My Story

by Hannah T
(UK)

Hello:) x im 15 my name is hannah i was diagnosed with crohns disease when i was 10 years old although my family and I think i had the symptoms when i was about eight?.I had been attending Manchester Childrens Hospital and i had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy, to my surprise didnt hurt one bit that was last year i think, before then i went to Turkey for 2 weeks, and my mum had to take bags of quavers becuase that was all that would stay in me, everything i ate would come straight out with me (as lovley as that sounds!)but it really would and i would eat a roast dinner then go to the toilet and it would all come out (disgussting i know)and i would be hungry again.In turkey i had to make sure that all the salad was hand washed before i ate it and that i only drank bottled water, but thats common sense i guess. My symptoms were the usual they were rectal bleeding,severe abdominal pain weight loss i had loss of appetite and went down from 8 stone to 6.5 stone!. I dont like to feel sorry for myself becuase theyre are younger children than me that are going through the same thing but maybe more painful and have terminal ilness' like cancer etc. I would like to think that i am not alone with having these silly panics about toilets etc, although i hate to say it, crohns disease does control me, everytime i go out or my friends call me and ask me to go out with them the first thing that runs through my mind is 'what if i need the toilet'..'i hope i dont need the toilet' or if i stay at someones house it's always ' what if im ill and have diahorrea at their house?'and i go into a hot flush and get all stressed about it. This week has been a flare up and yesterday i was on the toilet from 10 0'clock to 11 0'clock. A whole hour on the toilet with rectal bleeding, and it is very embarassing if you have friends round!. I also learnt that Pineapple triggers my disease after a VERY bad experience of it (went to the toilet, came out in pineapple chunks...you can laugh it was the only thing i could do!). My mums friend told me that Polo Mints are supposed to help? i dont know if you already new that but there you go!. My mum sometimes calls me lazy although she is VERY understanding, i know im not alone on this becuase crohns does make you tired and it is a real effort some days to get out of bed in a morning and get dressed. My medication is Mezalasine, i take 6 tablets three times a day breakfast,lunch,tea ...and also i have some anti-spasm tablets for when i have abdominal pain, also nurofen (pink tablets) are very fast pain releif!. I have recently spoken to my consultant at Booth Hall Manchester Childrens Hospital and he thinks it is in my best intrest that i go on a liquid diet for 6 weeks where i cannot eat anything but those liquid drinks and water,boiled sweets. Im scared of that because i dont really fancy walking around school with liquid drinks (have to drink seven!) all the time and i do like my food as everybody does!.I was told that i will always be slim because of my disease and i do alot of sports, Hockey,Netball,Swimming,Football. Everyone tells you too keep smiling about this disease and dont let it defeat you, just think to yourself, you are lucky, you have a family that care about you, doctors and nurses that look after you and you dont have a severe ilness like cancer. I know this is easier said than done and sure you can have some off days,i do :). I have a website for anyone that wants questions answered that was given to me by a nurse at Booth Hall and it is.. www.nacc.org.uk I found this very useful and so did my mum. Dont let a silly disease get you down, its not worth it :) good luck to anyone with crohns disease wish you all the best!!:D x p.s you can lead a normal life even though crohns dosnt dissapear put in a positive mind set and you'll be fine:) x If you ever want a chat or talk about anything, i know i would like an adult to talk to about crohns becuase it can be miserable my msn adress is shopaholichlt05237 -at- hotmail.com < all lower case.