You Have Crohn's-Now What?

By Sean Novak

You have been experiencing severe cramping in your abdomen, blood in your stool, diarrhea, and weight loss. You went to see your family doctor who couldn’t figure out what the problem was so he sent you to a GI. After a battery of tests, CAT scan, blood work, colonoscopy, etc, your GI tells you that you have a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease known as Crohn’s Disease.

Crohn’s what? The fear you felt at first was normal, your brain moving at about 100 miles an hour trying to piece together all that the doctor has just told you. Being scared at first is common...I mean, a doctor just told you that you have a disease that there is no cure for. The bad news....you’ll probably have to deal with this the rest of your life. The good news...it’s really not all that bad, you’re not gonna die or anything!

So, now that we are over that fear and anxiety part, lets try to make some sense of this Crohn’s disease. Overall, you just feel like crap. You may be loosing weight, you may be tired all of the time due to anemia, every time you eat you find yourself having to use the restroom right away. All in all, things just flat out suck for you right now. Most likely you are on some meds such as Asacol, Sulfasalazine, Pentasa, and maybe even a corticosteroid such as Prednisone. If you just started one or a combination of these drugs it may be a few days before you realize the benefits of them. The good news is they will help, and you should notice an ease in your symptoms soon.

But what does the future hold? Is life gonna be like this from now on? Will the pain ever stop? Will I ever feel "normal" again? First off the future is not so bad... at least now you know what’s wrong with you and you are being treated for it. More good news, many with Crohn’s experience long periods of remission where your symptoms disappear and life returns to the way you knew it before Crohn’s, other than having to take meds everyday. It is not uncommon to go a couple of years in remission without a flare up of your symptoms.

Once you are in remission it is important that you do a couple of things. Number one don’t stop taking your meds!! Whatever you do it is the single most important thing that you continue taking all you meds all the time. Those meds are what got you into remission and what keep you in remission. If you stop taking them, or frequently forget, then you can forget about your remission too. Secondly, at the first sign of a flare contact your GI. Let him, or her, know the symptoms you are experiencing and let them decide what the best course of action should be. Letting the symptoms go too long without contacting your GI can result in a much more serious flare, and could lead you to the operating room.

Worst case scenario in all of this is that you end up having to have surgery to have parts of either your small intestine or colon removed. Although the surgery is serious and has a number of possible complications, you won’t have a choice. Surgery is the last resort. When there is no more the doctors or meds can do for you and your body is at risk the doctor will recommend surgery. Although scary, the outcome is usually positive and can lead you to many years of symptom free remission.

From this point it is important that if you have any questions you ask your doctor. It is also always good to have other people in your same position to talk to. There are several online forums you can check out that can provide you with support and answer the questions you may have.

So keep your head up, a smile on your face, and things are gonna be just fine. It will take some time to learn to cope with your newly diagnosed disease but you will cope, and life will go on. And know that there are always places you can go to for answers to your questions, such as http://www.paininthegutt.org, so don’t be afraid to ask them! So good luck, and welcome to the Chronie Club!

Sean Novak is the Creator and Webmaster of http://www.paininthegutt.org which is a community designed to help those with IBD and IBS. His articles are written with IBD and IBS patients in mind.

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