Son's dx with chrohn's..

I posted last week about my son's dx with chrohn's and how worried I am. Well he is in college(living with us) and works full time at a well known pizza place. They have decided to send him to school as well for management training. So that's his schedule. Oh wait and he volunteer's at the Ronald McDonanld house.
He is pretty busy. The time he has home he just sleeps though. Is that normal? He wakes up saying he is tired. For example he had classes last night until 11pm. He came home and went to bed. Then he didn't get up until 3pm today to get ready for work. It seems like a lot of sleeping. He just started this about 5 months ago when his symptoms started so i figured it was related but wasn't sure.
On to another question. The Dr. put him on Asacol HD DR 800 MG last week. Thursday. So Saturday night i got a call saying they were rushing him to the ER because he had collasped (fainted) at work. He said he felt his arms and legs tingling. Well the ER DR. dx him with near-fainting spell . Yeah no kidding. We knew that before he got there. He thought maybe he had a panic attack, which he has had before but not often and he knows how those feel. I think it was from the meds. Has anyone else had this? They just said his potassium was low. Some of the side effects from the meds sound like what he had, but i don't know. Any advice would sure make me feel better as mom. Thank you. Hope you all have a good weekend!! heather

So sorry he is having troubles it is hard with meds but yes the fatigue and sleeping is normal. My family here (boyfriend etc) teases me at times because I need sleep not in a bad teasing way just in a playful way but he knows I need it. I had a flare last spring and I wasnt sleeping as much which made things worse. Then on top of it I came down with some bug that they never figured out high fevers swollen throat appeared as strep or mono but all tests were neg at that time I was sleeping about 20 hrs a day. He may need to take a break from such a heavy load. Also his GI needs to be aware of the fainting etc it may be linked to the meds or bleeding or something else.

Hi Heather! The extra sleeping is absolutely normal! I am 21 and also have Crohn's and I'd say fatigue is my number one symptom. So no worries here!

Unfortunately, I have never been on that medication and can't give you any advice on that. I will mention though that I do pass out often because I have a naturally low blood pressure. It has nothing to do with any medications I am though.

I wish your son all the luck!

I have had this darn disease nearly 36 years, and am currently in remission. I am tired ALL the time. I come home from work and usually sleep for 1 to 1 1/2 hours before I take my shower, then go to bed at night. Fatigue is a constant with this disease. I take Asacol and never had issues like that. I am thinking he is overdoing it and not eating properly especially with them saying his potassium is low. That means he is getting dehydrated. I agree he might need to let something go, so he can properly care for himself right now. Hugs!

Thank you all so much for your replies. It def. makes me understand more of what he is going through. Before he was dx I thought he was in another bout of depression, as he had gone through that the year before. He of course was to embarrassed to talk to us about what else was going on with him.
The sleeping did concern me. He does have a busy schedule and I have tried to tell him that he cannot do it all. I am concerned that he is taking on more than he and his body can handle at this point. I have told him that even if everything was alright, it is a lot for a college student.
As far as the eating, in all honesty I don't see him a whole lot even in the same house. I am so busy and so is he, we kind of just pass by each other. I will say he is about 5ft 8 and 118 #'s. I am pretty sure he has lost weight. I tell him he needs to eat more but he says he's not hungry. So when I do see him i ask him what he has eaten and he will say well what day is it? I mean he can't remember that so I wonder how he keeps track of eating. That worries me.
I will talk to his dr. I asked him if he talked to the dr. about the fainting and he said he couldn't get a hold of him. So I will need to.
I am very thankful for all of your advice and support and will pass it all along to him. Hopefully at some point he will come here himself. Thanks and Take care. Heather

PV,
I will pass the information on to him and def. talk to the Dr. next time. he keeps trying to take care of the apps by himself because"he is an adult now" . WE keep reminding him that it's a lot to take on for anybody!! Thank you for your input! Heather

Hello Mama6,

I am sorry to hear about your sons diagnosis and can understand his problems with fatigue as that is a huge issue I am dealing with now in my major flare. I too am going to school full time but not working and I am having problems staying awake and focusing on my school work. I took all of the blood tests and B12 blood work to check for anemia and everything came back normal so just because the tests come back okay it does not mean that there is not a problem. Is he on vitamin B complex? It is supposed to help give you energy. I started taking it a week ago and sadly I am not feeling relief from my fatigue but maybe he will have better luck.

I am also taking 3200 mg of Asacol and 20mg of Prednisone and was told that I should feel better in about a month and a half but that has not happened and it has been a month. The only side effect I have heard someone have on Asacol is feeling pukey after taking it so she had to stop. I have not felt any side effects from it myself as I had major fatigue due to my flare before taking it. I hope this information helps and good luck find relief for your son its out there somewhere.

Libra1979