Hello, I'm new.

Hi, I'm new.

But this story is not about me. I'm the spouse of a recently diagnosed Crohn's sufferer.

When I first met my husband, I thought, Wow! This guys craps a lot! Like six times a day compared to my one. It didn't bother me that he moved his bowels frequently, he had many other good qualities to compensate.

My husband had no clue he had a problem, he thought everyone was like him. He would eat, feel bloated, get cramps, go to the bathroom a couple times and then feel fine 'til he ate again. Also, in his youth, he smoked pot so it's possible this masked his symptoms. In his early 30's he was alarmed to see blood in his stool, so we went to the doctor and many tests later (no colonoscopy) he was reassured it was nothing to worry about. He had bleeding off and on after that, but again, assuming it was "nothing to worry about" he would go on with his life and not bother telling me. Now in his mid 40's, he went to the doctor because his blood pressure was creeping up, and when the doctor asked the routine questions about his bowel function he mentioned the bloody stools he was currently experiencing. The doctor immediately ordered a colonoscopy. The doctor was amazed to see what he called "road rash" along my husband's entire colon. Everywhere the colonoscopy probe would rub against the colon's inner wall, blood would begin to flow and pool. They took several biopsies that resulted in the diagnosis of Crohn's colitis.

Considering my husband's laisser faire attitude regarding his own health, I am on this forum to learn as much as I can to help him. Mainly, is there anyway to stop the bleeding?

Thanks for reading.

:welcome: I'd say getting the inflammation under control should help with the bleeding. His GI should put him on meds for that.

Thank you Farm.
Unfortunately the soonest we could schedule an appointment with a gastroenterologist was for the 22nd of this month.
I gather bleeding is a common thing for Crohn's sufferers, but how long can they go on with it? It's been almost two months.

I'm anemic from it. Bleed quite a bit and quite often. The doc always said as long as it stops when you are done wiping after the bowel movement, then you should be ok.

Well, then I guess my husband is Ok, since it stops when he's done wiping. But being anemic is not OK. How do you treat your anemia? I've put my husband on iron, Vit C, Folic acid, and Vit K supplements.

Hey Yolidada - I just wanted to say how lovely it is of you to join this forum to try and help your man - nice one

YoliDada said:

Well, then I guess my husband is Ok, since it stops when he's done wiping. But being anemic is not OK. How do you treat your anemia? I've put my husband on iron, Vit C, Folic acid, and Vit K supplements.

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Just iron here for the anemia. Mine isn't really bad at all.

Hi Christiebird!
Nice to meet you. I'm glad to be here.

farm said:

Just iron here for the anemia. Mine isn't really bad at all.

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Thank goodness. I hope you go into remission soon.

YoliDada said:

Thank goodness. I hope you go into remission soon.

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Thank you!
It will mean a lot to your husband to have such support from you. There are a lot of scary stories on this site from a lot of people suffering; but there are a lot of people with crohns and the likes who obtain remission and stay there for many years. Hopefully with a proper dx and meds your husband will reach remission soon and stay there.
He sounds pretty tough anyway and that is a leg up on this disease!

Welcome to the forum. I'm glad he got a diagnosis. Familiarize yourself with the treatment thread here. The info will help when the doctors start medication. I hope he starts to feel better soon.

YoliDada said:

When I first met my husband, I thought, Wow! This guys craps a lot!

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Welcome YoliDada!
I just love that quote.
"we saw each other across the room.. our eyes met.. and I thought...."



Hope he feels better soon.
I'm married to a Chron's sufferer too. It's quite a journey, seeing it from our side.

--kevin

Nice to meet you Imisspopcorn, kjhngisd and Shantel.

Thank you all for your advice. I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot on this forum. Hopefully I'll be able to learn how to detect symptoms for abscesses, fistulas, etc. My hubby's a special guy (and yes he's tough too) and worth every minute I spend researching Crohn's. He's held up well, undiagnosed, for the last 40 years or so and hopefully I can help him prevent or ease any of these (fistulas, abscesses, perforations) the worst effects of Crohns.

Best wishes to everyone.

Yolanda.

Welcome to the forum!
It is great u are doing this for your husband.
For me it is the most comforting thing that my boyfriend knows about my disease and understands me. There is nothing worse than feeling misunderstood when it comes to something like this.
xxx

Hi Yolida,

My girlfriend has Crohn's Colitis. She's been on prednisone, and she had been using one of the 5-ASA drugs (Asacol). But she'd actually been allergic to the Asacol, and it made her symptoms worse. She stopped the Asacol, and her symptoms got much better, but her flare is still active. This has been going on for about a year.

I've found that with her symptoms the food, diet, and drinking play a significant role. If your husband smokes cigarettes, that is probably the single most worst thing anyone with Crohn's can do. Also drinking alcohol makes the symptoms worse. If processed or refined sugar is a big part of the diet, that's another thing to be avoided. If headaches and body aches are involved (like if he has arthritis or other pain not related to Crohn's, Tylenol or acetiminiphine is the safest to take. Naproxin, Ibuprofin, and sometimes plain asprin (all called NSAID's) will irritate anything in the gut that is inflamed

In other words, booze, cigarettes, sugar, and most OTC pain killers except Tylenol (or the generic forms of tylenol) will almost always make Crohn's symptoms worse. These are things "off the top" that should be eliminated if you have Crohn's.

There's lots of great experience in this forum, and there are many posts about what medicines work for some, and not for others. For me, the worst part of this disease is that diagnosis and treatment is a form of an art. The disease behaves and reacts totally inconsistently, and treatments or medication for one person may be the totally worst thing for another person. It's just a difficult disease to have because it seems like it has a mind of it's own. That's why this forum has been so helpful to me. I hope it is for you and your husband too.

Best wishes, good luck, and God bless you for hanging in there with your husband.

Joseph