Diagnosis: (Probably) Chron’s

Not going to go into the entire ordeal now because: TOO LONG.

Short story, in the last two weeks I went to urgent care twice, doctor’s office, three day hospital stay, back to the doctor, had a sigmoidoscopy and finally have a diagnosis. It’s actually been a MUCH LONGER process than that. It all started a few years ago when I had a horrible flare up in my colon then again last February which led to a colonoscopy. The problem with the colonoscopy was that it took so long to schedule that by the time I went in the flare up was over and my colon was in perfect working order.

This time when I went in for my post hospital checkup I mentioned that I’d had blood in my poop that afternoon so the doctor squeezed me in for the sigmoidoscopy the very next morning. He wanted to see my colon DURING a flare up to see what was actually happening.

My colon was a MESS. Here the top picture is from me colonoscopy February of 2014, bottom is my colon in June filled with ulcers!

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Here are some much larger ulcers:

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And here you can see the inflammation. The wall of the colon should be smooth here like it is in the first picture above. All that white “fluff” is inflammation. SEE: PAINFUL

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Since this was taken I’ve been living on the FODMAP diet, had a pill endoscopy (will post photos once I have them), lost 14 pounds, still bleed pretty much daily. Chrons is NOT the diagnosis I want. It’s SUCKS not to be able to eat the foods I love, but I am SO RELIEVED that at least now I have some direction and a light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve had these stomach issues for as long as I can remember. As far back as high school! Now I can get on some maintenance medication although my end goal is to get my diet figured out enough that I can get off meds and mostly control the chrons by eating non-trigger foods.

It’s been SUCH a long and hard and frustrating road but I could not be more thankful to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. (SO MANY BUTT JOKES!)

3 thoughts on “Diagnosis: (Probably) Chron’s

  1. Blech. Even one ulcer can be incredibly painful (my experience is lower part of stomach / upper small intestine), so I cannot imagine the pain from MULTIPLE. I’m so sorry you have this diagnosis; I’ve heard many stories about chronic pain and limited diets and times of utter misery and despair. I hope you’re able to get the best available treatment to manage it.

  2. I am sorry to hear you are going through this. My boyfriend has Crohn’s. There are ways to stabilize it, often with diet but that is different for everyone, hopefully you can find a good GI who can help you narrow down what you digest well. Also if you need to commiserate on needing steroids, let me know! Thanks to my own medical issues I now take them more than my boyfriend.

    And also diet doesn’t mean FODMAP forever. My boyfriend did well with going vegan and can eat just about anything. His digestion isn’t the greatest but he maybe gets 1 to 2 minor flares a year. However, a lot of people end up being the opposite and don’t do well with lots of fiber, veggies etc. There are lots of Crohn’s support communities that can help you along. For my own medical dramas support communities have really helped me find the right doctor’s, get support, and figure out lifestyle changes that work for me.

    My colon is a mess, but from the outside, adhesions and other nonsense caused by long term endometriosis, which is thankfully mostly better now due to surgery. Though I know bathroom issues, all too well.

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