Having trouble going to the bathroom (usually as a Crohnie it's the opposite problem :P)

So, I'm not sure what's going on. I don't know if it's because I've been sans medication this month. (More about that later, or in a separate post.) Or maybe I'm stressed about the whole idea of not having medication, even though it hasn't really hit me yet. Or my new work schedule.

Anyways, usually when I have Crohn's flare ups, as I'm sure many of you experience, it comes with all that fun intense stomach pain, and lovely and frequent bathroom stuff. The past few weeks, I've had a lot of the opposite happening - a whole lot of nothing! I've been having trouble going to the bathroom! It's weird. One week it was terrible and painful and there was blood and all the bad stuff. Other times I just won't go. And I haven't been eating/drinking much lately throughout my work day (though I've been trying to be better) but sometimes I'll eat something I know usually upsets my stomach just to MAKE me go (like chipotle burritos, ha, or buffalo wild wings) and nothing, or barely anything. Like, where is it all going?! Everything is just staying inside of me? Should I just not be eating? Sometimes, and it probably isn't good, I've taking two or three docolax (sp?) at night because of that one week I was in crazy pain from it. I'm sure it's not good for my system, but I figured it can't be terrible since I've taken them before for colonoscopy preps.

I'm a high school teacher, and every other day, I don't have a prep, so it's hard to have to deal with bathroom stuff (part of the reason why I don't really both eating or drinking much during work, I think). My insurance is really terrible right now, so I don't even know what it costs for me to even just see my doctor. (Ironically one of the reasons I went into teaching was for simple things like decent health insurance.)

I used to be on Cimzia but my last injection was September 6th. I would have taken it October 6th, as scheduled, but my insurance decided to stop covering it, without giving me any notice.

Has anyone experienced this issue? Because like I said, normally I have the opposite issues when I have Crohn's problems, where I have to go a lot or whatever the case may be, not this, where I'm not going at all, for days at a time! :(

I've had about the same experience. When first diagnosed with Crohn's had diarrhea all the time. Been in remission for awhile and have had constipation for the last six months or so. I take Miralax just about everyday.

That's awful that they are rejecting coverage. Ugh, I hate insurance companies. I had several months with mine not wanting to cover my Remicade. My doctor had to fight with them. Finally after 6 months they started paying. It scared me because I had so many infusions by then, and no idea what I was going to have to pay, even with Remistart. Then Remistart is a bit of a pain. I sent in my explanation of benefits, but they kicked them back saying it was detailed enough. So I had to get the hospital to send me a detailed bill of every infusion. They finally just put money on this credit card they gave me to pay the hospital.

I have also heard that the chances of it working are less if you've already been on it. I think also for reactions too, if you built up antibodies. They should be forced to pay for your Cimzia though. That's just insane how they make medical choices for us instead of our doctors.

There should be some sort of law against insurance companies being allowed to get away with this sort of stunt. I dunno how some of these people get to sleep at night: a lot better than I do, most likely. But seriously, it's just morally wrong to deprive people of needed medication. Particularly as you guys already pay through the nose for health insurance.

Changing the subject, a drastic change in symptoms like going from diarrhoea to constipation should be investigated. It could be something as simple as going into remission, which would be great. Unfortunately for me, a swing from diarrhoea to constipation never indicated anything good. My advice would be to see a GI whenever your dire insurance company sorts itself out, or you find a new one (I'm guessing, unlike doctors, it's not easy to switch insurance companies...) In the meantime, Miralax is good. I was taking it every day for a while. It just keeps the stool soft and much easier to pass - what you don't want it to do is become rock hard and impacted. That's grim. That's really really grim. Don't ask me how I know.

Oh yeah, and squatting makes it easier to pass stool as well. You don't have to literally squat on the toilet seat: just putting your feet up on a stool and leaning back will do it.

My son 35 had diarhea for years, told it was lactose intolerance. But the abdominal pain and got worse and he had chronic constipation. He did the mirralax, the bowel prep etc, till it didn't work anymore. He was Dx last year with Crohns after colonoscopy and endoscopy and they couldn't get the scope through to the illeo secal valve. They wanted to hold on surgery as long as possible.So his Crohns Dr told him to just do liquids, and finally got an MRI approved, and had a Special GI Surgeon on standby to see him as soon as the results were in. The MRI showed inflamation from his stomach, through his small intestines and colon. The surgeon took out the obstructed ileosecal valve and about a foot of both small intestine and colon. He was able to find good tissue to reattach. He had multiple abcesses, it was around his ureter and bladder. The surgeon couldn't understand how he had endured the pain for so long with out narcotics. He healed fast, and is still on Remicade,