Does anyone here have Chron,s disease? If you do,,what were your symptoms.? I think that I may have it. Thanks
Sandie I think this link will answer any and all questions you may have about Crohn's.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/crohnsdisease.html
Pooh
I don't have it, but a lot of family does and a few of our friends. Pooh gave you a great link for info. Most people in my family have blood in their stool and unexplained weight loss, it can be different for everyone but these were the most obvious symptoms for them. A family friend was in the hospital for over a month with complications from Crohn's. He got lazy with his meds and decided not to fill one of them. This led to a relapse with extensive bleeding and needing lots of blood tranfusions for him. Crohn's can get worse at the drop of a hat if not well managed; spending xmas in the hospital and getting emergency surgery to stop the bleeding made our friend realize how serious it can be. If you suspect you have it, call your doc and get checked!!! I hope you don't have it and that you start feeling better soon! :)
Hi Sandie_Beach!
I have Crohn's disease, diagnosed 5/07. My symptoms are on the opposite end of the spectrum from what you hear or read about with crohn's. I don't have diarrhea or bleeding. My problem is constipation, bloating, and gas sometimes. Lately heartburn really bad. When my symptoms first started, it started with right lower quadrant pain and fever that would not go away. The pain was not unbearable, but since I had a fever I went to see one of my docs at work. Originally though it was appendix, but since could not see it on the scans, sent me to hospital. Ended up being there for a week, mainly b/c the fever would not go away. Had a laporoscopic appendectomy, but appendix was fine. Lots of inflammation and swollen lymph nodes. After a few months, the RLQ pain came back, sent me for more tests, CT, colonoscopy, small bowel series. After those tests, came the dx of crohn's. It's in my terminal ileum, and have a stricture, which my GI thinks is causing my constipation and other problems. Most of my pain now is upper stomach, endoscopy found ulcerations and inflammation in the stomach, and still stricture and inflammation in the ileum. I've had a couple of colonoscopies, the last one they could not finish is because they could not get even the smallest tube through the stricture. My meds are entocort 9mg, humira 40mg pen biweekly, 5-10mg prednisone, fish oil, multivitamin, miralax daily and colace. I have meds for pain, but usually don't have to take it, my tolerance is pretty high. I have appt to see a surgeon on the 16th of march, but my hopes is that surgery can be avoided for as long as possible.
The symptoms for Crohn's vary from person to person. The "typical" symptoms are diarrhea, blood in stools, nausea, fever and some I'm sure I'm missing. Sometimes diagnosing can take a long time, so be patient, but forceful so your doctors listen to you. If you have any questions, feel free to ask or PM me if you would like.
Good luck and take care!
Pam