by Inna at www.journey-with-crohns-disease.com
(Brooklyn, NY, USA)
My name is Inna. I am a pharmacist from New York and I’m also a Crohns disease patient. In 2000 I was given a misdiagnosis of Ulcerative colitis (UC) right after having my first child.
Then, three years later, during my second pregnancy, my symptoms got worse.
After a lot of discussions, medical doctors finally comforted themselves with pneumonia as my diagnosis. I don’t think that anyone of them noticed that I got severe diarrhea even before starting antibiotics.
My gastroenterologist reviewed my case and was now convinced that this was in fact Crohns disease. It’s very easy to confuse Crohns disease (CD) with UC especially when the symptoms are still mild.
After being misdiagnosed once, I decided to start questioning everything.
I started reading a lot of medical literature on inflammatory bowel conditions and realized that this diagnosis was probably the correct one according to all the current diagnostic parameters.
Then I tried most medications available like Rowasa enema, Pentasa, Asacol, 6-MP or mercaptopurine, Entocort, Xifaxan, antibiotics like Cipro without much improvement.
I actually got worse and ended up in the hospital a few times with horrible flare ups.
I was given intravenous corticosteroids that made my mind very unclear. Then I was getting Remicade IV infusions. Then, I received Mercaptopurine (6-MP) and stayed on it for a while.
I started improving slowly but now my immune system was down from the medications and the aftermath of Crohns exacerbations. I was catching viral and bacterial infection so fast. Working in the pharmacy in the cold season did not help either. I needed to feel BETTER FAST.
I started doing more research on alternative therapy. I tried acupuncture and it improved my digestion. I tried many herbs and homeopathic medications that were excellent. I found a medical doctor that practiced non-traditional medicine who figured out what natural supplements I needed. Those natural supplements improved my immunity. I changed my diet according to my own long research and many specialists’ suggestions. The dose of 6-MP was reduced slowly and eventually it was discontinued.
My recommendation is to combine both traditional and non-traditional treatments. Simply start with changing your diet. The goal is to keep the medications on the lowest possible effective dose to minimize the side effects. The next step would be adding natural supplements to the regimen. Try some exercise, like Yoga or fast walking. Find a comfort zone by learning to relax and have faith. If you are religious, praying is an important factor. Detoxify and cleanse your body with natural products. Take probiotics as well as digestive enzymes to repair your digestive system. Try to eat natural and organic foods. Consider drinking and cooking with filtered water. Try some breathing exercises and make sure you empty out your bowel completely when going to the bathroom. Yes it’s a lot of work but try little by little to make small changes. That’s what I did. And we can definitely improve our quality of life. Even if I help one person with my suggestions, I would be thrilled!
You could read more about Crohns disease on my site www.journey-with-crohns-disease.com