I wasn't sure where to put this... its not really rider wellness since it doesn't necessarily affect my riding, so I put it here.
I'm 17 and I have some pretty significant health problems. None are life threatening, but they are very 'quality of life' threatening. I was healthy until I started highschool, but my freshman year I literally just fell apart. I have chronic migraines that I have been MRI'ed for and they best thing they can tell me is that its stress related or genetic, I'm allergic to most migraine medications, and I have serious GI problems. Last year (February 2012) after 17 months of severe pain I was diagnosed with a very angry and very swollen gallbladder, so it was removed. I also have severe (to the point of it destroying parts of my esophagus and stomach lining) acid reflux and frequent unexplained burning in my upper abdomen, lower abdomen, and back. I am allergic to dairy, tree nuts, cinnamon, pears, and of course, I have limitations due to my lack of a gallbladder. All of my allergies occurred AFTER having my gallbladder removed, within the last year. I frequently have mouth ulcers, unexplained fevers (usually low grade) and I have a very weak immune system so I often have bronchitis and I've had pneumonia twice. I bruise and bleed easily and in the past week or two...I have been loosing ALL of my eyelashes and some of my hair. Its horrifying. Ofcourse due to all of this, I have to force myself to eat. I am extremely nauseated when I eat however, and I often throw up and always have diahhrea after eating, so I get very little nutrition. I am underweight and currently weigh 86 pounds (I am 4'11).
That being said, there is no known 'reason' for most of my problems. I am working with multiple specialists to figure out why I have so much excess bile in my stomach (they scoped me last year and my entire GI tract is yellow with bile) or why I have such bad reflux. They can't figure it out. I've been tested for diabetes, gluten allergy, liver disease, deficiencies, etc. I've had just about every test possible.
Lately however, the doctors (specifically my GI doctor) have been considering that I might have a 'sneaky' form of Crohns disease. That's why I started this thread, to see if anyone else on the forum has Crohns, and how they were diagnosed, what their symptoms were, how they manage it, what tests were runs, etc. I'm also curious to see if anyone else has had a colonoscopy done. I am having one in August as part of the diagnostic tests to see if I have crohns, and I'm worried about it. How was it for you? Painful? I've heard that the prep is the worst part...it sounds aweful.
Any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions are appreciated. I, my family, and the doctors are at loss. What bothers me most is that I'm very limited on what I can eat so I rarely get to go out with friends or anything to eat, and now I'm losing hair and eyelashes which is embarrassing...its likely due to my lack of nutrition I know, but I just CAN'T eat. My parents constantly yell at me for not eating, but it hurts and I literally have to force myself to do it. I don't know what to do.
I'm 17 and I have some pretty significant health problems. None are life threatening, but they are very 'quality of life' threatening. I was healthy until I started highschool, but my freshman year I literally just fell apart. I have chronic migraines that I have been MRI'ed for and they best thing they can tell me is that its stress related or genetic, I'm allergic to most migraine medications, and I have serious GI problems. Last year (February 2012) after 17 months of severe pain I was diagnosed with a very angry and very swollen gallbladder, so it was removed. I also have severe (to the point of it destroying parts of my esophagus and stomach lining) acid reflux and frequent unexplained burning in my upper abdomen, lower abdomen, and back. I am allergic to dairy, tree nuts, cinnamon, pears, and of course, I have limitations due to my lack of a gallbladder. All of my allergies occurred AFTER having my gallbladder removed, within the last year. I frequently have mouth ulcers, unexplained fevers (usually low grade) and I have a very weak immune system so I often have bronchitis and I've had pneumonia twice. I bruise and bleed easily and in the past week or two...I have been loosing ALL of my eyelashes and some of my hair. Its horrifying. Ofcourse due to all of this, I have to force myself to eat. I am extremely nauseated when I eat however, and I often throw up and always have diahhrea after eating, so I get very little nutrition. I am underweight and currently weigh 86 pounds (I am 4'11).
That being said, there is no known 'reason' for most of my problems. I am working with multiple specialists to figure out why I have so much excess bile in my stomach (they scoped me last year and my entire GI tract is yellow with bile) or why I have such bad reflux. They can't figure it out. I've been tested for diabetes, gluten allergy, liver disease, deficiencies, etc. I've had just about every test possible.
Lately however, the doctors (specifically my GI doctor) have been considering that I might have a 'sneaky' form of Crohns disease. That's why I started this thread, to see if anyone else on the forum has Crohns, and how they were diagnosed, what their symptoms were, how they manage it, what tests were runs, etc. I'm also curious to see if anyone else has had a colonoscopy done. I am having one in August as part of the diagnostic tests to see if I have crohns, and I'm worried about it. How was it for you? Painful? I've heard that the prep is the worst part...it sounds aweful.
Any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions are appreciated. I, my family, and the doctors are at loss. What bothers me most is that I'm very limited on what I can eat so I rarely get to go out with friends or anything to eat, and now I'm losing hair and eyelashes which is embarrassing...its likely due to my lack of nutrition I know, but I just CAN'T eat. My parents constantly yell at me for not eating, but it hurts and I literally have to force myself to do it. I don't know what to do.