First of all, let me say that I'm extremely grateful for the wealth of knowledge on this forum and everyone's willingness to help each other out here. If my colonoscopy does confirm, then I'll certainly be around. I'm 23 years old right now.
Here's my story:
about
a year and a half ago, after a night of binge drinking I woke up with horrible abdominal pain. Constipation started the next day and started to gradually get better about
a week later. I always slept on my right side the duration of symptoms because I couldnt stand the feeling of "heaviness" on my right when I slept on my left side. I did also have significant cramping in my upper left abdomen. It felt like the waste was just getting stuck up there. I did also have alot of bubbling and dull discomfort sensation in my lower right; but it was never terribly painful or sharp. It took about
2-3 months for the constipation to go away completely.
I had no symptoms until this fall, when, again after a night of lots of drinking, I began to experience the same symptoms and ongoing discomfort in my upper abdomen. I went to the doctor and was prescribed prilosec on suspicion of an ulcer. The prilosec did a great job of reducing my acid reflux symptoms and my problems went away in a week! Then when I stopped prilosec 2 weeks later, the acid symptoms and abdominal discomfort came right back. After about
a month of prilosec I began to develop very very hard stools and abdominal cramping. The acid reflux did not come back after stopping prilosec, but the chronic constipation has never stopped. I've also had slowed emptying of my stomach; especially when I eat Pizza.
I've been taking miralax and metamucil. I tried to stop the metamucil, but then I just cannot pass anything but small skinny stools due to the miralax. The miralax has nearly completely eliminated any pain in my abdomen. The dull sensation and bubbling sounds that used to come from my lower right are gone, and the upper left abdomen cramps are much more infrequent.
After telling him this story, he said its very likely I have Crohn's; so much so that he was willing to prescribe crohns medication immediately at the time. I have a colonoscopy schedule for a week from now (Scared! I've never had anasthesia). So, what do you guys think? Sounds like I'm about
to join the club? Is there a chance that I could have Crohns in my small intestine and the doctor would never see it? Has any ones symptoms started in a similar way?
So to recap:
Chronic constipation
Slow emptying of stomach
Occasional dull pain in lower right abdomen relieved by miralax
Cramping in upper left abdomen
No weight loss/no diarrhea
No blood in stool
No mouth ulcers
No joint pain
Post Edited (sickinny) : 1/12/2010 6:17:59 PM (GMT-7)