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What are your typical Crohn's symptoms? (Besides bowel movements....)

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Posted 7/28/2008 8:48 PM (GMT 0)
I was wondering if you would be willing to share your Crohn's symptoms.  Some people who don't have Crohn's think it's all about "diarrhea."  I believe I am experiencing a flare, but the bowels aren't that bad.  I am having:

1.  Fatigue

2.  Body aches

3.  Feverish

4.  Chills

5.  Sore joints

6.  Brain fog

7.  Headache

What type of symptoms do you experience on a daily basis?  Or if you are flaring?

Thank you so much in advance for your time.  Blessings, Julie

Posted 7/28/2008 8:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Julie,

like you said, besides the famed diarrhea, there are many more symptoms and here are a few that I experience when in a flare.

-severe fatigue
-bloating/gas
-blood in stool
-nausea/vomiting (sometimes blood in vomit)
-intense lower back pain
-joint pain (knees, ankles, fingers and wrists)
-angular cheilitis/ stomatitis (lip sores)
-night sweats/chills
-loss of appetite
-pain in abdomen

and some more but those are probably the more common ones. hope it gives some insight.
Posted 7/28/2008 8:59 PM (GMT 0)
To be honest, sometimes my symptoms are worse outside my bowels! I get:

-Fatigue.
-Night Sweats, or I will feel like I want to have a fever, but I don't.
-Eye inflammation (Episcleritis and/or Scleritis)
-Arthritis symptoms
-Joint weakness at times (maybe that goes with the arthritis)
-Mouth sores
-Nausea
-Rectal Bleeding (not often, thank goodness!)

To be honest, the eye inflammation is there just about every day. Most of the other stuff seems to come and go--it gets worse at times. Sometimes, it almost builds up and then gradually stops.
Posted 7/28/2008 9:26 PM (GMT 0)
So far all of it sounds pretty familiar.
Fatigue-often debilitating
random fevers
pain that seems sourceless
joint inflamation and accompaning pain
Eye inflamation
Night sweats
light headedness
insomnia while exhausted
loss of appitite
Posted 7/28/2008 9:44 PM (GMT 0)

Thank you so much for all of the replies!  It's nice to know I'm not going crazy, lol!  Yes, sometimes the "other" symptoms are worse than the bowels..... eyes

And, how could I forget mentioning bloating, gas, and back pain?  Silly me! tongue

Posted 7/29/2008 12:07 AM (GMT 0)
I suffer all of the above symptoms, some days worse than others. I have trouble understanding why one day I can feel ok and then the next day all these symptoms intensify when I dont eat or do anything differently. Oh well, its the nature of this DD I guess. Jo
Posted 7/29/2008 1:10 AM (GMT 0)
severe fatigue
bloating/gas
bloody stool
lower back pain
knees and ankle joint pain
stomach pain

These are usually my symptoms besides D
Posted 7/29/2008 1:30 AM (GMT 0)
Fatigue
D
perianal fissures
rectal bleeding
occasional bloody stool
loss of appetite, weight loss

plus other stuff, conditions i had already had and have been compounded by Crohns... such as light headedness.
Posted 7/29/2008 2:18 AM (GMT 0)
Fatigue
Diahrea
Sweats
Insomnia
Joint pain that wakes me up
sever bloating
mouth sores
Stomach pain
Oh I could go on and on. LOL
Posted 7/29/2008 2:33 AM (GMT 0)
Fatigue
joint pains
headaches
auto-immune caused angioedema (lip, and thumb swelled up during a flare)
Sever GI bleed
rectal abcsess and fistula
Lost my gallbladder

Probably more. LOL
Posted 7/29/2008 3:50 AM (GMT 0)
lower back pain
joint pains
fatigue
bloating
right side pain (in front)
foot pain
neausea
anxiety

However, not all at the same time (thank heavens!) and some rare, but wonderful days I have none of these symptoms.
Posted 7/29/2008 5:45 AM (GMT 0)
Does anyone else have mucus? Dr said at last c'oscopy (2wks ago) that I had some colitis. Is the mucus from the colitis and not CD?

I've dealt with fatigue (feel like Superwoman when on 'roids), insomnia ('roids), bloating before surgery and the last 2-3 weeks suffering from severe gas (do NOT trust a fart!) that I control with Gas-X and recent probiotics. Still afraid to stop the gas-x, though...that was some baaaad gas! I have blood in the stool when I have gas. Mucus also seems to increase when I have gas. I didn't know night sweats were a symptom of CD, I get those occasionally. I thought it was just our cranky AC. Nausea and loss of appetite I attribute to 6MP.
Posted 7/29/2008 7:57 AM (GMT 0)
i had a batch of bloody mucus once, but it was after a particularly painful scope. i remember waking up and doing my not-quite-screaming-but-still-in-a-ton-of-pain thing... but it all seems like a dream, so i was still at least partially drugged. recovery for that one was nasty too, they filled me full of a lot of air... and gas always hurts me.
Posted 7/29/2008 10:45 AM (GMT 0)
lower back pain
bloody mucus
nausea
severe abdominal pain now everywhere
possible fistulae(finding out today)
knee pain
horrible fatigue(can barely get to the bathroom sometimes!)
loss of appetite/weight loss(101 pounds as of yesterday)
rectal bleeding of course

