TheElCaminoKid

Chronie here too, had the surgery after my large intestine tore open... I had a big pasta meal the night before. At a certain point the tissue in your GI tract is just soo diseased that it's not plausible to bring it back to a nice pink tissue. That happened to me, except my doc tried absolutely everything. At one point I was on 12 pills 3X daily. Pentaza, what else... Something that started with M methyltrexate I believe. Didn't work. After I had my surgery, they were all "ok, no diseased tissue, time to throw all these drugs away and focus on remission". Thats when I was put on IV remmicade. That was the wonder drug back in 2006. That worked GREAT. I was up and running within a month. But it was stupid expensive, so expensive that it was cheaper to fly me cross country from Dallas to Connecticut to get the medicine under my mothers insurance. 28,000 every 8 weeks. Then I decided enough was enough, this was probably 2 years ago, I was 22 and sick of being anchored to a state I didn't want to be in. I tried Humira. Worked beautifully, could take it at home, costs 5 dollars a pen, and allowed me more freedom to travel.

Point is, it gets better :) Just find what works for you, Stay away from peanuts and popcorn, and laugh. This disease is both physical AND mental. I find that if i'm stressed or sad or tired, my stomach will react the same way.

Also having access to private bathrooms wherever you go (BY LAW) is pretty sweet.

I've been there. Crohn's since 14 yo, ileocecal resection. I still have a few feet of both but I usually see corn in about 2 hours average. Did the whole 12 pills 3X daily until it failed resulting in the surgery. That heavy pasta I had literally tore my large intestine in twain. Found remission on IV Remicade. Did that all throughout college every 8 weeks. Had to fly back from Dallas to Connecticut because I was still under my mothers insurance. $28,000... every. 8. weeks. I felt amazing when I was in remission. But every midterm/final season It started to creep up and show it's ugly head. Finally graduated and got a job as a lighting engineer on a cruise ship sailing from Hawaii to Australia. Couldn't stay on Remmicade so I switched to Humira. To my surprise it worked. On it now and feel just as good, only costs 5 bucks every other week.

People need to hear each others story. They need to understand that they are not alone and that they can ask questions and not be embarrassed. Keep doing what you're doing, never be embarrassed about who you are and what you've endured. I'm 24, I've lived with this for a decade come this April. My friends make their fart jokes, but they will never understand the pain of crohn's. Walking up a flight of stairs and being crippled by abdominal pain because you jostled your gut the wrong way. Or walking by someone eating a steak and having to stop and clutch your belly in pain because your brain told your stomach to start digesting itself. Or if you're like me, waking up at 4am in a pool of deep red blood unable to move screaming at the top of your lungs because you feel like an alien is about to burst our of your stomach. Yeah, peritonitis is that painful. Don't even get me started on fistulas, or polyps, or peri-rectal abscesses, or ulcers in your mouth. I use to bite those f*****g things off and taste blood for days. and speaking of blood...ooh my god my toilet looked like a murder scene. That is just the physical side of things, the mental and emotional trauma gets very Pavlovian. See food, immediate pain. Slivating? Immediate pain.

...but I digress...

Crohn's is a tough disease. Especially when you're young and in puberty. But it gets better, It absolutely gets better. You've got to be strong, and don't take that lightly, i've seen people completely ignore their disease and eat everything from peanuts to popcorn.

My hope is that stem cell research and that stuff they are doing with pig intestine gets somewhere quick. This once Jewish disease is no longer unique to the old and the Jewish, it's everywhere.

Keep up the blog, that's the best thing anyone can do is talk about their situation and help others with theirs.

-Ryan

(Edit: Thank you for the gold! I'm glad someone took something away from my story. Share your own, because who knows... you might help someone just like you :)

Hey Mr. Trash Wheel! Thanks for all you do. What's your favorite food so far?

Thank you for your answer!

I'm 23 and am currently working in entertainment as a lighting/sound technician for live theater. I majored in psych as a back door into medicine. I am also trained (not certified) as an EMT-B in CT, did that for a few months before heading off to college. I love emergency medicine, but not in the back of an ambulance. My mother is a PA so I also come from a medical family, both medicine and medical admin. OK, my background is out there, and I'm looking to return to medicine.

Next questions: what was the training like? 2 year program? What can I do to prepare for a program? What are some aspects of the job that nobody would think about? Oddities? How many matchbox cars have you found in rectums? Are you living a comfortable life financially? Especially only 2 years out of college? (I understand that this may be an inappropriate question, so it's OK to skip it :)

Thanks again, I've been thinking about radiography for a few years now, just doing more research before I officially apply.

Other Redditors have said that there is an over saturation of technologist in the US. Is it the same in Canada?