Hello! Remember me??

Hello!

So yeah first things first, I suck at blogging. I was so into it but then lost steam and got really busy and never made it back, I suck. I have been wanting to blog for the past several months but just haven't had the time! In a funny way Crohn's can very much be like my blogging. If there are no issues you sometimes forget about having Crohn's, until bam! You get a flare up. Also the fact that it's an invisible disease makes a lot of people forget you have it too. I have heard many times before "oh that's right you have Crohn's, I forgot".

Anyways just thought I would give a quick update on how I was doing and then there will probably be another few months more hiatus but I swear I am making it a new years resolution to get better at blogging!

So health wise, I feel great! I have been on Humira consistently since I left the hospital. As you may have remembered my doctor was so gracious enough to give me a few months supply. Of course that was months ago and my supply is out, but as luck has it I was able to Medicaid. Technically my situation didn't really qualify me for it, the system is so screwed up but that's another blog! Exciting news, that's really not news anymore to those that are close to us, we are expecting our second child, in oh about three weeks! LOL! Luckily being knocked up and getting laid off around the same time, was able to qualify me for Medicaid and I have been on my meds continually.

Although unexpected, we were definitely happy and excited! I briefly worried about how my pregnancy was going to go with Crohn's, but I really have had nothing to worry about! I have had absolutely no flare ups or other complications. I have been seeing a perenatologist on top of my OBGYN and everything has come back normal! No funny cravings I'm sad to report, just my normal cravings for ice, but it hasn't been as bad as the first time and same thing with heart burn. This pregnancy has been fairly decent considering all that we have going on.

Even though this pregnancy was a good one considering my Crohn's, I'm not out of the clearing yet. There is still a possibility to flare up after the delivery, so fingers crossed! In a few short weeks we will be welcoming our second daughter and we are very excited! Thanks again for reading my blog and stay tune in 2014 for hopefully more blogging!

Happy New Years!

One month

Well it's been one month since I got out of the hospital after going to the ER for my Crohns. I am happy to report I have been feeling much better! This week I started weening myself off of the Prednsione and should be done taking them in about three weeks. Luckily this time around the side effects were minimial. I also have gained back my weight. The first two weeks on the steroids I wanted to eat everything in sight. It was good to be able to eat again, tried not to go overboard, but I may have been a little bad haha! But I am back to eating normal and trying to avoid fast food and sweets. Still have the issue with dairy which sucks, but oh well. Trying out some organic milk and seeing if that makes a difference. My doctor was able to give me a six month's supply of my medication which was a huge relief and will help me achieve remission. I have my energy back and have started exercising again. I started the 30 day squat challenge two days ago and have been doing different yoga classes. I am attempting a zumba class next week, wish me luck! Also I am very excited to be doing the Color Run in Richmond in September with some lovely ladies. It feels so good to be healthy again and I am very fortunate to being doing better. Just wanted to give an update. Please let me know any questions you might have if you have a loved one or friend with Crohns or let me know some things you might want to see on the blog. Thanks for reading!

A trip to the ER Part 2...

OK so here is the second half of my trip to the ER. Sorry it took so long!

Well I entered the hospital on a Tuesday afternoon and did not get to leave until Friday evening. When I went the hospital I weighed 95 pounds. Over the two and a half month span of getting sick and having a flare up I lost fifteen pounds. I also forgot to mention in my last post that my heart rate was elevated as well. I went to Stafford Hospital and I must say between this visit and another visit for something else and taking Emma once, I am pleased with their service. My wait was very short and I was taken back pretty quickly. I explained to the nurses what was going on and they took my vitals and entered in my information. The ER doctor looked me over and asked a few questions. I will say I was not happy with how he kept asking me how I let myself get like this and pretty much said I needed to take better care of myself. Trust me if I was financially able to, I would, but I am not and that's not my fault. I have crappy insurance and health care is ridiculously expensive. I am positive many Americans are in the same situation. Sorry doc, we don't all make your salary!

For the next couple of hours I was poked and prodded and asked a series of questions. I had a double IV ran for fluids for re hydrating me, antibiotics, and morphine for pain (woo hoo!). I had a CAT scan done, which oddly enough just days prior to this I read a blog about another Crohnie (nickname for those of us with Crohns) getting a CAT scan. She described it and how it makes you feel like you have peed your pants when you go through it. And sure enough it did the same thing to me. The nurse was nice enough to warn me of that so had I not read that blog, I would have still been aware. Although I didn't get a room until almost 7 that evening, the time seemed to go by pretty quickly, luckily my parents were there to keep me company. Once I was in my room and settled, David and Emma visited me. Poor Emma was so upset that I wasn't sleeping at the house and I was sick. I assured her I would be ok and I was there to get better. After they left I was ready to sleep. Needless to say though I did not get to sleep until almost 5am the following morning because I was woken up several time for vitals and medicine and I was still in some pain when I had to go to the bathroom.

