Worried about future with Crohn's disease

I am 17 years old and I have recently been diagnosed with crohn's disease. Reading though all of these forums is making me really scared about what is to come with this disease. I am worried about how it will affect my future. I am a dancer and I want to become a dance teacher/ studio owner someday. Next year I am going to college. I am super worried about how hard this will be. will I be able to live in a dorm?? What won't I be able to do because of this disease? Please be honest.

The percentage of people that live fulfilling and active lives with Crohn's is much higher than those that have severe disease and multiple heal issues from CD. The majority of the people that post here come at an acute phase of disease. Perhaps they just got diagnosed, had surgery, are flaring, developed a fistula etc. Many find treatment that works for them, they feel better and then go out and live - rarely coming back here to post. Others are like me, CD stable and like the community and helping out.

The main thing is to work with your GI to get your symptoms under control. It may take several tries to find the medication or combination of medications that work, but don't give up hope. Try to be good to yourself too. Eating nutritiously, getting enough sleep, and exercsing in accordance with your body's threshold. As Vicky said, stress can make CD symptoms worse. I know that high school can make for some stressful times - try to be mindful not to add stress to your life, ie waiting to last minute to write that paper....LOL.

As for college, housing varies widely at colleges. Some have better bathroom accommadations than others. Colleges have offices that deal with people that have special needs. Crohn's puts you into that catagory. Make sure to check there. I sure some of our members closer to college years will be more specific than I can be.

BTW, welcome to Healing Well, Gugibear. I'm glad you joined.

Thank you all so much for the support! I didnt know that about the housing for college thanks for the tip!

Thank you so much, that makes me feel much better :) I hope that I will be able to accomplish as much as you have!

I have an 18 yr. old daughter with CD. She's in her first year of college this year, and is doing well right now. She was also a competitive figure skater for many years, and is coaching now. This sort of parrallels what you would like to do with dance, so as you can see, these things are certainly attainable. 

There will always be a degree of uncertainty with this disease, but there are successful treatment options that will work. The best things you could do is to educate yourself as best as you can about this disease, and make sure that you have a GI that you feel confident in. 

Also, there are many good people on this forum that can and look forward to helping you. Please continue to ask questions here, and look for support. As indicated earlier, some of the situations your read about here can sound scary, but they are usually severe cases, or the very new that haven't tried treatment options yet. 

I can't comment on the residence washrooms, as my daughter is commuting from home this year.

Good luck with everything. I'm sure you'll have a bright future ahead of you.

You can do anything you set your heart too. I was diagnosed at 18 and am now 54. I am married to the most wonderful man ever, with 3 grown adult daughters all conceived after my diagnosis, have 6 grandchildren, and have worked at the same job for over 22 years. Yes, there will be bumps in the road, but if you make sure you stay on your meds even in the healthier days, life will be a little better for you. Good luck!

I agree completely with the other posters.  CD hasn't stopped me from doing anything either.  I have traveled the world, I am active in all kinds of sports, am married and have a 10 year old daughter (also conceived after my diagnoses).  I know my limits and rest when I need to but I don't feel like I have missed out on anything because of my crohns.  Sometimes it just means extra planning and some patience!

You will do everything you set your mind to.  Dream big!  There's a whole wide world out there waiting for you!

Hi dear,
I definitely agree with the other fellow Crohnies. I started my CD four years ago and I think I did have it 10 years before. The onset of CD was in 2007, when I was studying for my masters, still I could finish it and i could at that time get scholarships. I'm now a college teacher, have a lot of academic and administrative responsibilities, still I do everything even if I'm not present in physique, I can do my work from home. I also have to work on my PhD. Yes, there are days when you have to call them off, stay at home and rest but as other posters have mentioned, you will find a suitable medication with the help of your GI and these days will be reduced. It will be a trial and error phase but hopefully at the end, you will find light at the end of the tunnel. I have no experience with college, but as Lovely985 mentioned, talk to the Disability Resource Center. I read the same advice here at this forum, talked to my boss and nearest colleagues about it and they are very helpful and understanding. When I have a flare up, I call them and they thankfully support me.
Hope you become a very famous dancer:)
Take care!

Their may be times when things are not too good but you could well be in remission and not have any significant symptoms for many years. Be aware of your condition and ensure you discuss it fully witth your GI and make sure you are on some sort of maintainence meds so that it keeps it under control. There are no limits or boundaries as to what you want to do and achieve, medicine has moved on so much since I was dx at 18yo and am now 40yo. Maybe if I was that age now I may not have had to have the surgery I did as the drugs they have now were not available then. So don't worry about what might happen, be aware of things and your symptoms and if they get worse see someone but don't let it dictate your life to you. Illness can strike at any age, make the most of your youth and vitality and do whatever you want to.

My son's GI, who is very experienced, reputable and involved in research on the disease seems to think that there are new treatments in the pipeline for crohn's which will be safer and more effective in the future. If I was your age I would have a lot of hope for a cure in my lifetime.

I too worry a lot about the future. I was just diagnosed in late June and have had some bumps in the road early on (sepsis followed by pancreatitis caused by Imuran), lately things have stabilized. I'm 32, I left my job of 6 years... a nice job that I could have had until I retired. Now I worry about finding a new job. I think I deal with anxiety more than my actual CD symptoms at this point, I'm due to start Remicade soon and I hope that it does for me what it's done for a lot of people here.

Do not let Crohn contol you, you should control him, there many athletics have crohn and they do a great job!

You have to keep up with your medicine and diet

I had very similar concerns when my husband was first diagnosed with crohns disease. I wondered how our lives will be affected; if our whole lives and all our options are going to now be dictated by crohns. Now 4 years later, I can tell you that once we found a drug regimen that put my husband in remission, we have had a normal life pretty much.

My husband put back on the 45 lbs he lost when he was first diagnosed, he started working out regularly and is now more muscular than he was when he went into the hospital for crohns issues. He also has done several sessions of adult ballet (he used to do ballet in college - he was probably the only ballet physicist). He is now very into kundalini yoga and is actually taking a teaching track course in that.

In the meantime, we've now added 2 more dogs to our family, he has not had to take any medical leave and has been able to go to work most of the time. I think the best advice I can give you is to plan for the future (in terms of finances and what you want to do), but to not worry about how crohns will affect your future. The answer is none knows, and worrying about it won't change the future.

So, learn to live in the present and appreciate each beautiful day you have. When sometimes crohns rears its ugly head, remember that you will get this flare up under control and life will go in.

PV