Stomach pain?

Monte I think that a short course of Pred right now will not hurt. Definetly get her on a calcium supplement with D to help protect her bones. I think the doc is going to want to put her on some other type of maintainence med such as 6 mp to avoid multiple courses of Prednisone. Many have had success with 6mp. 6mp takes about 3 mos to kick in, so a short course of Pred may help to quiet this flare down and to give the 6mp time to start working. I have never taken more than Pentasa or Asacol and Pred to control my flares. I have been blessed to have a more milder form of Crohns. But I think its time to give in to the 6mp. I have had a couple of mild flares in the past couple of months and have already had two resections, so I think its time to add something a bit stronger to avoid any further flares or surgery. I have had this dd for over 33 years and it is hard for me too to have to finally give in to a stronger med, but better for me to get well and avoid more surgeries and flares. I am on Pred right now, just started on Wednesday, and I already feel much better than I did. Good luck and keep us posted.

Hi Nan,

That confounds me a bit, I thought the Sed. rate, and C-protein test were a good measureing stick. Perhaps I'm confused on what constitutes a flare. Does flaring always mean inflammation and stricture?

Your advise does sound good about a second round of Pred. Maybe a low dose for a few weeks will be enough. The 6MP is a bit scary I have to admit.

This morning, my daughter,(Holly), did have a BM, after taking a Senekot last night. She says she has no pain at all right at the moment. Her appetite is up, but is afraid to push it. Thanks again.

well.. anyway.. thats weird so its been months since she last got her blood drawn?
hmm.. after i was in a flare i had to go get blood drawn once a week. and now i have to go down and get it drawn once a month.. jsut so the doctors can monitor my crohns. im suprized they dont check her blood more often..

home monitoring kit would be useful lol im quite sick crohns wise atm but my bloods are normal CRP low as its been for ages under 5 im not sure how quickly bloods can change

Hi again Nanners,

I did have another question for you. You indicated that you have been blessed with a milder form of Crohn's. That's another thing that has really confused me from the start of this whole ordeal. From the first time I started to learn about this disease, I've read about the classification of Mild, moderate or severe. I just have never seen just what the definition is. Our GI has never used that label for my daughter, she just doesn't seem to think in those terms. I've ofter wondered which category my daughter falls into. Also, can you progress to severe?

Come to think of it, I have another question as well. When someone says they are in a flare, does this mean inflammation or stricture, or can you have a flare without this? If you don't have inflammation or stricture, what would cause pain? If blood work is normal as you say, and white counts are normal, than just what would be going on?

Sorry if I've bombarded you abit.

UPDATE: It's now about 9pm, and just got in from being at the Hospital since 8:30am. As some may recall, we were waiting for today  to get some answers to whats been going on with my daughter. I've come home with more questions than I left with, and I'm really not sure if this is the right time to post this update, as I'm totally spent. After a Physical exam, our GI felt that there was a definite mass in the lower abdomen and right side, and suspected an abcess, (Still not sure what that is exactly?). We went for blood and an X-Ray. The X-Ray showed more, but not enough detail, so next was an Ultra sound. The Ultra Sound showed more, but our GI had to leave, so we were put to the on call GI. She felt that there was a possible perferated appendix, along with Crohn's activity as the blood work showed, so now we have to see a Pediatric Surgeon. As a sidebar, I'm really getting more and more confused as the day goes on, my daughter is just a mess at the unexpected thought of surgery. Fortunately, the Surgeon seemed brilliant, and was so thorough, that I couldn't even think of a question after she was done. Anyway, she felt strongly, that there was nothing wrong with her appendix. Now here's where I'm not sure if things change for better or worse. The Ct scan, was inconclusive on the appendix, but confirmed quite a lot of inflammation, to the point where they feel it has gone right through the intestine, and is leaking out into the abdomen. They admitted her right away, and started IV antibiotics. The GI say she will likely be in for a week. They're hoping the IV will work, but aren't sure, and might have to drain it as well, then formulate a plan to treat the Crohn's again. 

I know that I've got awfully long winded, but if anyone, can help with some advice/experience/opinions, I'd be eternally grateful. After the day I had, trying to keep it together for my daughter, and wife, I then had to come home and explain things to my 12yr. old son. He just adores his sister, and is really broken up. 

I suppose I could write a list of questions, but I'll bet you all know what they likely are. Also, I really want to Thank everybody deeply, for all the help. I can't tell how much this has helped. 

Hi Celey,

Thanks for the detailed reply. That's very helpful. I still have so many questions. Since this "abcess" is a infection, what exactly started that? Is this common?

The inflammation concerns me alot. Not sure if my info. is correct, but with the infection seeping through the intestine, does this mean permanent damage, or can this heal with medication?

