My Crohn's Symptoms

Crohn's Disease is known as an 'invisible illness' and if you read enough blogs you will soon realise that one of the most frequently cited annoyances of Crohn's patients is people telling them they do not look ill. Furthermore, the symptoms are not traditionally considered a subject for "polite conversation", which contributes to the bubble of unawareness. 

My symptoms nowadays (2014) are incredibly mild compared to 18-months ago. This makes me not want to tell people that I have Crohn's Disease, because I am afraid that my relatively healthy state at present will make others underestimate the severity of the illness.

Even before my symptoms started to concern me, I had been experiencing irregular bowel movements for many months. Furthermore, since my teenage years I had experience mild abdominal pain from time to time. However, as I had a very unhealthy diet back then I naturally attributed it to that, or at worst, Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

The first occasion on which it occurred to me that something more sinister may be at work (2009), I experienced severe abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea for 24-48 hours. When I recovered I naturally assumed it had been caused by food poisoning. The exact same thing happened another two times in as many months. I would be violently ill, then I would recover for a few weeks.

This pattern continued over the next few months. With each episode, the duration of the symptoms would grow and the period of respite would shrink, until eventually diarrhoea and severe abdominal pain were prominent features of my daily life, and I was vomiting at least once a week.

The Pain

In the early stages the pain was easier to manage as there were periods of respite, but after a couple of years of constant pain it became the most mentally challenging symptoms. Chronic pain makes it very difficult to enjoy life. Simple things like going for a nice walk or shopping trip become agonising experiences. It also affected my concentration and memory, as my mind was always partially focused on the pain.  After a couple of years the lower right area of my stomach was constantly painful and with every step I took it felt like a lead ball was shifting around in there. This was a constant feature of my life for nearly 12-months and persists occasionally now. Since I entered "remission", I have occasional cramping but the majority of the pain is localised to that one area and is usually accompanied by swelling and tenderness. However, I suspect this may be due to the scarring/narrowing rather than inflammation.

The Diarrhoea 

Although I find the pain somewhat embarrassing, the diarrhoea is the most humiliating symptom. Having to keep a spare change of clothes in the car is not usually high on your list of priorities when you're in your early twenties. Not to mention spending a large portion of your working day sitting on the toilet, hoping that no one hears as you squirt poop all over the toilet bowl! For 2-years solid I had diarrhoea pretty much everyday - about 70% of the time it was restricted to the first 3-hours after waking. These days my poops are still completely irregular, but there are nearly as many normal ones as urgent ones! Furthermore, for several years the second my eyes opened each and every morning I would need to urgently poop, whereas now this only happens 1-2 times per week.

The Vomiting

For me, the vomiting was the most worrying part. In the early stages, with my talent for self-denial I could convince myself that the pain and diarrhoea were caused by a less-than-perfect lifestyle. In contrast, vomiting felt more unnatural, more sinister. Unlike the other symptoms the vomiting was only occasional, which made it more manageable, and to be honest once I had vomited I felt much better because the pain would lessen. Even from the early stages the vomiting was fairly predictable in that it would be preceded by either a gradual or sudden increase in pain. Thankfully it has been about a year since I experienced this at its most severe.