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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 2/26/2017 2:47 AM (GMT 0)
Hello, I'm new to this site and in need of some advice! I'm a 20 year old female who, for the past 6 months, has been experiencing bouts of diarrhea, extreme abdominal pain, and a constant tiredness that has caused me to take a semester off of college. I'm 5'5" and weigh 100 pounds, which is 15 pounds lighter than I was last summer. I went to see a doctor about this problem and she suggested that it might be Chron's Disease. However, after doing some blood work there were no signs of anemia or "inflammation" in my blood, so she said it likely isn't Chron's (also because my symptoms go away at times, sometimes for weeks at a time, and she says Chron's symptoms are constant. I also occasionally get bad constipation which she said can't happen to people with Chron's.) Is there a chance that it still may be Chron's? A part of me was relieved to know why I was so thin, tired, and constantly in pain and to know that I could get treatment to help. Should I see another doctor for a second opinion? Her advice of trying some probiotics is frustrating seeing that this pain is literally debilitating.
Posted 2/26/2017 2:59 AM (GMT 0)
Jrobb,

Did you go to a GI doctor? Did she perform a colostomy or take any tissue samples?

If it were me I would see a GOOD GI for a second opinion. You can have either diarrhea or constipation with Crohns. When I first started out I did not have any markers in my blood. I have friends who appeared to have symptoms intermittently at first.

I hope that you feel better and find the answers you need.

Clo
Posted 2/26/2017 3:06 AM (GMT 0)
Definitely need a second opinion.
Posted 2/26/2017 4:29 AM (GMT 0)
Crohn's goes into periods of flares and periods of remission, so symptoms definitely can go away at times. I agree you need a second opinion and a colonoscopy to see what's going on. And ask for them to test you for Celiac disease too, and/or you can try going gluten free and see if it helps. If your tests all come out negative, then I think you should work with a nutritionist. I'm sorry you got so sick that you had to drop out of school and I hope you get it all sorted out soon!
Posted 2/26/2017 4:54 AM (GMT 0)
Definitely get a second opinion and go to a good GI doctor!they should do a colonoscopy which is the best why to determine if its crohns. My symptoms came and went for years before diagnosis and i thought that was a sign it wasn't crohns, especially because i had been I was okay by several doctors in the past and yes I had severe constipation with it. It wasn't diagnosed until it got extremely severe. Hang in there! It is rough trying to keep up with college while being sick but it is possible! It took be extra time but I got through undergrad. Find a good doc thats committed to finding answers.
Posted 2/26/2017 8:27 AM (GMT 0)
Any fevers? Any joint aches?

As the others have said, you can have constipation with Crohn's. Or diarrhea. Or back and forth between the two.

And symptoms can definitely come and go for days, weeks, months, even years at a time.

And the blood tests *usually* show inflammation for *most people* with Crohn's, but there are others in whom the inflammation markers never rise. So that test isn't all that reliable on its own. Mine always came back good, and that's one reason doctors pushed me away for years before it got sorted out.

So it still could be Crohn's. But it could be all sorts of things, or nothing much too. You really need further testing to figure things out.

As suggested by gumby44, a good start might be the blood test for celiac disease. It's simple and very accurate. Next would be stool samples to culture for infectious agents. If those come back negative, then a visit to a GI, and a colonoscopy and/or MRI might be next.
Posted 2/26/2017 5:03 PM (GMT 0)
You need a second opinion. I went for years with the only symptom being extreme fatigue that would come and go sometimes for month sat a time. Only after losing twenty five pounds in less than two months did the doctor finally decide something was really wrong. Colonoscopy determined I had Crohns. At that time I had very mild diarrhea, took Asacol for about two months then stopped because I felt great. That lasted for about three years then Crohns came back much worse, constipation instead of diarrhea, fatigue, stomach pain, joint pain that comes and goes. My blood tests all come up normal.
Posted 2/26/2017 6:20 PM (GMT 0)
Deffo second opinion, absolutely.

Your doctor was looking for certain markers which are raised whenever there is inflammation. However some people's markers don't rise - something a good doctor ought to to know. A blood test can never rule out or confirm Crohn's alone. You need a colonoscopy with biopsies and at least one small bowel imaging test.

PS: Any GI doc who is screening you for Crohn's ought to screen you for coeliac disease as well. But it's not a bad idea to double-check that they are. I was screened for coeliac without knowing it in the past. The only reason I found out was because my GP thought I had coeliac disease, so I went on a gluten free diet. Told my IBD nurse and she told me that I had come up negative for CD at both that hospital and the one I'd been at before it. I was like, "what?". At any rate the GF diet had made no difference after 6 weeks, so I abandoned it. I wouldn't go GF until you have had the test for CD done first.

Post Edited (NiceCupOfTea) : 2/26/2017 11:25:57 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/27/2017 12:58 AM (GMT 0)
Get a colonoscopy and biopsy otherwise hardly conclusive. Also irritable bowel SYNDROME can be extremely painful on its own. Even if you don't have crohns or b/f moving forward with additional testing you can do an exclusion diet to see if there are particular foods that set you off.

Good luck!
Posted 2/27/2017 1:54 AM (GMT 0)
Agree with all the others. Take a second opinion. You could have both IBS and IBD but with IBS you don't lose weight. For years, I had suspicions of Crohn's, my inflammatory markers rarely went. It was diagnosed as mild Crohn's though I used to have fever, severe abdominal pain and uncontrollable diarrhea. It was only when I started having complications that the diagnosis was confirmed. Insist on seeing a good GI as this disease should not be left untreated and to save you all the sufferings that you are through. Hope you can get an answer to your symptoms and resume your studies soon.
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