I don't know if we'll see our regular GI or not this week, which really concerns me. The one assigned to us at the moment is very new and inexperienced. She communicates with the clinic and our Doctor, but it's not the best scenario. I just would really like to know exactly what's going on inside of her, and whether this is a serious complication, or very treatable. They seem to purposely prefer to be vague. I guess I can understand not wanting to create any falso hope, maybe they just don't know how things will go. Sorry for the vent, as I indicated earlier, being stressed out and tired is perhaps not the best time to be posting here, as I tend to run on a little.

Hopefully, today being a new day, maybe a better outlook is in store. I'm going to the Hospital now, (hour away), so my wife can come home and get some rest. She'll come up and relieve me later tonight. Hopefully able to post some better news when I get home. Thanks again, Tom.

Hmm... well, do you mean common as in a lot of Crohn's disease people get them or common as in happens a lot? For the former, I'd say that a lot of Crohn's disease people can get abcesses... not to mention other infections (such as urinary tract infections)... As for whether it happens a lot to one particular Crohn's patient, it's hard to say since everybody's different... Some people may get these types of infections a lot. As for the cause, well... that's hard to say, too. Infections can be caused by all sorts of things, and it doesn't help that some of the medicine we take to help us can make us more susceptible to infections...

Inflammation in Crohn's disease is pretty normal. Pretty much everyone with Crohn's disease suffers through periods of inflammation, at least once. It does do some damage to the intestines, but once the medicine gets the inflammation under control, the intestines will start to heal.

I'm pretty sure most, if not all, abcesses are treatable... I don't believe abcesses are a serious complication. Granted, any kind of illness/condition can become serious... Even something as simple as a cold for a normal person, but I'm sure you know that colds becoming serious (such as developing into pneumonia) isn't very common. You say the doctor mentioned that the abcess is seeping through the intestine... I'm curious... Has the doctor said anything about a fistula? I don't know much about fistulas... never had one myself... You should ask the doctor if there are any fistulas at this current point in time... If not, don't worry about it...

Please calm down, okay? Many people who have Crohn's disease have had the same lifespan, more or less, as the average person. Crohn's disease isn't a fatal disease. It can be debihiltating, embarrassing, painful... Many things. At this point and time, Crohn's disease is incurable. That means your daughter will always have this disease. Your daughter is having a tough time right now... This is something you're going to have to get yourself used to. Your daughter may end up having several tough times... If you keep running yourself ragged, you're going to end up doing yourself harm, and that won't be very helpful to your daughter.

Have you been to any informational sites about Crohn's disease besides this one? The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America is a good one.... CCFA.org

If you are reading stuff about Crohn's disease, I want you to make sure you don't get yourself worked up... Some of the things that can happen with this disease are scary, but it doesn't happen to everybody... And the development of better treatments has meant less of a chance of scary, serious complications...

Sorry to hear about the abcess and fistula. Hopefully the anti-b's start to get everything healing up. I think the idea of Pred and Imuran are a good idea. Although I personally prefer 6mp (I had less side effects from it), I think some kind of maintainence med is required. Sure hope she gets feeling better soon. Do keep us posted on how she is doing.

Hugs & Prayers,
Gail *Nanners*

Hi Monte. I am just catching up on all of your posts. Sorry to hear about your daughter -- she is lucky to have such a supportive dad! I wanted to say that years ago my brother (who also has Crohn's) had a similar condition and went on a feeding tube for months. While getting the tube down him every night was not fun (and it was just as uncomfortable for my parents who had to do it than for my brother), it really helped him heal. He was able to go to school and everything, his quality of life improved drastically and he started acting like a regular kid again except that he was only eating through the tube. You might want to discuss the strong benefits of the feeding tube with your daughter before she outright rejects the idea.

Good luck with everything!

Hi Monte I am glad that they found the abcess as they can be painfull and I had one graefruit sized but did have surgery. Abcess usually come with fistula's . I will say a prayer for you all and hope she continues to do good, keep in touck will be watching to see how Holly is doing. lol gail

I know this thread is getting ridiculously long, but I'll keep it going until things get somewhat resolved, as each day seems to bring about more questions anyway. I think this is becoming kind of therapeutic, (how out of wack am I exactly?). I have to warn everyone, I'm going to start a new post about abcessess and fistulas. Perhaps there are some out there that can respond to that directly. 

I've been at the Hospital for the last two days. Holly had another ultra sound, and a dye scan, which pretty much confirmed the fistula. That seems to be the big deal. It's small and only attatched to the sac, but it's there. Our GI is quite positive about it healing. The asst, always seems to squirm whenever I ask about it. They also have started her on Prednisone, (IV) 40mgs per day. The scan also showed that her intestine was quite inflamed. They're going to do a small bowel follow through in January, and they say that will give an accurate picture of the state of her damage. Hopefully there won't be any permanent damage to her intestine. 

So as you can see, we're sitting here helplessly hoping for alot. Thanks again for the responses, they're always encouraged.