My Crohns Disease

by Skyler Briggs
(Utah, USA)

I am a 21 year old male and i have had crohns disease since i was eight i have had to drop out of school many times because they were not able to accomidate my needs. i went two to three years without a flare-up so i decided to get a job. But in november i started to get sick again. I went to the doctor and they did a colonoscopy but it had to be abborted cuz my intistines were too inflamed so he started me on Remicade, and lots of steroids. i went in about a month later and they were able to do most of the colonoscopy then it had to be aborted again cuz of my inflamation. well i have been in a living hell ever since. I ended up going in for another colonoscopy in late August but it had to be aborted yet again. In the mean time i had to go down to parttime where i work, but it is so bad i dont know if i can keep it up anymore. So after my last colonoscopy my doctor stated that he is going to call in a better specalist from almost over 100 miles away about surgery. four days after that i get a phone call to set up an appointment for a barium enema. I guess what my question would be if i do need surgery how am i going to be able to take care of my ill mother and little brother with no job and no father? Please contact me if you have any advice!!

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My Crohn's Disease NEW
by: Annette Young

Hello there,

Thank you for writing in. I am sorry to hear that you have had Crohn's disease for so long and that you have had difficulty in sustaining your education because of the extent of the disease.

It is an indicator of the disease that it can go into periods of remission for weeks, months and even years. This may well have happened to you when you decided to get a job however, sometimes Crohn's disease flares up as a result of certain triggers and perhaps it is possible that going back out to work was very stressful for you.

Stress is a well-known trigger and as difficult as it is, it should be avoided as much as possible. One thing I have discovered is that there are not always good doctors out there. A lot of times I hear that doctors have felt that the symptoms could be imaginary, or, they struggle to find a cause and diagnose something like irritable bowel syndrome. It can be sometime later before the real diagnosis is made.

I would always suggest that energy permitting, you push for further tests but I know that when you feel so exhausted, all you want is help.

It does sound to me however that your circumstances are more than the Crohn's but is also because of your family situation. You are under a huge amount of stress and as I have said previously stress is a big trigger and could well be making your condition worse so, it is a vicious circle.

Perhaps you need to think whether there is any way that you can get help with your family situation, particularly if you have to go into hospital. This would at least give you peace of mind that everything will be okay and you can focus on your own health.

It may be that you do not need to go into hospital at all and they can give you different medication which will help. I certainly think your situation and your Crohn's are interlinked and you need to take a step back from your situation and try to alleviate some of the pressure on you.

I understand difficult family situations as I nursed my own mother for many years and was juggling working several jobs and various hospital visits and trying to cope with the pressures in my own life too. The pressure is immense. Sometimes you have to ask for help and I wish I had.

One thing that you need to know, is that you are not alone even though it may feel like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders.

I hope this helps but please do come back to us and let us know how you're getting on.

Best wishes,
Annette

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