overwhelmed

I hate you have to be here but WELCOME! You'll find everyone on this board to be extremely helpful, honest and upfront about how they've dealt with their Crohn's. I found a lot of comfort here when I was first diagnosed because I didn't know anyone else with this crazy disease. It was great to find a forum where I could talk about "unmentionable" stuff and people UNDERSTAND what I was talking about and going through.

My advice is to STAY POSITIVE. I know that's easier said than done when you're hurting. Just know you're not alone. Treat your body as well as YOU can. Read as much as you can about CD from the people who have had CD for years. Talk to your doctors openly and teach them about how YOUR Crohn's affects YOU. I've learned that the doctors are still in the learning stages of this disease, too. I've also found the book "100 Questions & Answers about Crohn's Diease and Ulcerative Colitis: A Lahey Clinic Guide" to be very helpful.

Take care.

thank you for the responses.

when i went into the hospital i was having abdominal pain, diahreah, weightloss, fevers, and tiredness. basically everything. I am now taking pentasa, prevacid, prednisone, and amoxiciline (sp?). Right now im just having abdominal pain and lots of back pain but i dont know if the back pain is related to crohns or not. As far as pain, my doctors just recommended tylonol.

thank you again. it helps just having someone to talk to.

First off let me also add my welcome to Healingwell. We have alot of wonderful and supportive folks trying to live with the same disease.

A suggestion to ask the doc about for the cramps/pain is Bentyl or Levsin. These meds are good for the abdominal spasms we all suffer with.

Also, sometimes when the intestines are all in an uproar, we can get referred pain into our lower back. Very common. Also, antibiotics can sometimes cause alot of diarrhea for us, so be sure to take a good probiotic two hours after each dose of anti-b. This helps to avoid getting a bacterial overgrowth, and keeps the bacterial levels (good/bad) even. I take a basic lactobacillus everyday.

Glad to have you with us, sorry you have to be in our club.

Hugs,
Gail *Nanners*

what is a probiotic?

A probiotic adds extra GOOD bacteria to your body to balance out the imbalance of good/bad bacteria in the intestines that often causes diarrhea and/or constipation.

I get lower back pain when I've had a lot of bowel movements during a flare. Catbird is right, too. I went to a Rheumy last year because my ankles often swell to the point I can't walk/drive. She immediately asked me if I'd ever had lower back pain. She had my sacroiliac joints X-rayed as a baseline. It's a 3-point X-ray of the pelvic joints. It's in the overall arthritis category of Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), which many of us Crohnies on this board have.

Let me add my welcome too. The best thing you can do for yourself is to educate yourself, but please understand that while everything is a possibility with this disease most things are not a probability. If that makes sense. The majority of people with CD are out in the world living their lives with very little daily thought given to CD. They may have an initial flare up when they are diagnosed and the occasional bad time, but for the most part they take some daily meds and are off living life. Then there are some who are more severely affected, or don't respond to the medications, or are still seeking diagnosis. A lot of them are posters here. And then there are some of us who have had the disease for many years and can offer a long term point of view/advice. If there is a complication out there, someone on this board has probably had it. If you have any questions, this is the place. Because of the nature of CD, we pretty much discuss anything. So feel free to ask what you want.

Nanners point about cramping pain medication was good advice. Also, GI doctors tend not to want to give out pain medication. They want to fix the cause of the pain, not mask it. However, a lot of the Crohn's medications take time to work, leaving us to live in pain while they work their magic. If you are in pain that is affecting your ability to function, you need to make your doctor understand and give you something to help you function. There have been many threads on this topic. You can try to do a search if you want to get some background info.

Try looking at the resources to the right for more books on Crohn's disease or check some out of the library in your town, but the more reading you do the better. Just don't scare yourself.

Take care,