Community Forum

hi guys,
first of all jeez... i thought i would never be on a site like this. in all honesty, when i was first diagnosed, i wanted to stay as far away from people who have similar problems to me. my own disease just grossed me out beyond belief, and i guess i just felt worse being around chronic diseased people. but here i am, ready to tell my story.

anyways, long story short i was diagnosed freshman year of hs, crohns in my small intestines, colon, and rectum. i have had to have several minor surgeries and i had an extremely rough going in those years (still managed somehow to be an ap scholar and maintain a good gpa), leading up to junior year in which i had to drop out of school because i was missing an extreme amount of days, and i was in one of the worst flares i have had to date. fastfoward to now, i tried a alternative school but i was still too symptomatic, but not bad enough per say to have to have a major surgery, yet i have has several blockages that we were able to fix w/o surgery.

so the reason i am here is because i feel like *** . i am having cramps and horrible bm's every day, and i have tried extreme dieting, alt. medicine, and have switched from rem, to hum, to cim because the first two gave me a horrible allergic reactions to the meds, so i just switched to cim, which seems to be keeping me away from major problems. currently, because i have not had any major surgeries, my parents are giving me a hard time that i haven't been doing anything since i dropped out of school in december. i try to make them understand that i am still feeling sick everyday and i s already push my self quite a bit, and they do there best to understand, but parents will be parents and they keep trying to push me and even make me feel bad about how lousy my life is. 
 

I am sorry that this happened to you at such a young age.  I had to quit nursing school due to my crohn's I was unable to participate in clinicals since I was spending the majority of time in the bathroom.  I tried to go back two times both were unsuccessful.  I had issues with work also due to attendance.  I finally came to the reality that I would not be able to be a nurse( which I wanted so much).  This sent me into depression.  Now I am going back to school for social work.  You do have to push yourself but it helps to know when.  It took me getting the on the right meds, right doctors, and the right diet till I was able truly able to push myself and have it pay off.  Since previously every time I tried before I would end up at the hospital.  I turned to social work because when I ask myself why I wanted to be a nurse, I realized all I truly wanted was to help others.  The first thing to do is get your health back sometimes the doctors who have the best resume are not the right ones for the job.  I changed doctors when they had to seemed to give up and tell me all could to is mask the symptoms with things like imodium, zofran, and pain meds.  It took five years to get close to remission.  I hope you can get a point where this disease is no longer controlling your life.  You may have to alter some of your plans or put them on hold for a little bit.  But keep the hope of remission alive and make it you goal.  One recent product I came across that helped the diarrhea and pain was doTerra's digestzen it is a mix of essential oils that you put under your tongue it worth a try.  

 Reply posted for overcookedpie.

I mean I honestly feel like I have lost my life. I feel sick 5/7 days of the week, and can not hold onto anything long term or important except for online schooling because of this illness. All of my goals were dropped, and I feel like I have had to put my life on standby, which isn't easy at age 17! I am currently doing lab training to get back on the track of becoming a doctor, which has been my life's dream, but even that will require daily lab work which I am too sick to attend 90% of the time. The only real commitment I have right now is volunteering at a hospital, which I love, but even that I have had to miss twice in a row now due to pain and cramps. 

So now my question is... What should I do? How can I get over these debilitating cramps/BM's/other pains? How should I work with my parents? (Note: They are both very supportive most of the time, and my mom is a surgeon so she knows her stuff.)

Any feedback would be awesome! Please tell me your story of struggling with daily activities and commitments. Also, thanks for reading!

PS: Sorry for the doulbe post... I guess I had a lot to write

Lots of Love,
 

Zack