That's what I can think of for now anyway...much the same as so many of you. Here's to us getting better!
Posted 7/29/2008 12:32 PM (GMT 0)
I think it is amazing that drs never mention all the OTHER symptoms you will have or that all those symptoms are disease related. Until I realized that other Chronies feel the same way being so tired and unmotivated really got me down.
My symptoms:
Fatigue (extreme and the one thing people don't understand and can be more dabilitating than any other symptom sometimes)
insomnia (wonder why I am so tired)
Night sweats
Chills
Sore joints (knees, shoulder, neck)
Headache
diarhea
right side tummy pain
nausea
Right now I have severe spine pain, but don't know if it is the pred or disease or something other.
Posted 7/29/2008 2:20 PM (GMT 0)
i find it interesting that so many of you list fatigue (and extreme fatigue) as your most common side effect other than D.

i'm 23, work a full time job 70 miles away from home (about 2-2.5hrs of driving per day), work a part time job 5 miles from home, and am a full time student. (11 more classes and i'll finally have my bachelors!) i go to bed around midnight and get up around 7:30 and i'm never tired during the day until bed time. i don't exercise regularly, but i do occasionally take part in snowboarding in the winter, and riding my jet ski in the summer.

i'm not sure if it's my high metabolism or crohn's keeping me thin, but i'm 5'7 and 125-130lbs, 4% body fat. maybe im just lucky, but i don't seem to experience the fatigue that most of you all seem to.

i DO, however, have the headaches, joint pain, body aches, sharp lower right side tummy pain, rectal bleeding (but not blood IN the stool- usually drips out after a push) and occasional nausea/loss of appetite.
Posted 7/29/2008 2:31 PM (GMT 0)
Excess gas/abdominal pain related to gas

Sometimes diarrhea

Lower back pain (more recent)

Fatigue if I have diarrhea

Posted 7/29/2008 8:40 PM (GMT 0)

SydneyJo said...
I suffer all of the above symptoms, some days worse than others. I have trouble understanding why one day I can feel ok and then the next day all these symptoms intensify when I dont eat or do anything differently. Oh well, its the nature of this DD I guess. Jo

That is how I feel!  I am trying to understand this disease and the symptoms confuse me.  Sometimes I have bad days and then I have bad weeks.  I wonder if the longer time frames are considered flares?  It is just too weird! 
Posted 7/29/2008 8:49 PM (GMT 0)
    Pretty much the same as the others besides the D I get:   Joints pain/ Arthritis Some kind of skin tag thing that swells with flares…like a “flare-o-meter” Bleeding (not lately) Gut pain one area or another (usually upper right side) Night sweats Gas Nausea Headache (could be many causes might not be CD for me) Fatigue Bloating mouth sores since childhood weight gain (my body reacts the opposite and holds on to fat when I have D, aren’t I lucky?)   Karen  
Posted 7/30/2008 12:22 AM (GMT 0)
Indigo,
It is weird, i just think that I live in a continual flare with the random good days inbetween. Im too scared to say Im ever in remission because as soon as I voice this I will have all the above mentioned symptoms happen to me. After reading this thread it is comforting to know that your symptoms are 'normal' Jo
Posted 7/30/2008 1:51 AM (GMT 0)
I have most of the symptoms listed daily,
fatigue,
pain in the lower right abdomen,
gas,
sleeplessness, (could be the pain causing it.)
heartburn,
nausea,
mouth ulcers,-sometimes so bad I can barely swallow,
frequent bowel movements,
oh, and grouchyness-sorry honey.

I noticed before a flare up my left eye will swell up like I have the hives. I did not see any mention of heartburn. I get that alot! Prilosec every other day helps and staying away from fried foods. After 16 years of living with this I have learned a few tricks, such as staying away from a lot of caffine, raw veggies, and overcooked meats. Does anyone else experience severe nausea during bowel movements? Sometimes I feel as if I will be sick until I am done and then it passes.
Posted 7/30/2008 3:42 AM (GMT 0)

I don't get diarrhea - maybe a handful of times a YEAR just like a normal person - and I hate that so many assume all Crohnies have the big D!

Mine:

severe abdominal pain

excessive gas

joint pain

very painful sores in my vaginal area (like boils!)

mucus in my BMs

extreme exhaustion (typically connected to iron levels)

noisy intestines (I get asked if I'm hungry a lot!)

acute obstructions

Fever

Posted 7/31/2008 5:17 AM (GMT 0)
Question - do you people have sinus pain and a runny nose? What about sore/dry throat and throat phlegm? I know that these are both unrelated to your gut and trivial by comparison to a lot of the other symptoms, but I am curious.
Posted 7/31/2008 5:32 AM (GMT 0)
flares are like being under water when a hand grenade goes off near by. Hmm maybe you cant relate to that one but thats like having someone stick an egg beater up your behind and crank it up...
Posted 7/31/2008 10:03 AM (GMT 0)

Keeper said...
Question - do you people have sinus pain and a runny nose? What about sore/dry throat and throat phlegm? I know that these are both unrelated to your gut and trivial by comparison to a lot of the other symptoms, but I am curious.

Keeper, yes to all of your questions!! eyes
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