Posted 9/13/2014 1:14 AM (GMT 0)
I'm looking for some answers regarding my bowel issues. I am a 20 year old female and have been dealing with this for about a year now. When I first got sick, I was experiencing very high nausea, frequent diarrhea, chills, fever, and bloating. I assumed it was a 24 hr bug and it would pass and after several days of not getting better, I made an appointment with my physician.
Once meeting with my doctor, she sent me for an X-ray because she believed high constipation could be the reasoning for my diarrhea. However, like i insisted to her beforehand, i was not constipated, and it was not the reason for my symptoms. She then sent me to a GI
Once i met with the GI he asked me to tell him my symptoms. These are the ones I told him:frequent diarrhea (watery and very lose) with occasional constipation, very painful when going to the bathroom (abdomen) but also pain in my rectum, i was having a lot of gas, after going to the bathroom i would feel like i wasn't finished going and would need to return, i was extremely exhausted and fatigued, and no amount of sleep would make me feel more awake, i had lost about 15 pounds, i had virtually no appetite, and only ate when extremely necessary, i had intense cramping in my abdomen (generally in the bottom right hand corner), there was a high sense of urgency, my joints were very painful and swollen and I was very nauseous.
After hearing these symptoms he told me he was almost positive it was crown's disease but wanted to do a colonoscopy and endoscopy just to be sure. Following the colonoscopy he told me that although there was some inflammation, my colon seemed to be normal. He wanted to complete some more blood tests but nothing was coming back helpful.
We then tested my gallbladder. It turned out that my gallbladder was working at just 8% and the doctors believed this was the reason for my symptoms. I had my gallbladder removed of november of last year.
But the removal of my gallbladder did not help with my symptoms and it has gotten worse over time.
I am now seeing a new GI but have not had much luck with her. My symptoms are increasing and getting worse. I am now experiencing night sweats, missed periods, mucus and blood in my stool, mouth sores, and stress has made it worse as well.
My new GI had me do a pill cam and that showed inflammation but that was it.
I recently swallowed a pill that had markers in it so we could take an XRAY 5 days later to see how far it had traveled in my intestines and when i went in for the XRAY, i had gone to the bathroom so frequently that the pill was no longer inside of me.
I have noticed that foods high in fat and foods with dairy will greatly aggravate my symptoms. Drinks such as coffee, alcohol and caffeine will make them worse as well.
A family friend of mine was diagnosed with crohn's when he was about 5 or 6. However, they had trouble finding the crohn's within his body but due to the amount of time they had spent on him they had decided to try the crohn's medicine regime to see how he responded, and it greatly improved his symptoms.
I am very frustrated and looking for answers. I am wondering if other people had dealt with crohn's "hiding" in their bodies and if there is any advice I can get
thank you