Crohn's Disease

Every had to go on a trip, and had that sinking feeling? You know, "Oh, I can't do that, what if I have an attack?"

It's a common reaction to our problem, but don't let Crohn's rule your life.

Later this year, I'll be going on my first overseas trip since being diagnosed, so I'm doing some planning now. Here are some tips I've come up with:

* Take your medication with you
* Some anti diarrhoea tablets such as Immodium are a must
* If you get stressed travelling, see your Doctor and get some mild relaxants
* Take some pantipads with you, even if you don't normally use them
* Watch your diet, don't try anything too exotic which may affect you

And most importantly, Enjoy your trip!

Recently I started using Glucosamine as an aide to a problem in my shoulder, and decided to do some research on this supplement. After all, one does need to know what's going into one's body! :-)

Discovered that Glucosamine is an additive to many health products which are sold as IBS treatments. It is useful in adding a lining to the intestine.

The dosage isn't all that high either, and it's found naturally in the body, mostly in the joints and cartilidge. That means it probably won't have much in the way of side effects, but check that one out for yourself, as I'm no expert here.

Anyway, just though I'd add that snippet of information to this lens, in case it may be helpful to some of you.

The time for the hospital appointment was finally here, so off went to arrive on time at the outpatients department. I know they don't always run on time, but if you're there ontime, or even a little early, your file will be ahead of those who came late. That's my reasoning, anyway.

After a fairly short wait, I went in for the much awaited doctor's appointment.

Well, I started off with a very pleasant medical student, who asked the usual questions about consent, etc. (It is a teaching hospital, after all) I had no objections so she started to take the history.

Before we'd finished in came the Doctor, who seemed surprized she hadn't finished.

Well, to cut it short, I didn't learn a thing I didn't already know, and it was a complete waste of time, in my opinion. If it's so hard to get an appointment, and there is a long waiting list, why not give the appointments to those who really need them?

Currently, I'm not having much of a problem with the Crohn's so someone else may well have been able to have that appointment. Now I have to go back in January for another checkup, and quite frankly, I don't see the point. Perhaps someone with more experience of this disease can enlighten me? :-)

About a month ago, an acquaintance who's interested in natural therapies told me to drink carrot juice. Unfortunately, I didn't ask how much, so have been guessing.

Currently I'm drinking about 250 mls per day, and have been for the past few weeks. It may be coincidence, but so far, so good, although the past few days, there have been rumblings again. Could it be because I got a bit slack about the daily carrot juice?

As I've mentioned before, it's difficult to get an appointment at the hospital with a gasto-enterologist, and I was told it was a twelve month waiting list, but it's only been about four months since I was told that. Surprisingly, yesterday I received a letter from the hospital, letting me know I have an appointment in November!

Perhaps I'll finally be given some advice on living with this.......

As I write, everything is quiet on the Crohn's front, and hopefully it will stay that way for quite some time. The threat of last week seems to have dissipated, but those of you with this disease will know exactly how it can strike at any moment! :-(

At least this time, I realise what it was caused the problem. Well, I think it did. Shouldn't have bought those greasy potato cakes at the takeaway food stall at the railway station. Won't be doing that again in a hurry.

As you can see, I'm still learning about what to eat, and what not to eat with this. No matter what, though, I'm NOT giving up my chocolate! :-)

Well, I certainly hope it isn't the prelude to another vicious attack, but the past couple of days have been decidedly uncomfortable in the tummy area, that's for sure. If you're a Crohn's sufferer, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Perhaps I shouldn't have eaten that chocolate ginger, or missed a meal on Monday. It doesn't take much to upset chancy tummies, does it? I should know better by now. Guess it's because nothing much has happened recently, and I've become complacent. Not a good thing.

Oh well, at least I didn't eat half a packet of liquorice allsorts this time. Now that really gave me an uncomfortable day, but I do love liquorice.... guess it's among those things I'll have to forgo from now on. :-)

My partner mentioned yesterday that he'd seen something on TV about a new treatment for Crohn's Disease. I hadn't heard about it, so did a search.

This is the site I came up with - it's a little too scientific and technical for me, but hey, I'm only a lay person! If you're interested, here's the URL of the article.

New Therapies And Medications For Crohn's Disease

Anything which gives hope of relief from this problem is to be welcomed, that's for sure.

