Crohn's disease

[Royboy]

Could somebody give me any information on this ? A good friend of mine has been diagnosed with this recently. First he was diagnosed with colitis a few years ago but he went into hospital yesterday to have part of his bowle removed but when he got there they said its not colitis but Crohn's . They said that most of his bowl has to be removed so he will have to have a bag for the rest of his life. But they also said that the remainder of his bowl isn't looking to well so if the removal isn't a success there's nothing they can do ?? Does that mean what I think it means ?

[pimpkiller]

chrones and colitis are pretty interchangeable depending on where it is and how bad, i myself started with chrones then as it settled down changed to ulcerative colitis.

 

the other point you can live with bits missing but all of it removed - no

[bruno22rf]

There are far too many variables to be able to say that your friend may be terminally ill. Crohn's is well known for being severe for a while but then disappearing again. Your description does sound, however like his case is severe.

[Royboy]

Yes his is severe. The poor lad, he's 30 on Sunday some birthday he will have

[Royboy]

How's you life been pimpkiller if you don't mind me asking ? My mate has only been working two days a week he's been so ill

[bear-uk]

Had Crohnes for 30 odd years. To many degrees of severity to give advice really. NACC is the charity that offers help. Luckily I have been very healthy for the last 7 years, mainly due to changing jobs and noy having to much stress.

[Vince Green]

You all have my sympathy its a very unpleasant disease. One that doesn't get talked about that much.

[pimpkiller]

i dont work anymore at all :( , this sort of disease is usually part of other autoimmune problems so basically you are stuffed and you just have to hope whatever happens is manageable, stress was the biggest problem for me and would really kick it off I had it very bad at ages 12-16 it was school stress doing me in but ironically I have an iron gut and can eat things that would make you puke. You will typically have other problems like arthritis and I have vasculitis as well, I went completely Deaf at 16 its a bucket of laffs

 

I wake up everyday surprised

[Royboy]

What I nightmare . I didn't realise it was so common

[88b]

Had Crohnes for 30 odd years. To many degrees of severity to give advice really. NACC is the charity that offers help. Luckily I have been very healthy for the last 7 years, mainly due to changing jobs and noy having to much stress.

Stress seems to be the thing. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis , didn't respond well to drugs in fact the steroids possibly brought on diabetes. Eventually my consultant referred me to a psychologist who made a huge difference.

 

Royboy I'd strongly recommend your friend gets a second opinion, the company doctor was trying to persuade me to have a colostomy and I could be back at work in a few weeks, total BS and fortunately he has now lost his job and I got medically retired.

As for numbers in 98 I was told about 150000 people have it, I think they all live in Essex.

NACC is well worth joining for information help and advice

[Big Al]

Had Crohnes for 30 odd years. To many degrees of severity to give advice really. NACC is the charity that offers help. Luckily I have been very healthy for the last 7 years, mainly due to changing jobs and noy having to much stress.

+1. NACC are a great place to start.

 

I am not a Crohn's sufferer but have ulcerative colitis.NACC works for both conditions.

[delburt0]

You all have my sympathy its a very unpleasant disease. One that doesn't get talked about that much.

+1

[pigeonblasterian]

They will probably be giving him a temporary illostomy with the view to reversing it if that is possible.They will need to wait to see if the rest of the bowel that is inflamed settles down.They should have discussed with him if this is possible or not.If this was permanent they would remove the rest of his bowel and sown up his perineum.

Usually reversals are done three to six months after the initial surgery.

Each patient is different so these times may vary.

[Royboy]

They have found the disease in his small intestine aswel so not sure if this makes it worse

[88b]

Well it can't make it any easier, I really sympathise with the poor chap. Reliable information is the key and probably the best place is the NACC , my GP was worse than useless and his main contribution at first was " I don't think it's cancer " something that at the time hadn't even crossed my mind. As said earlier stress is a big thing in this although some doctors dismiss it , fortunately my consultant has an open mind on it all and explores every avenue. Each person is different and responds to drugs and treatment differently,, different foods affect everyone differently too, I know as soon as I taste something if it will have a bad effect on me.

[Royboy]

He been told these pills he's been on for the last 2 years haven't done him any favours at all. Because they thought he had colitis but he doesn't. He's booked in for surgery in August but in the mean time they are trying another types of medication that he has to inject every 2 weeks. Hopefully this might work but its doutful .

Edited June 28, 2013 by Royboy

[redtailhawk1]

I have really bad stomach pains. They are that bad I passout. Had all sorts of tests done including scans and they don't know what causes it. It is getting worse and more often as time goes on.

[Royboy]

Insist on a MRI scan if you've not had one already ! You sometimes have to push for these things

[redtailhawk1]

Had one, iv even passed blood. This is why they did the scans but found nothing

[Royboy]

What a nightmare mate

[Livefast123]

Mrs Livefast has Crohns and she's only 27, it's a horrible illness but luckily seems to be under control at the moment with tablets.

 

It is classed as a life threatening illness if it is allowed to get out of control.

Edited June 28, 2013 by Livefast123

[humperdingle]

My missus was diagnosed with Crohn's when she was 16... She's had several major ops, removing bowel etc, and she's had a good 8 or 9 years without any 'major' problems.

 

It's a nasty, debilitating disease sometimes.

 

Unfortunately, it can also be a killer.

[pimpkiller]

had it since 12 went from 10st to under 5, basically you starve to death if nothing can be done.

[welshwizard]

I was told it was Crohns then inflammatory bowel disease then Divicertilitus , had several colonoscopies - last one they found two polups and a tumour removed then another colonoscopy following year , surgeon talked to me about having colon removed but decided not to and coping well with medication to help but also have Reflux and a Hiatus hernia (in chest) .

[coyotemaster]

From what I have read it is often preceded by celiac disease in many cases by an allergy to wheat gluten (gluten enteropathy) A decent book on the subject by Sherry Rogers "No More Heartburn" deals with different digestive problems and touches heavily on this problem.

By the bye I read recently that many of your country and also of Irish descent have allergies to wheat and dairy and that Crohns and Colitis is prevalent there.