Life as a Crohny

Well today wasn’t too bad despite the fact that I’m getting a head cold which will probably turn into a full on flu by the end of the week due to the injection I take every fortnight for my crohn’s disease. I should probably explain that…Back to the very beginning…

In August 2005 I was diagnosed with crohn’s disease, it is an inflammatory bowel disease (and a right old pain). It means I suffer regularly with cramps, fever and other things I’d rather not discuss. Anyway, my doctors put me on Steroids…
All seemed to be going grand… Until the 16th September. I started getting extremely sharp pains in my stomach, and not the usual place that I get them, and excruciating pain in my back (trust me- I AM NOT LYING). I went to Accident and Emergency and they put me on Antibiotics, told me I had a kidney infection (HA- I wish!!!) and sent me home. Then 2 days later, despite the fact that I had started the course of antibiotics, I felt every bit as bad if not worse. So my parents brought me to the Care Doc (Late night Doctor) at 10pm. He seemed very concerned. He wrote a note for Accident and Emergency and told me to go up the next day if I felt worse.
But the next morning, my stomach or back wasn’t too bad but I was freezing. I decided I might try eat something.- bad idea. I got sick and then it felt like someone had broken my spine and put a knife through my stomach. I screamed and cried and sat in a ball while my mam and dad ran around the house packing an overnight bag- no doubts in their minds that the only place to bring me was the hospital.
When we got there I didn’t even have to go through Triage (annoying procedure thing) because at this stage I couldn’t even walk. They put me on a trolley and started pumping me with morphine (Yes- that’s how bad the pain was) and that couldn’t even ease the pain. Eventually after various blood tests, CT scans and X-rays. I was told I had pancreatitis and even scarier than that- I COULD HAVE DIED! And all this was caused by those stupid steroids. I had to stay in hospital for a month.

When the doctors let me out of hospital they didn’t give me any medication to replace the steroids. So for 7 months I suffered. I was 6 and half stone (skeletal looking in other words), was always cold and never in school (you can imagine how traumatic that would be for a nerd such as myself!!!) They sorted me out with an infusion that I could get every 8 weeks. And I was feeling great… I had put weight back on and I had gotten a summer job for my school holidays… but the problem was the infusion wasn’t lasting. I would feel great for 4 weeks and then I’d be left feeling icky and losing weight for the remaining four.

So then in September they finally found a medication that works. I’m still on it now… only problem is I have to inject myself every fortnight (there are probably diabetics out there rolling their eyes saying “How do you think I feel?” and I’m sorry, but it isn’t easy for anyone!) Oh wait that isn’t the only problem. It is an immune suppressant which means I catch illnesses really quickly and they become twice as bad as what everyone else has… then I have to go on anti-biotics which rip my stomach in shreds and also exacerbate my crohn’s… it’s a vicious circle.

Later

Sal