Do I have Crohn's

[msreta]

I need help! I have been going to doctors for going a year now and nobody can pinpoint what is wrong with me. Forf 15 years was told I have IBS. Now, I wonder if I have Crohn's. I have had chronic constipation for 10 years now. Didn't have a bowel movement unless I took a laxative or ate prunes. But last September everything changed. I went from having constipation to a few days of constipation and the rest of the time had soft bowel movements. one to two times a day. Of course, I was happy not to be constipated anymore but the other symptoms that went with this were troubling. Heart palpitations, nausea, bloating, some vomiting, feeling full after eating, tremors (only two episodes) and insomnia. Have had heart checked out and all kinds of blood work performed. I now have high blood pressure which I take medication for and the heart palpitations went away. But now when I eat anything I get nauseated and bloated and the soft stools with occasional days of constipation and now have crampy discomfort in lower right side. I have had a ct of the abdomin (abdomen) and pelvis and they say I have a small cyst on left kidney and hemangionoma on liver. already knew this from 7 years ago. but none of these will cause my symptoms according to physician. I had endoscopy in feburary 08 and diagnosed as having gasritis which took meds for but symptoms did not go away during or after treatment. My gastroenrololgist has ordered a colonoscopy be done this friday. My question is could this be crons.if not crohns what else should we be testing for.

I was born allergic to milk and could only drink soy milk as a baby. have had no problems since infancy until about 15 years ago. it started with nausea and difficulty swallowing. since i have had these recent symptoms believe it or not the swallowing difficulty has almost diminished. i do get diarrhea if i eat dairy foods so i don't eat them.

[ayri]

hi, yes its a real possibility that you have crohns or other intestinal disorders, first you have to relise that gastritis is a very serious condition and will take a long time to heal, your symptoms mimic gastritis, even the tremors and heart palpitatons are from gastritis, your symptoms will be relieved once the linning of your stomach heals, ant-acids like neximu and others do help in this way, if you want to speed up the process to heal your stomach linning, then i suggest one teaspoon of pure honey every morning for two weeks.cheers

[ayri]

sorry, its nexium

[bororo]

Hi ayri, seems to me you really know much about Gastritis.I have been diagnosed with gastritis and i have been experiencing abdominal discomfort for sometime now, approximately like 6months.Just started taking slippery elm and licorice and chammoline tea.Do you think honey also helps in the healing process?Are you saying i will continue to have the discomfort till the stomach heals itself?

[ayri]

hi, well some doctors will tell you that gastritis is a permanent condition for some people and that may be true, although everyone is different,the only way the inflammation of the stomach linning can heal is when the acid production is reduced to a level, so as to give the space for healing.now ant-acid medication does just that, but what im saying is that pure honey speeds up the healing because pure honey rejuvenates tissue growth.the problem with gastritis is that not only does it damage the stomach but it also is related to      problems in other  parts of the digestive system like damaging the small intestinal wall from the constant flow of acid into that organ.you should strictly follow a gerd diet and and try the honey formula for a couple of weeks, along with the medication your doctor prescribed for you like proton-pump-inhibitors, then after a few months i would suggest you go for a follow-up endoscopy. cheers.

[bororo]

my doc actually asked me to stop omeprazole like 2 months ago and that i should just keep taking Maalox alone.I sure would try the honey stuff.Have you heard gastritis before?Anyway, i do hope symtomps would go away soon.I am also trying as much as possible to stick with the gERD diet.Thanks for your reply though

[ayri]

hi, yes i suffered from gastritis once now its all healed and gone.

[Cheri70]

They have a blood test that will look for Crohn's markers.  I was diagnosed with Crohn's prior to the test and now told I do not have the markers so I do not have Crohn's.  Maybe ask for the blood test?  Have you had a colonoscopy?  That would show any inflammation.

[Adam1021]

Why did they originally diagnose you with Crohn's? Did you have any ulceration or blood in stool?

I recently started have some minor, intermediate cramping and 2-4 bowel movements a day (the last 2-3 were generally soft or diarrhea), and the GI did a colonoscopy and found some patchy inflammation and some "ulcers" in the sigmoid colon.

The ulcers looked very much like chicken pox or a rash. They weren't very deep or anything. The biopsy came back and the pathologist said it was somewhat inconclusive, but he was leaning toward infection. So I took Cipro for 5 days and I am feeling better than I was before, but I am still worried that I have Crohn's.