Last week, while watching some current affairs on TV, I saw a story about a child of about ten, who had been born with problems, and had operation after operation. To cap it all off, he had just been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. What a horrible prospect, and he was so happy and positive, helping others.

This really made me think that I am very lucky, even though I have this problem. As I'm in my sixties, it's highly unlikely the Crohn's will progress to the stage of a colostomy bag in my lifetime, even if it does get bad enough to require a bowel resection.

I guess what I'm really saying is that no matter how bad things look, there is always someone worse off than you.

And the disease is still staying away! Hopefully it will do so for a long, long time. I certainly don't miss it!

If you have Crohn's, please try and be positive - maybe it will go into remission for months, or even years. Live with it, change your diet, do whatever you can to have a normal life, and enjoy yourself NOW

Well, it's been a while since I've updated this lens, and I did mean to keep it up to date too. Good intentions........

The Crohn's has kept pretty quiet for the past few weeks, and I've had no problems to speak of.

The more I find out about this disease, the less I want to have it. Guess I'm lucky, really, as it seems to be pretty mild in my case: so far only two severe attacks, although the second did put me in hospital for five days...... not a pleasant time.

It has come upon me in my 60's so I may well be luckier than those who get this disease in their twenties, or even as children. The eventual outcome may even be a colostomy bag - not a great prospect, I must say, although this wouldn't happen until after a couple or more bowel operations, hopefully.

At this point, I'm just trying to live as normal a life as possible, and find out which foods, if any, exacerbate the problem, so that I can avoid them.

What do you avoid? Is there some foods that you love, but just can't eat any more? Let us know.

Well, the heading says it all - I received a letter from the hospital, informing me that there was a twelve months waiting list to see a gastro-enterologist, so if I needed help or antibiotics, see my GP.

Hopefully, I won't need to, but since I still haven't been diagnosed with certainty, I'm left wondering what I've actually got. Could be Crohn's Disease, or it could be Ulcerative Colitis, or maybe something else?

Whatever it is, will have to live with it, and do more research on diet and how not to exacerbate it. Certainly don't want to spend any more time in hospital, that's for sure!

Before I go on with my story, here's a website I've just found that may be of some help to other Crohn's Disease sufferers. It's called Living With Crohn's Disease

Anyway, after five days in hospital, and many tests later, they discharged me with antibiotics and a couple of appointments with outpatients. One of these was for a colonoscopy - not the most pleasant of procedures, especially the few days prior, when you have to watch your diet, and take special medications.

After the colonoscopy, it was a matter of waiting for the appointment to find out what the problem was. They offered two options, ulcerative colitis, or Crohn's disease, which is the nastier of the two options, and towards which they were leaning.

At the moment, that's how the matter stands, as I'm waiting for an appointment with a gastro-enterologist, to get more information, and no doubt be told about ongoing treatment. Currently I'm on a low dosage of antibiotics three times a day.

Of course, I'm doing lots of research, as this is a problem which won't go away, so I'll obviously have to live with it. Maybe diet will play a part, but that's something I've yet to discover.

I think I'm still a bit shocked by it all, as it seems that this problem usually is diagnosed at about 20 - 30 y.o. and I'm a lot more than that! Anyway, whatever the outcome, it's here to stay, it seems......

One day, out at a party, I developed a very painful tummy ache. Felt like wind, and I had to leave the party and go home, because the cramps were so bad. When I got home, I had about three bouts of diarhoea, and that seemed to ease the problem, so I put it down to something I'd eaten, and thought nothing else of it.

A couple of months later, after eating lunch one day, the same thing happened, only this time it didn't stop after a couple of hours; it continued for the rest of the day, and all night. At some time during the first afternoon, blood started to appear.

My partner was willing to drive me to hospital during the night, but I decided to wait until morning, and duly turned up at the local hospital emergency department at 0830.

Hadn't eaten since the night before, as I felt a bit shocky and nauseous, so was just sipping water occasionally. While being interviewed by the triage nurse, I was told, very abruptly, "Nothing to eat or drink", so I went thirsty.

Several doctors and tests later, and at 530 that afternoon, I was finally admitted to hospital, where I stayed for five days, much to my surprise. I'd thought I'd get perhaps a little medication and be sent home. They took it a little more seriously than that.