Potentially new to Chrons

Hi everybody!

In the hopes of finding out what is going on with my gut, I have been looking on message boards to see people's personal stories and to see if anything aligns with mine. In the past couple of months, I have noticed I am extremely sensitive to dairy and gluten. I have mentioned this to my doctors, but unfortunately, I haven't had the best care and I have been told it's just a simple stomach bug several times. All of my blood work returns back normal, so they just continue to tell me that nothing is wrong and simply tell me to eat a bland diet.

A few weeks ago, I finally switched primary care doctors and right when I told my doctor that I noticed these sensitivities, she ordered a Celiac serum test. Not sure if my results were altered because I was already avoiding those two types of foods, but the test came back negative. My GI is certain that there's some sort of malabsorption going on somewhere in my tract, so I am having a colonoscopy done. I am curious as to how many of you found out your Chron's diagnosis through a colonoscopy. I also know that Chron's can affect anywhere in the GI tract, so I just would be pretty confused if it came back negative, because I would just be left without answers again and continuing to feel unwell.

Just to give you guys a rundown of my symptoms, this is what I have been experiencing..
- headaches
- chills occasionally
- vomiting (projectile at one point)
- sharp belly pains (usually after eating, but can kind of be onset at any time) mostly on low right side
- painful mouth sores when eating certain foods
- a weird crawling skin feeling and occasional muscle twitches in legs (ruled out electrolyte imbalance already)
- general kind of brain fog and fatigue
- bouts of diarrhea (no blood noticeable, but a mixture of clay like stools and darker ones) and constipation but more constipation at the moment

For foods, I have been noticed these foods don't bother me:
-eggs
-chicken
-bananas
-any fish
-sweet potatoes
-turkey
-salads

Aka it seems pretty limited at the moment. Certain fruits with seeds bother me a lot and I've noticed certain seasonings like garlic bother me all of a sudden too.

I know everybody has different triggers and different symptoms, but I guess I am just reaching out to you all to hear your stories and to see if you have any feedback/advice.

Thanks!

Post Edited (lololo5) : 10/9/2014 10:58:27 AM (GMT-6)

Colonoscopies will pick up on most Crohn's cases, since while in theory Crohn's can appear anywhere in the GI tract, it usually appears in the terminal ileum (which a colonoscopy can reach). It's far rarer in the upper small bowel than it is in the ileum.

That said, you should also have a test such as a barium follow-through or MRI scan to check for small bowel Crohn's anyway.

Bloodwork isn't the most reliable test, since it can be normal in Crohn's. Faecal calprotectin is probably more reliable than bloodwork, but even if you got an elevated faecal calprotectin result, you'd still have to have a colonoscopy anyway. Colonoscopy with biopsies is by far the best diagnostic test for Crohn's, followed by MRI scan, etc.