For the next few days I received fluids and medicine and was put on a liquid and then a low fiber diet. I was monitored by several nurses and my primary care doctor and the gastronlogist at that hospital. My parents were there every day for a few hours to keep me company and then in the evening I got to see Emma and David before they went home. I received many well wishes from friends and family via Facebook and beautiful flowers from David's parents and sister. After the first night I finally did get some good sleep and it was nice to rest. Most of my nurses were good except one but we let the head nurse know about that little issue and my first night nurse was amazing. I started to feel better and by Thursday was ready to go home and rest in my own bed. However there was a slight issue...

My bloodwork was coming back as very low and the doctor was concerned about it and needed to keep monitoring it. On Thursday my blood was still not at the level it needed to be and the doctor started to discuss with me possibly doing a blood transfusion.

UH What??! was pretty much my reaction to that.

I have no idea what about the flare up caused my blood to get like that. Was it from being severly anemic? Was it from being dehydrated? I have no clue. I do however know that the thought of having to get someone else's blood put in me creeped me out and was not something I wanted to do. But this was something that was holding me up from going home. I had to stay one more night to monitor my blood and make a decision Friday. I still don't know what about my bloodwork was wrong but I had more bloodwork done at my follow-up appointment so I should know something soon.

Luckily Friday my bloodwork came back closer to normal than it had been and I was able to go home. I left the hospital Friday evening and boy was I ready to go home! I was happy I got to get the medical attention I needed but I was ready to finish healing at home.  I'm pleased I went to Stafford Hospital and received great care and couldn't wait to start feeling healthy again.

I didn't return to work until the middle of the following week and spent my time resting up. Although I felt better I tired easily when I tried to do anything. I was ready to get my house and life back in order but had to remind myself to take it easy I just spent a few days in the hospital. Since then I have been feeling much better and very happy to be healthy again. Seriously never take good health for granted, trust me it's something that means alot to those of us that don't have it. Thanks again to all the friends and family that checked on me and wished me well during this time, it means alot!

Follow-up appointment

Just a quick post tonight because I am so excited about my appointment and wanted to share it with you guys!

So I went to see my doctor today as a follow-up from being in the hospital. I explained what had happened and how I ended up going to the ER. He asked how I was feeling since I got out and I told him great. The steroids were working well and I was happy with the dosage and I am at the point of starting to ween myself off of them. Luckily just a few side effects this time. We discussed how the Humira had been working for me before ending up in the ER. I did tell him that I was stretching out taking my medicine since I couldn't afford it and my insurance didn't cover much. He was concerned that I wasn't taking my medicine regularly but did understand my financial situation. He is not happy with the reps from Humira because they are telling doctors that no patients will go without their medication no matter what their financial situation. I mean that was part of the reason I was put on this medication, of course the fact that it really works has a lot to do with it too.

Anyways my doctor wants me to take my medication regularly and gave me, I mean just GAVE me, a six month supply of medication and is having one of the reps from Humira contact me about why I am not getting my medication at a much more discounted price compared to what was offered to me. Now let me just explain how expensive my medication is. The other day I called in a refill of my medication to my insurance company and I was told it was $2000 for a one month supply, which is two pens. This was AFTER my insurance company covered it. I am waiting to hear back from the insurance company after taking my information about my discounted plan through Humira. However that will only give me the prescription one time at a cost of $45.

So needless to say I am super excited that I just got my medication for free for the next six months and hopefully get my medication regularly after that at a discounted price that I can afford. Some things in our country just don't make sense to me but at least I saw a glimmer of hope today! Now I can feel great again and eat normal. It's been so nice lately feeling healthy, I had such a good weekend, it was really nice not being confined to a couch feeling like crap!

Anyways I just wanted to share that with you guys and yes I am still working on the second half of my post for my trip to the ER, just had a busy weekend. :)

A trip to the ER Part I

Well this is the mother of all posts, the whole reason I decided to start this blog. This post will actually be a two part post because I didn't want it to be too long. :)

About two weeks ago I took myself to the ER because of my Crohns, it was a first for me. I have never been to the hospital for my Crohns, even though there were times that maybe I should have. While I was in the hospital David suggested I start a log of my Crohns. When he said that, I thought he meant like a log of the foods I can't have or the times that I am having problems, but he also said that maybe it would help other people. I then realized he meant something like a blog and thus this blog was born!

