Undiagnosed Chrons - Should I go to ER?

Hi,

I have not been diagnosed but I am quite sure I am suffering from Chron's. I wrote in the UC forum a few days ago and then some things started to make sense and I think I am definitely dealing with Chron's. It started 5 months ago with rectal pressure and some pain int he area of the sigmoid colon. I had an ovarian cyst at the time and we thought that was all it was. Suddenly I am a wreck. I have terrible joint pains that wake me up at night - started in my knees, now in knees, elbows, knuckles. I started getting these red sores on my fingers. My GI tract is a mess - watery D with mucus and blood. Not a lof of blood, but it is present. My esophagus/throat are red and burning as well. about 5 yrs ago I had gastritis of unknown etiology that eventually went away on its own in 6 or 7 months and I have been fine since. After a bout of antibiotics and some high stress 5 months ago, I think this is Chron's. I did not know that a body could feel this terrible. I am not scheduled to see a GI doc for another 8 weeks and there is no way I can make it that long. I have tried getting in sooner and am on some waiting lists, but I feel like I need help now. My PCP gave me some Hydrocodone to help with the pain, but it is still hard to function. Should I go to the ER? I have the option of going to my local hospital or I could go to a university hospital 45 min away. What would you do? Thank you so much for your help.

You should go see your regular DR. What you really need is a colonoscopy and/or a small bowel imaging study. Your GP can probably get you an appointment for these things pretty quickly.

If your pain is that bad, it may be the case that you would be admitted to the hospital through the ER.
Then because you haven't actually got a GI yet, they may get the GI from that hospital to take a look
at you. Might get the ball rolling quicker. Good luck.

Thanks. I think I will go tonight. Please tell me this gets better with treatment.

I tend to err on the side of avoiding the ER. I had bloody diarrhea for 2 months before telling anyone, including my husband. Even after seeing a GI I had bloody diarrhea for a year before being given somewhat effective treatment. It still took another 2 years after that to get to effective treatment.

Certainly blood in your stool deserves a call to a doc. Blood tests and stool tests can be run by your regular GP. Scopes and imaging studies have to come from the GI or a hospital I'd think. If your PCP is pushing you off with codiene I say push back and ask for blood work. It would at least be good to know your iron level, blood count and if inflammatory markers are elevated.

Pain management? I have to say that my illness has never caused me debilitating pain, except for joint pain, which got everyone's attention and resulted in me being on prednisone for 3 months. But that was 4 years or more into my being a GI patient.

Hello again,

I went to the ER last night and they are going to move up my testing. I still don't have a date, but I am waiting on a call from the GI clinic today.

 I am scared to death. I have been reading a lot and this is a pretty bad disease. I think I had my first bout of it 5 yrs ago when I some unknown gastritis and esophagitis that lasted 7 months. I have been fine since until this January. Do you think that for most people if it starts mild, it stays mild? I just talked to a friend who's brother died of chrons. I am hoping since I have had a relatively good 5 yrs, that once I get treated I can be hopeful for another long bout of normalcy. I know it varies person to person, but do you feel like your schedule is fairly consistent with timing of flares and severity?

I am going to second kazbern's reply. And please remember that while this is a chronic and incurable bowel disease, it is NOT a death sentence. In fact, it is rather rare to die from this disease.

I have had the disease going on 36 yrs. I am married, been at the same job for nearly 22 years, have 3 grown daughters (all born after diagnosis) and 6 amazing grandchildren. While there have been bumps in the road, I still have been able to enjoy my life and so will you once you get the proper treatment.

Good luck!

My joint pain always peaks with my menstrual cycle. That might be something to track as you wait for this appointment.

You can take ibuprofen or alleve with extreme caution to address the joint pain. For myself, one double-dose alleve will relieve my pain enough to get through a couple of days. I cannot take more than a day of NSAIDs without pain, though.

My highest CRP was a 4, and that was at the peak of my asthma season and in a Crohn's flare. The only way I ever got my GI to pay attention to my joint pain was when I showed up with my pinky knuckle red and swollen.  Typically my joints will hurt without any visible swelling, and I'm pretty sure my blood work never showed any inflammatory markers during my major joint pain event in 2005.  My rheumatologist got very excited last year because I reported a chronic hamstring injury to him - the orthopedist who treated me did a pelvic MRI and found arthritic changes on my SI.  This was very exciting to the rheumy, LOL!

If joint pain is your primary complaint right now, you might also consider seeing a rheumatologist (in addition to the GI). My rheumy and GI ended up having to work together to find a solution that would relieve my joint pain.