Second time in hospital this year :(

For the second time this year I find myself in the hospital for my Crohn's. This last Friday I wasn't feeling too good, but what else is new? Then Saturday night things started going downhill fast. Usually when I have a bad day or two my symptoms clear up on their own, but this time they got worse. Luckily I had Sunday off of work, but then Monday rolled along and at 2:50pm I decided enough is enough. I called my GI's office and they scheduled me for a 3:15 appointment for the nurse practitioner. She asked me some questions about my symptoms, called my doctor, and called ahead to the hospital to have me admitted. They got me hooked up to demerol on a PCA, saline solution, and Zophran. For the first time in 3+ days I have relief from my nausea, vomiting, and horrible abdominal pain.

Last night I had a CT scan, and the doc took a look at this this morning and said he can see where it's blocked up, but wants to try high doses of Solu-Medrol to try to clear it up, and only do surgery if that doesn't work. I really didn't want surgery back in Feb, when I was in the hospital last time. This time I am ready to be done with this. I am ready to feel good again.

I had a resection back in '00, but then my doctor moved away form my area, and the new doctor I got took me off maintenance drugs, which, I'm sure, is why I am in this situation.

I'm really sorry you having such a hard time. I hope the drugs help.

So sorry to hear you are feeling so bad. I had 3 hospitalizations earlier this year myself, had multiple catscans and a SBFT and they could never find the blockage, but I have had a block before, and I felt the same way. They said I probably had a partial obstruction. They gave me Pred for a few months and that finally helped kick things back in the right direction. Sure hope you get some relief soon. If you don't, I would demand a referral to a surgeon. No one should have to suffer like that. Good Luck!

Well, I'm out of the hospital. Along with seeing my regular GI when I was in the hospital I also saw a surgeon that he partners with. The pain meds, steroids, and an NG tube to decompress my bowel got me through this time. I am going to see the surgeon again in a week or two. I think that now that I'm feeling good, it is time to get ahead of the game for once, and go for my second resection. I am ready to feel good again. My last one kept me good for 6 years or so.

A couple years after my first resection my doctor moved away for a huge promotion, so I was forced to go to another doctor. The new doctor took me off my maintenance drugs because he didn't feel that they would do me any good. Being 18 at the time, the idea of not having to take all those drugs was quite appealing to me, so I complied. about 3 years ago now I started feeling a little bad again, and in the last 2 years things got very bad again. I did a few doses of Rem, but that didn't seem to do it for me, so I am now on Humira, ready for third dose this week.

My hope is that after a second resection, and by keeping on maintainance drugs like Humira and Imuran, that I can maintain a much longer remission.

Solu-medrol is an IV steroid. In the hospital I was on, IIRC, 40 milligrams 3 times a day. It took a bit of time, but with that, the gut rest, and the decompression from the NG tube, things started moving again. I hope to remain healthy and put some weight on over the next several weeks to help make a surgery easier. I want to get this done soon, as I was planning on a major move early in the year, so I want to recover and be back to normal quickly.