Alright so let's get back to how I ended up at the ER.

Towards the end of January Emma and I got the flu. I took her to the hospital on a Saturday because I couldn't get her fever to go down. The hospital said she possibly had bronchitis. I am not sure why they didn't test her for the flu when pretty much every school in Stafford had an outbreak of the flu. The middle of that week I took her to the pediatrician and was told it was the flu. Just before her appointment I received a call from her teacher that there was a confirmed outbreak of the flu in her classroom. During this time I was so fortunate to get it myself. I took three days off from work to tend to Emma and myself, but then had to get back to work. I still felt like crap for the next week and a half. During this time I was due to take my medicine. Since I was already sick I didn't take my medication because it lowers my immune system and makes me more suspectible to illness.

Two weeks after getting the flu Emma got the stomach flu from her school (joy) and I in turn got it as well. Getting the stomach flu on top of having Crohns just seems cruel to me. OH so you're down? Here let me kick you! So I was out of work for another couple days. I was in the bathroom alot, unable to eat much, I threw up a few times and constantly felt nausea. I also was exhausted all the time. I was crashing at 8-9pm and barely able to get up in the mornings and I spent my weekends confined to the couch. God bless David during this time with helping out around the house. And I was very cold, always cold, sitting at my desk at work wearing a winter jacket and still shivering. It took me about a week or so to get over this stomach bug and I did start to feel better for a few days. Not long afterwards though I started to get sick again and actually thought I had gotten another stomach virus. All the same symptoms minus the vomitting but add acid reflux, which still made me nausea. It was absolutely terrible. I desparately needed to take time off to get better. However I was warned by my work if I took anymore time off I would be let go because of my attendance. Also during this time I was dealing with other issues in our life, it was a constant barage of one thing after another. I was one stressed out Melissa!

I woke up on a Tuesday completely drained and not wanting to go to work. I ended up with a new, painful symptom. All my joints, mainly my lower joints ached terribly and it was very hard to walk. But the show must go on and off to work I went. I only lasted until lunch time when I text David telling him about my joints and he text back saying I needed to go to the doctor because he was concerned. I called him and told him that if I went to the doctor, even if I waited until after work to go, they would more than likely send me to the hospital and I would be in for a few days. We could not afford for me to miss work and potentially lose my job. I was between a rock and hard place, a very sick hard place.

What David said to me next I already knew, but didn't want to admit to myself. I was not doing well, I was in fact very sick and needed medical attention STAT. Between getting sick over and over again and not taking my medication I had let myself get to a point that I could not get better on my own. So at my desk at work I finally had a break down and cried my eyes out. David said my health was more important than my job, if they fired me they fired me and that was that. We would somehow manage if that happened but would deal with it when the time came. I needed to take care of myself first.

I went into my boss's office and explained the situation and that I needed to go to the hospital. She was unaware that I was feeling so terribly and agreed that my health was more important and just asked to be kept in the loop on how I was doing. Crohns is invisible disease so it's hard for other people to tell when I am not feeling well unless I have told you or you are very close to me and can see it first hand.

I wasn't sure what the hospital was going to do but I was relieved that I was going to get the attention and rest that I needed. So off to the hospital I went.

Stay tuned for the rest...

Yoga!

So I had planned for my next post to be about my trip to the ER and I am in the process of writing it. However I did want to do a quick post tonight on the yoga class I took earlier today. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, stress is a trigger just like that list of my bad foods. Many forums on Crohns mention yoga as a way to help relieve stress. I have taken a few yoga classes and they were gentle ones that I enjoyed because the breathing and stretching really relaxed me. That class was offered through the county.

Well Stafford got a yoga place finally!

It's called Stafford House of Yoga, located off of 610. I have seen several advertisements and a friend that has been going there recently and raves about it. So I decided to give them a call this past week and tell them what I was looking for and if they offered anything similar. The lady on the phone was very understanding and helpful. She mentioned two classes that were kind of what I was looking for. One of the classes was offered on Sunday afternoons which worked perfect for me. It is called Restorative yoga class. I was super stoked to go today for some relaxation and ME time. I had no troubles finding the place and it was a quaint looking little building. Walking inside you instantly feel at ease with the decor and helpful staff. For my first time they explained everything I needed to know and where to go.

