Crohn's Disease

[SnowyShiloh]

Okay, I'm not a hypochondriac (except maybe when it comes to my pets), but I've been experiencing fairly severe and weird feeling abdominal pain since this morning. It's like nothing I've felt before, I don't feel at all nauseous or like I have the flu or anything, it's like there's actual pain in my intestines that cramps sometimes. It feels more like an injury than anything else. That's the only symptom. It woke me up. My dad has Crohn's Disease, and I made the mistake of looking it up on Wikipedia... It is a genetic autoimmune disease and the doctor told my dad that most of the people with it have either a parent or sibling with the disease. Wikipedia says the usual onset is (if I recall) 15-30 years, I'm almost 23 so right smack in the middle! It also says that weight gain can be a symptom and I have inexplicably gained a fair amount of weight in the past year. I know it's not the most terrible disease to have, but darn it I don't want any disease! It sounds downright miserable. To top it off, it's difficult to diagnose (yay colonoscopy?) and my insurance expires in a month and a half (my dad's in the military and 23 is the cut off date). Awesome timing. I wonder how much insurance will cost for me if I do have it. I also wonder how it may affect my firefighter aspirations. Hopefully not too much, but they want to hire really healthy people. I will be so mad if I have Crohn's Disease and it screws up my career- bye bye lifelong dream and 4 years of college!

Grumble grumble. Does anyone have any experience with Crohn's Disease? I'm not getting too worried quite yet, but the fact that it has such a strong genetic link is not encouraging. Also, this morning I took some Aleve hoping it would make the pain go away, and it did help for about 6 hours! In my own experience, normal pain killers don't make a hurting tummy feel better.

Thanks for letting me vent!

 

[okiron]

Aww that sucks. Hopefully it's something else. Nothing much to add but I'll be thinking of you. Maybe get a full on physical while you still have your insurance? Speaking of which...mine is over due >.<

 

[tundrakatiebean]

I have a very good friend who has chron's disease. It is very difficult to deal with, but he has been dealing with it for a very long time. I would definately go to a doctor (I think I recal you saying that you are still on your parents insurance for a while, go before it runs out)

As for it destroying your career, my friend is a college professor and he doesn't have any problems keeping up with all his work and his disease at the same time.

:hug:I'm always here if you want to talk.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Thanks, guys! I am planning to make an appointment for a physical this week. I'd already been planning to do it just because I haven't been to the doctor in a long time.

The reason I'm concerned about my career is that being a firefighter is so physically demanding and you need to be in top physical condition to do it. I'm contenting myself with the thought that at least I could be an arson investigator or perhaps work in fire prevention or something... Still second choice though We'll see what the doctor says. Apparently, you get episodes that come and go though, so who knows if the doctor would be able to diagnose it. The article I read said that sometimes someone with the disease has all sorts of tests done and ALL of them come back negative even though they definitely have it!

Let's just hope that my belly is irritated for some random reason!

 

[slavetoabunny]

I experienced a similiar sort of pain once. It was a horrible intestinal sort of cramping that came in waves. It's hard to say what is was because I never went to the doctor (didn't have med insurance then). I would describe it as having a heart attack, only I know it wasn'st. I think it was as flu; it lasted about three days, I think. I say it was a flu because two other people I know had that same thing.

I sympathize greatly..I remember wishing someone would put me out of my misery when I went through it.

Patti

 

[Thumpers_Mom]

Oh Shiloh! I just read this. I don't know anything about Crohn's disease but I am praying for you and hope that that is not the case. You know, sooo many things out there can cause you to have similar symptoms and hopefully it will not be anything serious. Please let us know ASAP how the doctor's visit goes.

:hug:

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

My brother (35 years old) has Crohn's Disease. He had surgery to remove Polyps (sp) in 2000. He has an advanced case and has to have an infusion (IV) of Remicade every 8 weeks at the hospital. Except for the treatments, it doesn't affect his daily life. The only thing is that you have no idea when the symptoms will come. He could eat a meal one day and be fine,eat the leftovers the next day and end up in the bathroom for a while.

My advise to you is go see a doctor and stop worrying so much. Could be something simple.

Sharon

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Thanks for telling me about your brother, Starlight Rabbitry! I'm more worried about the cost of medication and the affect it could have on my career than anything else.

In any case, the pain is still there but it's changed. Now it's localized to the area of my appendix. If I lie on my stomach it feels like I'm lying on something, if that makes sense. It hurts more if I do things like breathe in deeply, laugh, cough, sneeze, etc. It's much more bearable than it was before, though! I've been reading up on appendicitis a lot lately because my boyfriend has been having episodes like this over the past 2 years, at first they were 6 months or so apart but they're becoming more frequent. We went to a an urgent care clinic the last time and she thought it might be his appendix, but by the time Paul was able to get an appointment with a specialist, the pain was gone. My mom's a nurse and she said that appendicitis is difficult to treat and we should wait until he has pain again to go back.

Interesting, huh? I'll mention it when I go to the doctor Since the pain is less than it was yesterday and certainly not exruciating (just rather noticeable), I'm not too worried my appendix is going to burst during the night, if that's what it is!

 

[mouse_chalk]

Hi there,

Just thought I'd pop in and share a bit of experience, hope that's ok!

I don't know much about Chron's itself, but my mum has it. She's had problems in that area since she was about 15, but wasn't diagnosed with Chron's until she was in her 40s. She's 53 now, and it's not affecting her too much. Like starlight rabbitry said, sometimes she eats meals and they affect her and she spends some time in the bathroom, but a lot of the time she's fine, she's learnt now what things upset her and avoids them. There's a couple of other things that are similar but less severe, such as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) etc, but all of them can be controlled pretty well with dietary adjustments. For example, my mum eats linseeds and drinks soya milk, and avoids berries as they upset her! Like I said, I don't know how serious it can get etc, but my mum manages fairly well. She also works as a nurse still with no problems...

Whilst I am certainly no medical expert, it's quite a long shot that you have it, so try not to worry too much!

Jen

 

[maherwoman]

Hugs and high hopes comin' your way from us...

:hug::big kiss: