Your Stories

I am a 28 year old woman, married with 2 children. I was diagnosed with Crohn's in December 2003 after weeks of stomach pain, diarrhoea, constantly being tired etc. It tool the hospital 6 weeks to diagnose what was wrong - they thought it was an ovarian cyst!

After being in and out of hospital over serveral weeks they then gave me a scan and realised I had a narrowing in the small bowel, that's when they told me it was Crohn's. To be honest I didn't think it was anything to worry about, I'd been suffering with IBS for years (which I think was the start of the Crohn's coming on) and I just thought it was another name for it!

They put me on a special diet, but once again after being discharged after just a couple of days of eating again, I was back in pain. Next was the liquid diet, which I managed for only 3 weeks - the taste of them was horrible!

I tried food again but after 3 weeks the pains were back. I've got to say that being a mother I thought labour pains were bad but these were something I had never experienced and would not wish on anyone. I honestly thought that I was going to die. I felt so bad and so weak, it had got to the point where I couldn't even keep fluid in. The doctors then said that as the narrowing was so tight and had loads of scar tissue from the inflammation, that bit, technically was not good anymore and had to come out. I had the operation just 4 weeks later, I felt rough afterwards but after just 2 days I was up walking again, and just 7 days later I was home.

I never believed at the time that I would feel normal again, just re-living my experience and typing this I can't believe that it was only 3 and a half months ago that I had surgery, it seems a lifetime ago. I'm so thankful to professionals for giving me my life back and for the time being, I feel like my normal self again, touch wood!

To anyone out there that has been through this, I just want to say 'hang in there, be strong, don't give up and my thoughts are with you.'

Hey, I'm Claire, I'm 17 years old and I have suffered from Crohn's for about 9 years.

I was first diagnosed with glandula fever when I was 8 years old. I suffered from this for about 2 years and was hardly ever at school. I then got diagnosed with M.E. and then I was diagnosed with Crohn's.

There have been several disputes about whether it was Crohn's all along, but unfortunately, I'll never know. When I was first diagnosed with Crohn's I was taken into the Portland hospital and I had a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. After this I was told I would have to go on a liquid supplement for 8 weeks and I wouldn't be able to eat. I really didn't want to do this so they said there was an option to go onto steroids but I would have to deal with the side effects.

The side effects could range from putting on a lot of weight to getting dreadul acne. I was happy to deal with the side effects as long as I could still eat normally! Several people tried to make me change my mind but I knew what I wanted and I wasn't prepared to change for anything.

I was on steroids for 3 years and I put on a lot of weight. Once I had stopped them I felt better and every now and then I had a flare up and had to go back on them for short periods. I am now only on Salfasalazone (anti-inflammatory) which I have been on since I was first diagnosed and will probably have to be on for the rest of my life.

I have finished my education and work full time in a nursery, which I have wanted to do for at least the last 10 years. Last year I passed 10 GCSEs with great difficulty due to the amount of school I missed because of my Crohn's. Thankfully my Crohn's is in remission now and I am leading life as normal.

ForCrohns registered charity number 1129871