Happy to Have Answers

I think it was in 2004 when I first started feeling not well. Sure, there were some gastro symptoms, but I didn’t think much of it. I remember having a fever for a few days and just feeling off. Later, I’d flown to Georgia, and when I flew back home, my ankles were terribly swollen, and they ached. I stared a new job, which was scary. And, we were in the process of building our first house. That huge step was also a bit scary after just being married a year. I chalked a lot of what I was feeling to stress. I started getting odd red lumps on my shins and other places, and many of my joints just hurt. The doctor said it was erythema nodosum. But, he had no idea why it was happening. Eventually, my symptoms improved.

A couple of years later in 2006, many of those same symptoms came back. When the red lumps came back, I went to the doctor again. I randomly saw someone different, and she suggested I see a Gastroenterologist for a colonoscopy. That led to my Crohn’s diagnosis. Now, 13 years later, I’m usually feeling pretty good. I’ve been off and on different medications. Imuran kicked my blood and killed all of my white blood cells. I’m now on Inflectra and MP6. Most days I’m ok. I have to be careful what I eat sometimes. A salad is great, but a salad every day for a week isn’t. Stress can still make it worse, so I try to not let that get out of hand either. Right now, I’m just taking it a day at a time and trying to make the best choices for me.