgery. Now my meds have reduced to 12 tablets a day. This year has been bad for me. Not with my Crohns but with Abscesses. I have been admitted to hospital seven times. 3 times to have abscesses drained. One time I got into hospital and it had
burst overnight before I got a chance to have it drained. One recurs constantly. If I catch them early antibiotics settle them. I have a
supralevator abscess that heals up and then comes back again. I have been drinking meal suppliments to increase my weight. I have spoken to my Gastroenterologist and he has said I may need to change from Azathioprine to another medication since it might not be working. Right now I am waiting to see my surgeon for an update. I have a nurse coming in
daily to change the dressing of my wound.
Roll on 2015
Hope you enjoyed my story,
Bryn
In 1998 I was diagnosed with Crohns Disease. It was a long period of stomach pain and weight loss that couldn't be explained and tormented me in highschool. I found that I had low energy and tummy troubles.
It was while I was training at a culinery school I that I tried my best not to let it control me. I ate food that made it flare up, like spicy and fatty junk foods and drank alot of beer with my friends, only for it to suddenly come back really terribly. My bowel habits increased something awful and I would be running to the loo every 20 mins. Stomach cramps, where sometimes there wasn't anything coming but mucous and blood. I was in agony. Being stubborn waited until it got so bad that I was rushed into the emergency room. I was hospitalised and given pain killers and after a night sent
in for a colonoscopy where they found how bad the inflamation had gotten. I spent about a month in hospital and needed blood transfusions and fed liquid food shakes to rest my gut.
I was given a course of steroids which really helped my recovery apart from obvious side effects that come with this.
I had to complete my schooling a second year where I was hospitalised again for a shorter period after it had flared up again. By this stage the correct combinations of medications had been found.
I think I was taking about about 20 or so tablets a day. Over the next 16 years I was lucky not to have any surgery. Now my meds have reduced to 12 tablets a day. This year has been bad for me. Not with my Crohns but with Abscesses. I have been admitted to hospital seven times. 3 times to have abscesses drained. One time I got into hospital and it had
burst overnight before I got a chance to have it drained. One recurs constantly. If I catch them early antibiotics settle them. I have a
supralevator abscess that heals up and then comes back again. I have been drinking meal suppliments to increase my weight. I have spoken to my Gastroenterologist and he has said I may need to change from Azathioprine to another medication since it might not be working. Right now I am waiting to see my surgeon for an update. I have a nurse coming in
daily to change the dressing of my wound.
Roll on 2015
Hope you enjoyed my story,
Bryn