The class was bigger than I expected, maybe about 10 of us. The instructor was an older lady whose name I can't remember at the moment (eek!) but she had a very soothing voice with a slight sense of humor. There were props for us to use for the class, blocks, pillows, and a blanket. There was nice soothing music and a hint of aromatherapy. The class was 90 minutes long and involved supported poses, stretches, and breathing exercises.

Overall I enjoyed the class, I did feel relaxed when I left, I could have almost taken a nap when I got home. The class was a little longer than I would have liked but I might go again. Some of the stretches kind of hurt my lower back but that could have been because I was doing them wrong and the instructor said if we didn't feel comfortable with the pose or stretch we didn't have to do them. So I didn't feel weird just sitting there until the next pose or modifying the pose. I had the worst time clearing my head too, my brain just would not shut up!

I can say Stafford House of Yoga is a neat little place and I look forward to trying other classes and I am glad I checked it out!

Medications

As I stated in my previous posts I have been on 6MP (Mercaptourine) and two steroids, Prednisone and Endocort. I have been on steroids a total of three times since finding out that I had Crohns. I ususally end up on the steroids because I have been stressed or not eating the best that I should, it usually happens around the holidays. My doctor wasn't happy with my progress towards remission with having to keep going back on steroids. Although the 6MP worked better than not being on anything at all, it wasn't the best that it could be. I still had issues with my stomach and foods that I couldn't eat and my doctor stressed that food shouldn't be as big of an issue as it was for me. My doctor wanted to put me on a biological drug called Humira. I'm sure that the word biological drug would scare most but after being on a chemo-drug that wasn't what scared me. The way that I would have to administer the drug scared me. 6MP is a pill that I took once a day and both of the steroids were in pill form that I took a couple times a day. Humira however was a injection that I had to give myself. Now since being told I had Crohns I have been stuck with a needle more times that I would like to count. During the initial phase of determining I had Crohns I had lots of bloodwork done. Once I was prescribed the 6MP it was mandated that every few months I get bloodwork done to monitor my red blood cell count. So as you can see I get stuck with a needle a lot. It doesn't hurt me and I don't get queasy but for some reason I just don't like seeing my blood fill up those little vials. It just bothers me. I was very nervous about going on Humira and having to give the injection myself. I was so worried that I would get air in the needle and kill myself, I seriously stressed myself over this and would not let the doctor convince me to do it just yet. He had been suggesting this drug for almost two years now. Something to always remember with doctors is they can't make you do anything you don't want to do, its your body, they can make suggestions but you make the final decision. I just wasn't ready yet.

Well last year I was having a pretty bad time with my stomach again. A combination of stress and not having insurance and not being able to take my meds regularly. I started a new job and made an appointment as soon as I could with my new insurance. Again my doctor brought up Humira. Not only for the benefit of me getting to remission but for financial reasons as well. Humira offers a discount program for people like me whose job security is unstable (lots of layoffs in the past couple years). This time I was ready. I was tired of feeling like crap constantly and not being able to eat, losing weight and the fear of going anywhere there might not be a bathroom. So I told my doctor I was ready and he prescribed me Humira and set up an in-home injection training with a nurse. He sent me home with a welcome kit that included brochures and a practice pen.

First of all the pen didn't look anything like I imagined it, I literally pictured a syringe and a bottle of liquid medicine. The pen looks like what I have heard people call an epi-pen. Once I figure out how to add pictures to the blog I will include one so you can see what I am talking about. The information in the welcome kit was pretty standard to all other brochures I have read about medicines. A list of precautions and side effects and so on. One good thing I did read was that Humira was a class B drug and safer if you're pregnant or want to become pregnant. Not like that is an active thought in our heads right now but good to know. Whereas the 6MP was a class F drug and not considered safe if you are pregnant, although my doctor suggested otherwise when I inquired about it. Next came the in-home injection training with the nurse. She would come to my house and talk about the pen and show me how to use it and give me my first shots, a total of four shots to be exact.

