2nd Time Being Hospitalized

My name is Matthew and I was diagnosed with crohn's disease about 8 years ago. My GI doc put me on Asacol, and I have had much success with it. With the occasional flare-up every year, I had been keeping the disease, relatively "in check". But in august, I was first hospitalized with a flare-up. My symptoms were the usual ones. Extreme abdominal pain, vomiting, not being about to pass any stool. The doctors at the ER said that I was close to having a blockage, but that they caught it in time. And after being in the hospital for 3 days, they sent me home. The usual rounds of pred, flagyl and cypro were used.

On November 23rd, I once again awoke to having some stomach cramps. Nothing I couldn't manage on my own, but the cramps became worse throughout the day, to the point of almost being in the fetal position. I was still able to go to the bathroom, but not have as much being passed. I grew concerned when I started breaking out in sweats (like I had been running miles) and almost feeling like I was about to pass out. Around 2pm, I started vomiting. Then I knew that I had to go to the hospital. The sweats continued when I was in the waiting room, and I almost passed out a second time. I threw up in the triage waiting for the anti-nausua meds and the demoral. The doctors did a CT scan...and then put in a NG tube (god that was horrible). I was admitted that night and just got out of the hospital this Tuesday. My girlfriend keeps saying that it wasn't a flare-up, that it was food poisoning. But she ate the same food. I would think that if it was food poisoning that she would get sick, even though she didn't eat as much as I did

Have any of ya'll experienced sweats during a flareup?

Hi Yes I had a night of vomitting and pain Wed. of this week and I broke ut in a sweat.Was very weak at the time. When I had the partial blockage the pain did not go away and I did not have bowel movements or pass gas. I was having a bowel movement on Wed. and it passed thank goodness .It can be worrisome at times when those espisodes come along that's for sure. Hope your feeling better. lol gail

Are you seeing a GI? Has he done other tests like a colonoscopy to see what's really going on in there? After 2 trips to the ER for possible blockage, it's time for a change in your treatment plan, it's obviously not working.

Good luck at the GI's tomorrow. Hopefully he'll want to look into this more, unfortunately for you it will probably mean more tests, but it's better to have answers so you can treat it appropriately. Let us know what he says.

Humira isn't experimental- it's an approved treatment for Crohn's in the US. http://www.humira.com/CrohnsDisease/Default.aspx

From what I hear, it is expensive, though.  Just in the last week or so someone here was talking about a discount program from the manufacturer.  Maybe you could qualify for that?  (I'm guessing you don't have insurance?)

Pred can screw up your blood sugar.  Has anyone checked that for you?  Diabetes can cause increased urination.  Fortunately, for a lot of people it's temporary and goes away once you're off.