While laying in bed not sleeping at 3:30am, I decided maybe I should blog about my multiple intestinal diagnoses. It might be a thing other people need to know about.
Currently, I have active Crohn's disease in my colon. I used to have it in my small intestine and colon intersection but now it's moved lower into the colon. Crohn's is bad. Hence the blog. But I also have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Kinda the same but totally not. Treatment for these two conditions are the total opposite from each other. One you avoid fiber and anything with a consistency more than applesauce, the other you need fiber to make you feel better and for your guts to work right. But it will kill you if you take fiber and eat fiber and try the whole fiber thing if you have Crohn's. So you can see having both is a total win win scenario. Ok not really.
How do I know what's causing the problem? Easy, I don't. Never know. Hard to tell. Although when the Crohn's is in remission and you are having gut problems it's probably the IBS. But it could be the Crohn's flaring so it's best to get nine million invasive tests that may or may not show anything, but do allow you to drink things off the periodical table of elements. Seriously. It's a crap shoot basically. (HA! Crap!)
The two different illnesses cause mostly the same symptoms for me. Crohn's brings a lot of pain and diarrhea. IBS brings a different kind of pain and diarrhea - constipated diarrhea. You know, the kind where you have to go but you can't really make anything come out but your butthole is on fire and you know you are going to explode any minute but you're afraid to because you know it's going to burn like fire because your butthole is already burning from the molten lava that won't come out. Yea, that's constipated diarrhea. Much different from regular diarrhea where you just spew forth like an erupting volcano that has no shut off valve and can come any time, even if you're not ready. Like when you are sound asleep. Yea, that's fun.
The pain is different also. Crohn's pain for me is a deep stabbing, achy pain that lasts and lasts. It feels like your insides are burning and I'm lucky because my Crohn's pain radiates from my stomach all the way through my back. My IBS pain is somewhat bloaty and crampy pain. Muscle spasms that hit you out of nowhere. However, I could be totally off base and have them mixed up. Who knows.
As you can see, trying to manage both problems is a problem. It's hard, and I know a lot of people who have Inflammatory Bowel Disease also suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It doesn't seem fair we get hit with a double whammy.
More exciting topics to come. I thought of a million since I couldn't sleep. Here's hoping I remember them all!
Currently, I have active Crohn's disease in my colon. I used to have it in my small intestine and colon intersection but now it's moved lower into the colon. Crohn's is bad. Hence the blog. But I also have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Kinda the same but totally not. Treatment for these two conditions are the total opposite from each other. One you avoid fiber and anything with a consistency more than applesauce, the other you need fiber to make you feel better and for your guts to work right. But it will kill you if you take fiber and eat fiber and try the whole fiber thing if you have Crohn's. So you can see having both is a total win win scenario. Ok not really.
How do I know what's causing the problem? Easy, I don't. Never know. Hard to tell. Although when the Crohn's is in remission and you are having gut problems it's probably the IBS. But it could be the Crohn's flaring so it's best to get nine million invasive tests that may or may not show anything, but do allow you to drink things off the periodical table of elements. Seriously. It's a crap shoot basically. (HA! Crap!)
The two different illnesses cause mostly the same symptoms for me. Crohn's brings a lot of pain and diarrhea. IBS brings a different kind of pain and diarrhea - constipated diarrhea. You know, the kind where you have to go but you can't really make anything come out but your butthole is on fire and you know you are going to explode any minute but you're afraid to because you know it's going to burn like fire because your butthole is already burning from the molten lava that won't come out. Yea, that's constipated diarrhea. Much different from regular diarrhea where you just spew forth like an erupting volcano that has no shut off valve and can come any time, even if you're not ready. Like when you are sound asleep. Yea, that's fun.
The pain is different also. Crohn's pain for me is a deep stabbing, achy pain that lasts and lasts. It feels like your insides are burning and I'm lucky because my Crohn's pain radiates from my stomach all the way through my back. My IBS pain is somewhat bloaty and crampy pain. Muscle spasms that hit you out of nowhere. However, I could be totally off base and have them mixed up. Who knows.
As you can see, trying to manage both problems is a problem. It's hard, and I know a lot of people who have Inflammatory Bowel Disease also suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It doesn't seem fair we get hit with a double whammy.
More exciting topics to come. I thought of a million since I couldn't sleep. Here's hoping I remember them all!
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