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.