Question about symptoms?

Hi everyone :)

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis 5 years ago.. since then, I have been on lots of different meds, (listed in my sig) and now they are suspecting Crohn's since after coming off Steroids I've had constant right sided pain for about 2 months now) and a feeling of fullness on the right side. I was wondering if anyone here with Crohn's ever felt the feeling of fullness in the right side? My pain is right about where my belly button is, but lower slightly to the right. The fullness I feel is more like in my colon, the ascending part and maybe slightly into the transverse part. It doesn't hurt there, just feels like something is in there sometimes, maybe when poo is passing through, but I can feel like pressure or something.

Other than that, I'm doing ok for the most part. I'm on Pentasa now and not sure if it's even helping, was thinking of asking my GI for Entocort or something like that to maybe kick this thing into remission... I was scheduled for a colonoscopy next week, but received a call today saying I had to pay the deductable up front and I can't afford that right now so I have put it off for a month to give me a chance to save up. Instead, he's probably going to do the pill cam since I won't have a huge deductable for that test then do the colonoscopy when I save up the money..

I was just curious about if any of you have felt that way on the right side? It's not excruciating pain, but bad enough where I can't jog or ride my horse.. UGH... and the fullness or pressure is only sometimes, not constant... so weird.....

Oh, I did have a Small bowel follow through about 5 weeks ago and no sign of blockages, also a CT scan with contrast so no appendix issues... hmmmph...

about 35% of people with Crohn's have it in the terminal ileum of the small bowel. That's the end part. The TI lies in the right side of the abdomen so people with CD in the TI often have right sided pain. I get pain there 1-2 hours after eating roughage. Lettuce leaves me with pain there for a day or two.

Usually in a colonoscopy, the GI can get to the TI and see what's going on there. The capsule endoscopy should be able to vizualize the area also. Crohn's was found in my TI during a colonoscopy. A CT and SBFT within ten days of my scope were "Normal."

The ideal method would be to go on a liquid diet to give your bowels a rest and then add foods one at a time to see how you react. I get the same kind of pain you do and it really helps me to go liquid for a few days. Raw veggies are almost always out of the question. I personally react to beef and pork so my proteins are fish and fowl. Chicken seems to be almost universally safe for some reason so chicken broth might be a good thing at first. Soft foods like pasta and potatoes are usually safe for most ppl. Chillies are usually a problem, I even avoid pepper.

I know how you feel re the pain, I've been in bad pain (not Crohn's related) since 1986 and it definitely causes depression. I hope you can get it under control real soon.

THanks everyone :)

I have found that Chicken and Eggs seem to be very safe for me to eat, along with mashed potatoes as long as I don't eat the peels of the potato. Oh, and Canned Green Beans are pretty safe for me... I tried eating canned spinach, but I think it has given me problems so I need to try that again once I get this pain under control and see what happens as I LOVE Spinach with a little butter.. yummmmm....

I also picked up some baby food yesterday, some veggies and fruit flavors. I'm going to eat those instead of my traditional veggies and fruit and see what happens. It sure tastes bland when you eat it out of the jar, but I just add a tiny bit of salt and butter to the veggie ones and it's really pretty good. Seems to go through with no problems at all and I'm getting the fruit and veggie benefits.. (at least I hope so...lol)

Well, eventually I'll get everything figured out, it's been a real tough last year... including my almost 8 months on presnisone and all the lovely efffects of that drug,.. lol.. I never thought my face could get so fat! OH and the hunchback! OH GOSH.. talk about buffalo hump... WOW... At least my body is almost back to normal, No more moonface or hump, just 20 more of the 30 pounds I gained to lose and I'll be feeling better emotionally... lol..

Thanks for the advice everyone... looks like I'll probably be moving over to this board, my GI's pretty sure it's Crohn's after all, just need to do the pill cam and colonoscopy to confirm it... UGH... lol..