Jason, Crohn’s Disease
Jason: I was working part-time and just got promoted to full-time at work. During that time, I was also going to school full-time and I was hanging out with my friends and doing things that I enjoyed. Then I started to notice that I was getting tired when I went to do things, so riding my bike became more of a chore, going camping, I didn't have the energy that I used to.”
It started getting worse where I noticed it wasn't that I was just tired, I had started to lose weight.
I went from going out all the time to almost never going out. I didn't want to be put into a situation where I'd get that gut-wrenching pain, or I didn't know if I could eat this or not eat that.
Then I started noticing blood when I was using the bathroom. And that's when I thought, you know, it's probably time I should go see the doctor. Something's obviously not right.
The whole process of getting diagnosed was very uncertain. The most disheartening part was how long it took them to determine what it was that I had. I went from them looking at me and-and saying, "It's got to be something else," or, "You'll get better over time," to then I had Crohn's disease. I went through several different treatments. None of them seemed to work.
My former GI sat down and talked with me. We had exhausted all of the options that he knew of, so he referred me to my current GI.
Before I got diagnosed, every Friday night the family would get together and we'd have pizza. Right up until I was diagnosed, it got to the point that on Friday night, I wouldn't sit down with the family and have pizza. I'd just go up to my room, because I didn't want to have to deal with the discomfort or the pain that I knew was going to happen if I sat down and eat a piece of pizza.
Now I’m able to sit down with my family and enjoy the family time I had before.