So I think I have expressed the amount of pain I have experienced with having Crohns and do believe I have a pretty high threshold for pain. What happened next I was not prepared for at all! The nurse said she had to inject the pen into my upper thigh, a "fatty" area. The pain was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life! It was so intense and it burned like you wouldn't believe. I instantly welled up with tears and luckily the nurse forgot something in her car and excused herself and I used that moment to openly cry about the pain. When the nurse came back inside I had calmed down but did let her know how much it hurt and that I wasn't sure I was able to give it to myself yet. She did the next shot and the pain was still pretty intense but not as bad. The third one I did myself and messed up and some of the medicine leaked out. I was nervous and in a lot of pain. The last shot I did right but it still hurt a bunch. I called David when the nurse left and cried about how much it hurt and that I didn't really think I could give myself the shots. My next shot was due in two weeks. It was two instead of four but still I was really scared of the pain. Two weeks went by pretty quickly and it was time. I read the directions again and got myself ready. I had read that I could inject it in the thigh OR the stomach, the nurse never mentioned that. I iced up the area real good and got ready to do it. It took me a few moments before I did it, but when I did the pain was much less than in the thigh. I was able to give myself both shots with just a little bit of pain compared to the first time. My stomach was a much better injection site than my thighs.

Giving myself the shots now is like second nature. I still only inject in my stomach and I still ice the area and it just a stings a litte. I received a shot recently at the hospital after a trip to the ER and it hurt worse than when I do it, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I have been giving myself the medicine now for almost eight months. My body responds well to it, better than the 6MP ever did. I have been able to eat things I haven't been able to eat for years or really paid for if I took the risk to eat them. The sweet taste of soda, the delicious crunch of salad, a yummy dinner of hibachi. Oh it was incredible! The only issue now is being able to stay on the medicine regularly due to insurance reasons, but that's another post.

After the diagnosis...

I wish I had started this blog sooner so the details wouldn't be so fuzzy since it has been a few years. I usually have a pretty good memory but it's not as good as it used to be.

Anyways the next few years I remained on the 6MP and had to go on steroids twice when my stomach wasn't doing well with just the 6MP. Luckily I convinced my doctor to try a different steroid since I had such a terrible time with the Prednsione. I got to go on Endocort which worked great. It had little to no side effects and worked well when I needed them. I will say that Prednisone is a great steroid to heal you the fastest, it just has a lot of side effects the longer you remain on them, plus who knows the long term effects. I was on them for almost six months which was not good. If you want to know more about the crazy side effects of Prednsione look up Scott Stapp's (Lead singer of Creed) story, he was on them for years!

Now although Crohns is an autoimmune disorder, there are triggers that make it worse. Trigger foods and stress that irritate your symptoms. I used to be a smoker and then when Emma (my daughter) was almost two I decided to quit. It was fairly easy for me to quit, I did the gum and once when I got a craving I smoked a stale cigarette and it was so gross that I didn't want to smoke anymore. It definitely helped that David was quitting at the same time. We did pretty well until we went on a family vacation to Florida and Emma entered into her terrible twos. On that trip David and I both started smoking again, and my stomach was having a terrible time. My doctor had never mentioned that smoking would make my symptoms worse. When I got back from that trip it was time for a check up with my doctor and I told him about smoking and that my stomach was bothering me again. He told me that if I continued to smoke that my medication wouldn't work and I would continue to have issues. Once I heard that it was pretty easy to quit again and I have never looked back.

A lot of people ask me what foods I can't eat and honestly the easier question would be which foods I can eat, trust me the list is much shorter. So my list of trigger foods are as follows:

Fried, greasy food, fast food
Raw vegetables, citrus fruits or fruits with seeds
Dairy products
Soda, coffee, anything with caffeine in it
Red meat, processed meats (lunch meat)
Spicy foods

Ok so maybe the list doesn't look so long but those are more so categories of foods I can't have haha! Pretty much the foods I can tolerate when I am not feeling well are rice, bread, baked potatoes, and white pasta. I have also put myself on a liquid diet a few times to give my guts a rest. Broth and jello, yum!

Almost forgot the stress part! So basically stress can be just as bad as those foods on my list. I used to get really worked up over trivial stuff, drama I guess you could call it. I have learned to let alot of things go and just had more important things to worry about in my life, or better things to be concerned with. It's amazing after letting stupid stuff go how much simpler life can be. :) I really did expect a lot of people and constantly felt let down by friends. But David gave me great advice once..."If you never expect anything from people then you will never be let down by them when they don't do something or you can be pleasantly surprised when they do". It really is good advice. Also I got a tattoo on my ankle last year of the Ohm symbol as a way to remind myself to stay calm. David think it looks like a sideways butt with a fart coming out of it, but whatever it's my reminder haha! They do recommend doing yoga or light exercise to help maintain being stress free. I have done bouts of working out in the past but Jillian Michaels does NOT qualify as light exercise! I have also tried a yoga class with my friend Lauren that I did enjoy once I got over the awkwardness of the chants and the fact that we were the youngest people there, I'm talking about we were in a senior group haha, but we didn't care! I am actually trying out a restorative yoga this Sunday in Stafford so wish me luck!

