Symptoms, side effects and complications of Crohns

First of all i would like to say thank you to everyone who read my first blog and also encouraged me to carry on with it.

So with Crohns Disease it is not as easy to say what symptoms, side effects and complications you have as each person is effected differently, so what i will do is put down the whole list and tell you lovely peeps on which ones i get (this may get update in the future depending on and if i get any feedback or any news):

• Diarrhoa - This could include blood, mucus and pus.
• Cramping pains in the abdomen - Now this pain is far worse than any other pain that i personally experienced, it feels like someone just rammed their hand into your belly and start grabbing everything.
• Tiredness and fatigue - This can be due to the illness, from anaemia, the medication that you are on or just from the lack of sleep due to going to the toilet or having to put up with the pain every now and then.
• Feeling unwell - Due to having a low immune system or from taking medication, a simple cold can make anyone with Crohns feel utter rubbish.
• Loss of appetite and loss of weight - Due to the inflammation of the gut, your body may not absorb nutrients that well which in turn you will hardly gain weight and could in turn lose weight (i can barely keep my weight to 10 stone but dont stress about trying to gain weight as this in turn will not help believe me I have been there recently and its not worth it plus with todays trends such as exercising and trying to build up muscle.) Or from the pain you get makes you not want to eat which you will lose weight - i will go into further details with this within the next few blogs.
• Anaemia - This means you have a reduced number of red blood cells, the most obvious reason is that you are losing blood through the anus or that your not eating, either way anaemia will make you feel tired, i can get this alot and i see my GP for this who will give me some Iron tablets.
• Mouth Ulcers - this one can be devastating due to the ridiculous amount of ulcers you can get in your mouth, if you do get this please go speak to your specialist or GP as soon as you can, and friends and families please do not talk too much about this as it can affect someone like this in a really bad way.
• Strictures - This is where ongoing inflammation is healing in the bowel which in turn causes scar tissue to form. This will then create a narrow section in the bowel. This can be dangerous as that scarred area of the bowel could perforate.
• Fistulas - A fistula is an abnormal channel or passageway connecting to one organ to another or to the outside surface of the body, this could be life threating in some cases and will most likely end up in surgery.
• Joints - This may strange like why would someone with a bowel disease have such a problem with their joints, well due to the lack of absorbing nutrients or the case of taking so many different medications, the joints will take an impact on this and could cause arthritis this could affect any joint in the body, i recently had issues with my left shoulder joint, which i had to have a steriod injection and also sometimes my left leg hurts on a bad day.
• Eye inflammation - I havent had this so far in my 11+ years but have heard that people with any type of IBD can get Episcleritis, which affects the layer of tissue covering the sclera, the white outer coating of the eye, making it red, sore and inflammed.
• Withered bones - The longer you have your illness, your bones will get weaker due to the previous statement (Joints), you will have to be careful on what you do on a daily basis such as if you fall make sure you don't put all the force of the impact on one area. This unfortunately can affect your teeth even if you brush regularly and floss or chew gum after a meal.
• Dehydraton - Due to your body not absorbing well, you will learn that you will drink loads more, i personally tend to drink more at night.
• Bloating - When you have eaten so much you feel like your belly will explode or in some cases, you can eat a little and have the same effect, if you do get this i'd suggest you eat little meals instead of the traditional 3 meals a day.
• Gas/Wind/Farting/Burping/Blowing ones trumpet - Yes having an IBD will cause an increase in the air escaping out of the back passage and also alot more burping but if you feel one day your letting rip and it feels like reanacting a trumpet parade avoid gassy food (especially baked beans those bad boys will make you fire some beauties!!!)
• Hair loss - Both in men and women due to the more extreme medications.
• Gall bladder stones - Inflammation can reach the gall bladder which can make you get stones in the said area. Hospitals can remove the Gall bladder or try and flush them out using medication.
• Brain Fog - I like to use this instead of memory loss, so basically brain fog can come and go anytime it wants and it affects you by forgetting the most simple things or forgetting words that you would normally use.
• Intestinal blockage - This one can be dangerous, it can happen while having a stricture or a fistula and will need medical treatment as soon as possible very, very likely to have surgery.
• Headaches - This can be due to dehydration or the various types of medications.
• Vomiting - Could happen due to the various reasons on this blog or because of the belly pain plus i find that if i am vomiting my belly will start hurting unfortunately, i havent found a way in trying not to hurt so much.
• Cancers that effect the colon area - You could get this while being on certain medications such as Infliximab and the other Anti-TNF drugs.
• Emotional effects - Constant feeling of when you will get another flare up and when you think when will it end.

Like i said, i will update this as of when. Please keep reading this as it does help so much, i have had great comments back from people and thank you all.