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Hi everyone!  I'm Heather.  I am 25 years old and just been diagnosed with Crohn's after a six month long struggle.  I am a college graduate with a degree in chemical engineering.  I also recently located from the northeastern US to Tennessee.  Here is my story so far:

I have never had symptoms of Crohn's before my vacation in June of this year.  It was the first real vacation I had bought for myself.  My boyfriend and I went to Punta Cana.  On the 4th day of the 6 day vacation, I got food poisoning.  I read that it is common.  I tried to take medications but it got worse and worse.  So our last night we went to a medical clinic at the resort.  They gave me antibiotics (Cipro) and said I should feel better in a couple of days.  I flew home to the US and things just kept getting worse.  I started having bloody stools.  I saw another doctor in the US and they gave me a new antibiotics.  They bleeding got worse and worse.  I collapsed on my way to the ER.  It was terrifying!  In the hospital, I was on both antibiotics and steriods (80mgs).  They determined I had gotten a salmonella infection while on vacation.  When they cut me back to 40mgs, I had another large bleed and collapsed again in the hospital.  I ultimately had a blood transfusion and several iron infusions.  I also had my first colonoscopy in the hospital.  I was in the hospital for about 10 days in total.  I was really weak and in the middle of a steroid taper so I was out of work for around two months.  This was really stressful because it didn't seem like there were any answers for why this was happening.  They saw a lot of inflammation on the colonoscopy but they couldn't determine if it was infectious or something else.  Around 3 months after my hospitalization, I had another colonoscopy.  The initial findings were confusing.  They didn't see any visible inflammation but I was still on 10mgs of prednisone daily.  I was confused because it seemed like there was no reason for the salmonella infection to have caused such a horrible reaction.  But I was also relieved that there wasn't any chronic issues.  However, when the biopsies came back they found active colitis, ileitis and inflammation of the cecum.  My doctor was still hesitant to diagnose Crohn's (not sure why).  We continued to reduce the steriods slowly.  I couldn't get below 6mg of prednisone without having symptoms returning.  Of course after months on steriods, I am having many side effects.  I've gained a significant amount of weight  (~20 lbs in six months) from being constantly hungry.  I have the classic prednisone moon face, too.  This seems to be going away slowly (finally).  I have been having acne and anxiety issues as well.  I saw my GI doctor right before Thanksgiving.  He then officially diagnosed me with Crohn's.  He also prescribed me 6MP and is having me stay on the 6mg of prednisone until mid-december.  Then I will try to reduce slowly again.  Fingers crossed I can get off of the prednisone soon!

I am happy to have a name behind my symptoms but also scared for the future of dealing with a chronic disease. 

So if you have made it this far into my long rambling post, thank you!  Now I have some questions for all of you.  Has anyone ever heard of salmonella actually causing Crohn's?  Or was it something that was always there but just never flared until the infection?  Is there anyone who's Crohn's "started" at the same time as having an infection?  My doctor thinks my Crohn's is pretty mild so I am lucky with that. 

Recently, I have started losing my hair.  It is diffuse hair loss, not in

Reply posted for heatherlynn.

Sorry to hear you've had so much trouble.  I was diagnosed almost 2 years ago and am still figuring out a lot.  I think that a combination of a GI bug (gastroenteritis), antibiotics, and NSAIDs helped bring on my Crohn's.  I had Colitis in 1999 (no sign of Crohn's then) and had IBS, but my doctors think that it was that "perfect storm" along with genetics that caused mine to be brought on.  My brother also just got diagnosed with Crohn's too, which definitely seems to indicate a genetic component (though we are both in our 40's).  
Good luck and I hope you get some answers!

Reply posted for heatherlynn.

54 and crohns. I had a severe colon infection and landed in the ICU. It caused strictures and during surgery they diagnosed me with crohns. I am in remission on Humira. Do everything you can to stay in remission. No smoking or NSAIDS. I fast every day from 6 PM to 10 AM just to give my colon a break. I'd say living with an unpredictable disease is the hardest part of crohn's. 

Reply posted for rjs16.

i was diagnosed with Crohns 6 years ago.  i am convinced that mine was caused by a Penicillian shot that resulted in copius diarrhea that i ignored for too long because i had 2 young boys i put first which then resulted in Clostridium Difficile.  i went to 2 doctors undergoing invasive tests before the second decided to do a simple blood test that tested positive for C Diff.  Had this been done months prior, i may not have Crohns today.  although i had to have 9 inches of my colon removed, i feel strongly that it was a one time problem.  since i have only been taking Humira every 4 weeks instead of every 2 and feel like i could go off it completely but my doctor has warned me against doing that.  staying away from certain inflammatory foods has kept me in remission.  i do believe that diet is key.
My success in feeling my best is diet and exercise.  I just had a colonoscopy 6 years post-surgery and everything but the surgical site looked great!  i feel like this is a mild case and plan to continue eating non-inflammatroy foods and exercise in 2018.  good luck!

Reply posted for heatherlynn.

That makes sense...i'm struggling with the same thing. Hearing doctors say "we think or we're not sure" just makes my stomach cringe (no pun intended lol). Every little ache or pain anywhere on my body seems to make me think, "is it related, is it getting worse?" It's a real struggle and mine as of now was just colitis. I feel for you and if there is anything you can think of that can help me and my situation, please let me know. 

Reply posted for rjs16.

Hey Ryan. Thanks for the response. It is nice knowing you’re not alone. I had a drs appointment and I asked him about the salmonella. He said basically that there is a good bit of research linking infectious (from e. Cold salmonella, etc) gastroenteritis to Crohn’s flare ups. He told me that I may have been genetically predisposed to Crohn’s and that I may or may not have shown symptoms if it weren’t for the infection which probably kicked off an immune response which then eventually caused the flaring. So not exactly that the salmonella infection caused Crohn’s but also that I could have never had symptoms if something (ie infection) kicked it off. 

I guess in the end, I shouldn’t worry too much about what caused it and focus on getting better and managing the symptoms. 

Reply posted for heatherlynn.

Hi Heather,

Sorry to hear about your whole situation. I wish I had more information to help you feel better about your situation but unfortunately I do not. I am myself just dealing with my first episode of colitis. As of now they think it was an acute viral food situation that made it happen but I still remain skeptical until I see another doctor on Friday. My mother had a bad salmonella infection but ultimately it ended up being just colitis as well and she got over it after a while. I don't think salmonella could have caused your Chrohn's but thats just coming from someone who knows little about these things. I know I would've felt better if someone replied to my post with some comforting words so thats all I am trying to do here. Hope things get better for you and best of luck.

Ryan