What were your first symptoms, before diagnosis??

I am curious to see what everyones symptoms were. I am sick now and think I have Crohn's. Still waiting on my GI doc to call me back in for a colonoscopy.

I was 19 and had a bout of constipation for 2 weeks. Very unusual for me back then. Then started having diarreah for about 2 weeks. The day before my Dr's appointment I noticed traces of blood. I was in the hospital for 5 days while they ran tests and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. They treated me and I was symptom free for 10 years until I had another flair up. Then I was rediagnosed with Crohn's. Been a rollercoaster of screaming fun ever since. Best of luck and don't stress out over this. You have a million friends here who know exactly what your feeling and we can attest that life may be difficult at times with Crohn's but it's still manageable and not all bad. Keep your chin up!

Hi, sorry to hear you are unwell...

As to first symptoms - I made a lovely pizza one day for dinner with LOTS of onions in it and had bad stomach pain for several days after that. Since I was pregnant at the time, docs thought I was being just another woman who doesn´t take her pregnancy well.
Three weeks later, I felt constant pain under the ribs on my right, someone pointed out it could be appendix and I went to hospital for a blood test. Inflammation levels were crazy and they gave me a ultrasound to see, didnť like what they saw and I had surgery within two hours. And there they saw it was Crohn´s ...

Good luck to you, I am aware I was lucky to get diagnosed that quickly and that it might take a long time...

Mine started two months after 9/11. I was working in a post office at the time and was extremely stressed about the whole anthrax thing. I had to wear a mask which made me hyperventilate and breathe even deeper than I normally would not wearing one. One day found some white powder in a box and had to have it analyzed (turned out to be fertilizer).

Anyway, that's about when the lower abdominal cramping began. Every day. Eventually it became worse and worse. Then came the mid-gut clenching, then the loss of appetite. Then I was working with a gp doctor who I swear was out to kill me. I dropped to 83 lbs. before he let me see a gi doc. The gi doc admitted me to the hospital the first time he saw me. I was diagnosed the next day.

So, I was sick for three months before I could see a gi doc. I was so sick that I couldn't even do a prep for the colonoscopy. The doc figured I was probably cleaned out enough, as everything I put in my mouth ran right through me. So my diagnosis was very fast once I was in the hands of the right doctor.

Mine just started out of nowhere one day. It was about a year ago, when I was 19. I was extremely stressed, and alone on my way to a foreign city. I got really bad stomach pains on the way, combined with bad diarrhea...thought it might've just been nerves, but it continued for my whole trip. I couldn't go anywhere, was stuck in my hotel with horrendous diarrhea and waves of pain. about 2 weeks later I started vomiting a few times a day. It went away on it's own that time for a few months. Came back out of nowhere in the fall/winter, but it didn't go away that time... Diarrhea, felt like I couldn't completely empty my bowels, vomiting up to 10 times a day, lost 15 lbs in a week (down by 20 now..87 lbs at the moment :/), crippling stomach pains, extreme fatigue... I finally got diagnosed about a month ago, and just started my treatment last week. They were looking at the wrong end of me, kept focusing on the vomiting, thinking it was my stomach, and ignoring my intestines. The doctors I have now seem to know what they're doing, though.

I didn't have much blood - The only blood I remember seeing was when I wiped a few times, but then there were 2 days where I had blood clots passing. Not sure what that was about yet though, hah.

I also don't consistently have diarrhea - it alternates between that, normal looking stools (a bit on the narrow side, though) and thin, ribbon-like ones. Seems to depend on the day.

Mine started out with a lot of heartburn, and intense pain in the right lower abdomen, alternating diarrhea and constipation, and weight loss. They put me on some sort of acid reducer, which helped the heartburn. My doctor did an ultrasound, and saw that I had an ovarian cyst, so for a while, I was treated for that with pain meds. After a repeat ultrasound showed no cyst, and the pain was still going on, I was sent to a GI who ordered a CT. I had an abcess, my appendix had ruptured, and I had barium outside my intestines. Needless to say, I was admitted to the hospital and taken for surgery soon after. From the start of symptoms to surgery was only about a year. Thank God I had the CT when I did, because I could have gotten much worse really quickly, or even died had I not been treated when I was!

I hope the colonoscopy helps your docs diagnose and treat you soon! Good luck!

Mine started with a wierd rash on my right hand and horrible stomache pain and cramping. I was drinking 1-2 bottles of pepto or malox a day to try and calm my stomache. This went on for 4-5 months i just toughed it out. then i went to the ER and they ran tests blood, CT scan, barium x ray etc... and told me it was diverticulitous and eat more fiber. Fiber was a bad idea and sent me in a tail spin of pain. I met with a GI doc and that is when they finally did a colonoscopy and found crohns. After the colonosocpy i was in intense pain and they still sent me home. 9 hours and an ambulance ride later i was back in the hospital with a deluaded pain pump for about 5 days.
All i can say is DONT WAIT!

best of luck

This post has actually made me think back a little. I was diagnosed at age 10. I remember constant "D." Horrible stomach cramps, weight loss, and ulcers in my mouth. As I think back, it seemed to be like someone flipped a switch. In the 4th grade, I was the track girl. 2nd fastest 500 meter run. And by 5th grade, I couldn't walk home from the bus stop without stopping at a construction site or having an accident. (My bus stop was like 1/2 mile away but it was still pretty bad.)

Hope you will better soon.

it all started very randomly and really just scared the hell out of me, it was about 2 years ago now and i would wake up every day for maybe 3 or 4 months and violently vomit everything i was holding in me along with of course the usual bouts of C or D whichever my body felt like throwing at me , now it seem to "go away" every once in a while and i dont vomit as much anymore (probably because i dont eat nearly as much as i used to) now its just a guessing game as to how im going to wake up and get through the day

I was 18 years old and had D and cramping for one year when I developed a fistula. I had all of the tests and it was crohn's. I hope you don't have crohn's, but having a diagnosis for your illness is half the battle.

All the best,
Julia

Fatigue, D, loss of appetite, bloody stool, severe weight loss, nausea, in that order. my flares still follow the same pattern. i also have a history of losing consciousness when im hot/tired/hungry, so if the flares last for too long i become extremely weak and am much more prone to such episodes. i hurt my back on my last major flare because my shower was too hot and i smacked my spine into the faucet on the way down. thank god for chiropractors.

D for a couple of weeks
High white blood cell count
Couldn't keep anything down
General overall weakness
Severe intestinal cramping
Dramatic weight loss...

I had lost a huge amount of weight in a very short period of time.  I would take one bite of food and I had an instant stomach ache- sharp pains.  I would sleep forever.  Lack of energy.  I would sleep sitting up holding a pillow, because to lay down hurt too much.  And the night I was diagnosed  I was vomiting all day, I couldnt keep anything down, then I started throwing up stomach bile.  Rushed to the ER, had an emergency resection. I had been sick for over a year prior to that though.