Crohn's Explained

This is an overview of Crohn's Disease shamelessly "borrowed" from Bupa.

The exact cause of Crohn's disease is unknown. It is an autoimmune disorder. An autoimmune disorder is a condition that occurs when your body's immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue.

People with Crohn's disease have ongoing (chronic) inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract). Crohn's disease may involve the small intestine, the large intestine, the rectum, or the mouth. The inflammation causes the intestinal wall to become thick.

There are different types of Crohn's disease. The type depends on what part of your body is affected.

Symptoms depend on what part of the gastrointestinal tract is affected. Symptoms range from mild to severe, and can come and go with periods of flare-ups.

The main symptoms of Crohn's disease are:

(The ones in bold are the ones that I have already had, the ones in red I still have)

Crampy abdominal (belly area) pain
Fever
Fatigue (anyone who knows me, knows I'm always "knackered" which is UK slang for tired)
Loss of appetite
Pain with passing stool (tenesmus)
Persistent, watery diarrhea
Weight loss
Other symptoms may include:

Constipation
Eye inflammation
Fistulas (usually around the rectal area, may cause draining of pus, mucus, or stools)
Joint pain and swelling
Mouth ulcers
Rectal bleeding and bloody stools
Skin lumps or sores (ulcers)
Swollen gums

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Part 4 - Aftermath 

In the days and months following my "freedom" from hospital. There was a slight period of rehabilitation, I couldn't go up or down steps and stairs  (I found that out the painful way on our back door step). I had to navigate our stairs by going up and down on my bum. I also had problems speaking and would often stammer ever so slightly (although I thought no one noticed, I'm not sure they did), and couldn't do intricate tasks I would twitch if I had to thread a needle for example (erm not that I threaded needles!!)
I neglected to tell the consultants about this, and eventually it all went away I think the seizures I had in hospital caused this.

Pretty much spent 6 months with my bag, I had also read they took between 25% and 33% of my colon out. I had the usual "issues" with it, I wont go into detail! Some of you can only imagine and those that have one or had one don't need reminding.

I was due for my "reversal" or as its called these days "re-section" in July '92 and I was desperate for it to be a success, but had heard some of the horror stories so I was understandably worried.

The operation went well, I think it was a day or 2 then they let me eat. The fun was due to start.
I pretty much stayed awake all night worrying, even made myself sick with worry. I was to tell them when I was due to visit the toilet. Crack of dawn, I had to go. This was it...told the night nurse who was finishing her shift and walked to the cubicles...,the first one erm wasn't in a particularly nice condition (I won't go into detail), the second one had an out of order sign on it, the third.......was basically toilet heaven....well compared to the other 2 it was.....meanwhile minutes later the nurse came running in, she had no choice really because a patient that had just had a resection a few days earlier had pulled the alarm, yes I did! Why? Mainly because there was no bog roll!  The nurse and I'll be honest I found it incredibly amusing, the nurse found it so amusing that she left me a present before her shift ended.....yes you guessed it some more bog roll.

After this the Crohns went into remission, I have very rarely had that stomach pain since. I realised I barely lived during my teens, hardly ever went out or hung out with my friends, I was almost 18 and after that wake up call I fully intended to make up for lost time. 

I even took part in a drug trial during the mid 90's, which involved taking either a pill or a placebo (basically a pill that does nothing). During ths time I had the wonderful pleasure of filling in forms about how often I "passed a stool" (this didn't involve handing over chairs!) and it's consistency....(hope no ones eating!) At one point I even had to pee in something which was then frozen.....a wee jubbly as I called it.
I pretty much thought despite what they say I had beaten Crohns, I was to find out by the new millennium that it would come back, only not as serious but more of an inconvenience or an embarrassment.....a pain in the arse, but that's for another time.
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