I have Crohns, now what?

So the verdict was in, I was right in my research and tests concluded that I had Crohns. Aside from what I had researched of the disease I had never heard of it before nor had I known anyone with it. Simply put it is an autoimmune disease in which my immune system is on overdrive and attacks itself because it can't tell the difference between good bacteria and bad bacteria in my body. Now alot of people think that I can avoid certain foods and I will be fine. Well yes that would be true if I had IBS which is very similar, but I don't. Yes I have trigger foods that I should avoid but I can sometimes be doing so well that I can tolerate those foods and then the following week those same foods could totally wreck my system.

The doctor put me on a chemo-drug that would suppress my immune system (Mercaptourine, also known as 6MP) and also put me on steroids (Prednsione) to help heal my insides. After the first few weeks had gone by with taking medication I felt great. It felt so good to not be constantly running to the bathroom and be able to sit down through an entire meal. I will never forget the first meal I had after going on meds, it was so delicious! It was at Outback Steakhouse with David's family for someone's birthday. I had a nice salad with a steak and a baked potato  I think I even had some of the blooming onion for an appetizer. You never know how much you miss food until you have to limit your diet or the thought of eating makes you sick.

Then came the side effects...

I experienced some pretty crazy side effects from the Prednisone. I had the most godawful mood swings. I was already a little hot headed to begin with, but the steroid made it worse. I was so shocked by the things I said that moments later I would burst into tears ashamed of my words and actions. I can't even remember the things I used to go off about with David while I was on that medication, I just know it was a pretty bad time in my life, a dark period. I also experienced terrible hunger pains, constantly feeling hungry, insomnia, aching joints (if I sat for more than five minutes and got up I felt like an 80 year old) and what is so eloquently known as "moon face". This is where all the water weight in your body migrates to your face. It was very embarrassing for me. My stomach felt better but the rest of me was falling apart.

I begged my doctor to take me off of Prednisone and told him all the terrible side effects I was experiencing. The problem with steroids is you just can't stop them. You have to ween yourself off of them otherwise your symptoms could come back or even be worse than when you first started the steroids. So of course I finished my course of steroids as I was prescribed and luckily my side effects went away slowly over the course of the next few months.

The beginning...

Hi, I'm Melissa and I have Crohns. It doesn't define me but is definitely a big part of my life. A constant thorn in my side, some days more than others. I have been diagnosed for almost four years but I have had it for almost six years. Let me tell you my story...

I had my daughter back in May of 2007, I had no issues with food while I was pregnant except alot of heartburn. Prior to my daughter my health was pretty good and I had no stomach issues except being slightly lactose intolerant but I loved dairy products, namely ice cream, too much to be slowed down by that.  I wouldn't say that I ate junk food all the time but I also wasn't the healthiest eater either. I really only liked raw vegetables and a few fruits. 

So after having my daughter I started having issues with my stomach, I went to the bathroom almost immediately after eating anything. It started out slow and progressively got worse. I thought since this was the first time having a child that maybe it was just taking some time for my body to get back to normal, but part of me felt something else was wrong. The pain was so intense at times I didn't want to eat or it would make me vomit. Seriously I could have had my daughter with no drugs and the pain would have been less than what I was experiencing with my stomach. There was also the drastic weight loss. Now being a new mom any woman would be happy to lose baby weight, however I wasn't that big to begin with and the weight loss was obviously unhealthy at the rate I was losing it. I also noticed blisters in my mouth which I never had before. At the time of all of this I had no insurance so I couldn't go to the doctor. I researched the crap (no pun intended) out of my symptoms though and was convinced I had Crohns. Towards the end of 2008 I finally had insurance and went to the doctor and told them my symptoms and that I was sure I had Crohns.

Next came the tests, numerous blood tests and stool samples (yuck). I went to a physician in Stafford that would refer me to a gastrontolegist. He performed a series of these tests because obviously I am no doctor and couldn't be sure I had Crohns but deep down I knew from my symptoms and lots of research it was true. The final test was a colonscopy and and endoscopy that confirmed that yes I did indeed have Crohns. The pictures of my insides were pretty gross, red, inflammed and lots of ulcers, no wonder I was in so much pain.