Posted 1/28/2010 7:03 AM (GMT 0)
Hello. I was over on the IBS forums and was told my symptoms sounded simalar to some of the crohn's symptoms. Ok...here goes....back in '03 I was under incredible stress....my husband was sent on his first tour to Iraq (he is active duty army), my grandfather (whom I was very close to) had just been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and a couple of other things were going on at the time as well. I began having extrememly painful diarrhea and made a doctor appointment. The doc told me it was IBS. After my husband returned, a year later, we moved to Germany and the symptoms seemed to disappear. I've had bouts of diarrhea, since then, but only lasted a few days and then I was fine, so I didn't worry about it. Last November, three days before Thanksgiving, I began having bouts of constipation and diarrhea. Three days of constipation (sometimes with manual decompaction my only relief) and then one day of diarrhea. This has been consistant and ongoing since then. The closest I've gotten to a regular bm is pencil thin, and not very much of it. Last Saturday, I had a very copius amount of bright neon yellow diarrhea...like someone had emptied a hi-lighter into my toilet...and it was straight water. I've also lost 27 lbs, by doing nothing. I went to my doc, the first week of January because the cramps with the diarrhea that morning were getting pretty bad. She put me on a stool softenr and ordered blood work and a fecal sample....both came back within normal limits. Since then, I've ran to the bathroom, thinking I'm going to have diarrhea, but nothing happens. I am sometimes going two days w/no bm. Then, when I do have one it is diarrhea. Only now, the color is a light tannish-yellowish, almost clay colored. I went back to the doc, last monday, for that neon yellow diarrhea, and he said that given my family history, and my symptoms, the GI clinic would most likely want to do a colonoscopy. Yea, forgot to mention, I have an appointment with them scheduled for Feb. 3rd. In my family, my mother, who was adopted, told me that her natural mother had stomach problems. But that is all she knows about. On my dad's side, there is colon cancer. My dad's mom's brother (confusing, I know)...my great-uncle, died of colon cancer when I was about 14 y/o. In 2005, my grandpa (my dad's dad) also died of colon cancer. I am 30 y/o and will be 31 towards the end of this April. Also, I some days I am incredibly tired. Dog tired....I try to fight it, but I'm so tired that my eyes almost roll into the back of my head. I have no other choice but to go and take a nap. I have two young kids. My daughter will be 9 this Saturday (she has moderate ADHD). My son is 7 (he has severe adhd/mild autism). Does any of this sound familiar to any of you or am I barking up the wrong tree so to speak? I am not here, trying to get a diagnosis, however, just trying to relate to others who have similar things going on. Also, I would like to be as educated as possible for when the do the colonoscopy and get the results back. I don't want to hear the name of some condition I didn't know existed and then freak out in their office! Thanks so much for reading and I am really looking forward to getting to know everyone here at healingwell, whether it turns out to be crohn's or not. OH yea, when I went to the doc for the neon colored D, he put me on fiber. I'm taking the stool softener and metemucil pills once a day. I'm not quite sure what I should be eating anymore (spicy food and chinese food lover here), so I had my doc put in a referral for the nutrition clinic. I should be getting a call to schedule in the next few days. Thanks so much and have a great night!