Lemme 'splain. No. There is too much. Lemme sum up.
Well, in case some of you were wondering what's been going on with me, I'll tell you.
It seems that after lying dormant for 11 years, my Crohn's decided to erupt again like a volcano. Now, remember me telling you that when I had my last colonoscopy, that there was more inflammation than usual. Well, this week it decided to rear it's ugly head. So I've been stuck at home with nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea, loss of appetite and fatigue. Joy.
At first I didn't know what it was. I thought it was some sort of stomach bug. Up until Sunday I felt pretty ok. Still having what I thought was a difficult recovery time from my procedure. Then Sunday, I was feeling really terrible. I was lethargic and weak and had no appetite. It was really bad during the birthday party my aunt threw for my uncle's 70th birthday because she cooked so many of my favorite foods and I had not the heart to eat much. Normally I would've been wolfing it down and going back for seconds (including cake), but not this time. I was barely able to eat the small portion I had on my plate, which was very disappointing for me especially.
So I vomited some while at home and laid in bed most of the rest of the day. Same thing for Monday, July 4th. I mean, we had a game night planned for Sunday, yet I couldn't go because of the way I was feeling. It was pretty upsetting to say the least.
Tuesday, mom had me come in with her so I could be seen at the walk-in clinic there. Needless to say I was dressed for work like I had actually planned to go in. Silly me. So the walk-in doctor saw me, gave me a rectal exam (such fun), took some tests, drew some blood, took a urine sample and took a few abdominal x-rays. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, he came and told me that I had a UTI and rectal bleeding (due to the diarrhea). He wanted me to follow up with my GI doc as soon as possible (which would be the next day). So he gave me a doctor's note excusing my absence from work, gave me a prescription for antibiotics (for the UTI) and mom used her lunch hour to drive me home.
Wednesday, I was still feeling pretty sucky, so my mom had my aunt pick me up and drive me to the doctor's office since I needed to have an abdominal ultrasound done before the GI doctor saw me. So that was done and I was squirreled away in an unused room until it was time for my appointment. So then my GI doctor came in and examined me and asked me all sorts of questions and looked at my test results. His conclusion: my Crohn's had been reactivated. I pretty much had (have) all the same symptoms as I did when I was first diagnosed 11 years ago. Except for the cramping. I never had any of the cramping before. He attributed that to the UTI, which he said can sometimes cause cramping. He did say there was no bleeding in my abdomen, which was a big relief to me, because due to my anxiety disorder, I tend to be somewhat of a hypochondriac. So naturally I was thinking all sorts of things, like internal bleeding, appendicitis, ulcers, ect...
So he prescribed me a few new temporary meds like a medrol dose pack, which is a specific days worth of prednisone in order to get my colon back in shape so I can be a functioning human again. I also received some anti-nausea meds which knocked me out. Thankfully I only needed to take those once or twice.
So that has been my life lately. Too sick to even really get out of bed, much less do anything productive. Hopefully while the meds kick in, I can start to feel normal again and also eat like a human being again.
It seems that after lying dormant for 11 years, my Crohn's decided to erupt again like a volcano. Now, remember me telling you that when I had my last colonoscopy, that there was more inflammation than usual. Well, this week it decided to rear it's ugly head. So I've been stuck at home with nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea, loss of appetite and fatigue. Joy.
At first I didn't know what it was. I thought it was some sort of stomach bug. Up until Sunday I felt pretty ok. Still having what I thought was a difficult recovery time from my procedure. Then Sunday, I was feeling really terrible. I was lethargic and weak and had no appetite. It was really bad during the birthday party my aunt threw for my uncle's 70th birthday because she cooked so many of my favorite foods and I had not the heart to eat much. Normally I would've been wolfing it down and going back for seconds (including cake), but not this time. I was barely able to eat the small portion I had on my plate, which was very disappointing for me especially.
So I vomited some while at home and laid in bed most of the rest of the day. Same thing for Monday, July 4th. I mean, we had a game night planned for Sunday, yet I couldn't go because of the way I was feeling. It was pretty upsetting to say the least.
Tuesday, mom had me come in with her so I could be seen at the walk-in clinic there. Needless to say I was dressed for work like I had actually planned to go in. Silly me. So the walk-in doctor saw me, gave me a rectal exam (such fun), took some tests, drew some blood, took a urine sample and took a few abdominal x-rays. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, he came and told me that I had a UTI and rectal bleeding (due to the diarrhea). He wanted me to follow up with my GI doc as soon as possible (which would be the next day). So he gave me a doctor's note excusing my absence from work, gave me a prescription for antibiotics (for the UTI) and mom used her lunch hour to drive me home.
Wednesday, I was still feeling pretty sucky, so my mom had my aunt pick me up and drive me to the doctor's office since I needed to have an abdominal ultrasound done before the GI doctor saw me. So that was done and I was squirreled away in an unused room until it was time for my appointment. So then my GI doctor came in and examined me and asked me all sorts of questions and looked at my test results. His conclusion: my Crohn's had been reactivated. I pretty much had (have) all the same symptoms as I did when I was first diagnosed 11 years ago. Except for the cramping. I never had any of the cramping before. He attributed that to the UTI, which he said can sometimes cause cramping. He did say there was no bleeding in my abdomen, which was a big relief to me, because due to my anxiety disorder, I tend to be somewhat of a hypochondriac. So naturally I was thinking all sorts of things, like internal bleeding, appendicitis, ulcers, ect...
So he prescribed me a few new temporary meds like a medrol dose pack, which is a specific days worth of prednisone in order to get my colon back in shape so I can be a functioning human again. I also received some anti-nausea meds which knocked me out. Thankfully I only needed to take those once or twice.
So that has been my life lately. Too sick to even really get out of bed, much less do anything productive. Hopefully while the meds kick in, I can start to feel normal again and also eat like a human being again.