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Stuggles being teenager


Sun, November 05, 2017 8:45 PM

Hey guys, my name is Dakota and I am 14. I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease about a month ago. I am now in the middle of a treatment plan where i cannot eat or drink anything except water and boost protein shakes. I'm three weeks into it now and I have 5 more weeks to go. I will sadly be missing thanksgiving this year. It really sucks because being in high school I miss out on Halloween and things like pizza parties and donut celebrations. Every band trip we go on I have to deal with a whole bus full of people eating fried chicken sandwiches.  :(      I just wanted to make one of these post things because i feel like I'm a little bit alone here. No one my age that I know has crohn's and it's difficult. People in my school get mad at me because they feel like im skipping school but i'm not. They don't understand that just because i'm not throwing up doesn't mean that i am not sick. I am still kind of taking in a lot of stuff with being newly diagnosed. There is no support groups near me though so I though maybe doing one of these posts would help. Sometimes it just helps to talk to someone. :)
                          -Dakota

FPO dacoco
Joined Nov 5, 2017

Thu, January 03, 2019 1:06 PM

Reply posted for dacoco.

A year ago on new year's day my son who was 15 at the time got diagnosed with chrons and was in children's hospital for nine days. It was a scary moment for all of us. It was a huge learning experience about it all. I was worried about him being so young with such a disease and how he would handle it. He was in the beginning on a very strict diet of boost and very little food. (He is now on a normal diet.) And to all of our amazement my strong will powered son changed his diet and worked hard to accept his disease and new diet and new meds. He posted on his social media page an update on himself and after reading it I thought it was such a beautiful and inspirational paragraph, that I wanted to share it with other young newly diagnosed kids or even newly diagnosed adults. I am so very proud of how he has taken it all in and has such a strong outlook on everything. This is his post . a year ago today I was diagnosed with crohns disease and was in the hospital for a little over one week. I weighed 63 pounds and was 4’11. Now I weight 103 pounds and am 5’2. In the amount of a year I gained 40 pounds and am healthier then I have ever been my whole life. It has been a long journey of a year through trial and error with different medicines and doctors appointments all the time, but in the end I don’t know if I could have made it through all this if it wasn’t for my family and best friends. Thank you all so much for making this an amazing year for me and let’s try to make 2019 even better!

FPO Cammy
Joined Jul 6, 2018

Wed, June 20, 2018 8:02 AM

Reply posted for dacoco.

Hey,

My name is Andra, I’m 22 years old and I’ve been struggling with UC since I was 12. Now I’m a 3rd year medical student and I understand what you’re going through. In November I got a pretty nasty flare and I started to isolate myself because this way I thought that nobody would realize I was going to the bathroom so often. My friends didn’t know about my medical problem and got mad at me and stopped talking to me. Now I’m feeling better and started to go out more and make new friends and gain back the old ones. Try not to blame yourself during flares. Try to read and relax during flares and even if you have to go to school try not to get so much involved intro extracurricular activities, thus you will give yourself more time to recover. 
Hope you will feel better. 

FPO CASANDRAAAAAAAA
Joined Jun 18, 2018

Mon, January 22, 2018 3:17 AM

Reply posted for dacoco.

I totally understand Dakota my name is charlie and i was diagnosed with UC late August of this past year. I had been showing signs for almost a year but being the embarrassed person I am decided to keep it to myself for a while until it got bad. I ended up in the hospital for a week with two blood transfusions, a endoscopy and colonoscopy, MRE (yes i spelled it with a e it is the same thing as a MRI but it is only for the small intestine), and lots of blood work. After all these tests they diagnosed me with UC, I was put on prednisone and masalimine. I was doing great until a few days before i started the taper off the prednisone, which was wierd because we suspected the issues would start on the taper. so after consulting with my GI and doing some research I decided i wanted to try EEN (exclusive enteral nutrition), the same thing you are on just water and shakes. By this time it is end of October so no Halloween for me. I had to go through the same thing no food on thanksgiving which happend to be my birthday this year fun. Then come christmas time when i was supposed to get off my mom decided that i should stay on a little bit longer because christmas time is a bit stressful and stress is a big trigger for me. finally i was off doing SCD for a few weeks and doing great until a few days ago when i cought strep and im back on shakes for precautionary reasons. its nice to read these and know theres people similar ages that have similar situations that you can relate too.

FPO charlieBelle
Joined Jan 22, 2018

Fri, January 19, 2018 3:44 PM

Reply posted for dacoco.

Hi my name is Brooke i have colitis and  i am 15 years old 

FPO caouette
Joined Jan 19, 2018

Wed, January 10, 2018 5:17 PM

Reply posted for dacoco.

Hi Dakota,
My name is Sophie and I am also 14 and have had Crohn's for about 8 months. I completely understand what you are going through. I don't know anyone my age with Crohn's. I don't talk to my friends about it because they don't understand. I will be here to listen and support you whenever you need it! I know it's easy to feel alone, but at least we have this forum.
    - Sophie 

FPO sophietripp
Joined Jan 10, 2018

Sun, November 26, 2017 5:14 PM

Reply posted for dacoco.

Hey Dakota, my name is Andrew. I'm 16 and in high school just like you. I was diagnosed with crohn's at age 10 and have been in remission for five years until now. I am in the middle of a flare and it sucks. All my friends don't understand and they ask me how I am, but whenever they ask, they don't really seem to care. I know this sucks. I just want to let you know that I understand how you feel and I am here if you need any advice. I hope you feel better!

FPO andrew 2012
Joined Dec 13, 2018

Fri, November 17, 2017 10:12 PM

Reply posted for dacoco.

Hey, Dakota. My name is Kelsey. I'm also 14. I was also recently diagnosed with Crohn's. I get what you mean about there being no one to talk to about it. No one in my area has IBD so it's really hard to find someone to talk to about it. I'm sorry about your diet :(. That must really suck. If you ever want to talk to someone about it, I'm sure anyone in the IBD community would be happy to help, myself included :)
-Kelsey

FPO krainey7834
Joined Nov 17, 2017

Fri, November 17, 2017 10:11 PM

Reply posted for dacoco.

Hey, Dakota. My name is Kelsey. I'm also 14. I was also recently diagnosed with Crohn's. I get what you mean about there being no one to talk to about it. No one in my area has IBD so it's really hard to find someone to talk to about it. I'm sorry about your diet :(. That must really suck. If you ever want to talk to someone about it, I'm sure anyone in the IBD community would be happy to help, myself included :)
-Kelsey

FPO krainey7834
Joined Nov 17, 2017

Thu, November 09, 2017 3:49 PM

Reply posted for dacoco.

Hi Dakota,
 
You are not alone.  We are he to help.  Call us if you have questions, want to talk, learn more about Crohn’s and to vent…..888-694-8872 or info@crohnscolitisfoundation.org.     There may be a teen support group in your area.   Search for your local chapter for a group in your area at: http://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/chapters/
 
You can also learn more about Crohn’s and how to talk to your friends about the disease in our Guide for Teens with IBD at: http://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/assets/pdfs/teenguide.pdf .   Also you can meet more teens with IBD at Camp Oasis.   Check out camp information at: http://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/get-involved/camp-oasis/
 
We also have a teen website at:   http://www.justlikemeibd.org/
 
 

FPO administrator
Joined Oct 12, 2017

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