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I have Crohn's Disease. I reference it from time-to-time and decided to write this page to give a better understanding of what Crohn's Disease is and how it affects me. For those of you who don't know what Crohn's Disease is [I didn't know until I was diagnosed], it is an auto-immune disease. Basically, my immune system is attacking me. There isn't any known cause for Crohn's. Some people believe it might be genetic, however no one in ANY of my family history has ever had it. Oh, and also? There isn't a cure. This is a life-time disease. There's only about 450,000 people in the US with Crohn's. Crohn's Disease can be located anywhere from your esophagus down to your colon. Mine is located in my terminal ileum, which is in the small intestines. About 85% of all Crohn's patients will eventually need surgery. Mine would be a resection - they would essentially "cut out" the parts of my small intestines that have the most damage and reattach the healthy ends back together. I will experience a remission at that time, but at best, it might only last a year before the disease will show signs of coming back. Many people are under the impression that Crohn's Disease is a "stomach" issue because one of the [very] many symptoms can be severe diarrhea. That's an incorrect impression. Just like a runny nose is the SYMPTOM of a larger picture, aka a cold, diarrhea is a SYMPTOM of a larger picture, aka my immune system attacking my body. In my case, my immune system treats food as an enemy. Therefore, each time I eat, I immediately start having diarrhea. I can't possibly write it all here - like, how I was improperly diagnosed in 1998 and how I suffered for years not knowing what was wrong. Or, the magnitude of tests I've had to go through before a Capsule Endoscopy finally showed many areas of disease in my small intestines. I can't possibly detail ALL of the symptoms that comes with Crohn's Disease - like, [the aforementioned] diarrhea, severe fatigue, anemia, joint pain, rashes, mouth ulcers, uveitis, cramping, abdominal pain, eyelid edema. The list goes on and on. The first year of my diagnosis [2006], I was given every pill form of various drug treatments you could imagine. I have an amazing doctor who has left no stone unturned in my treatment. I was taking 28 pills a day throughout most of 2006-2007. Nothing helped - still no remission. Sadly for me, Crohn's affects every person differently and each person responds differently to treatment - and none of those medications helped me. In 2007, we had to be more aggressive and I began receiving IV infusions of an immunosuppresant at the hospital. The average Crohn's patient receives these infusions every 6 or 8 weeks with each infusion lasting about 2 1/2 hours. My Crohn's has become severe enough that my treatments have been pushed up to every 4 weeks, something that is extremely rare due to the liver damage the drug can cause. This opens another can of worms - I have blood work done every 2-3 weeks to make sure my liver is okay. Also, think about it: IMMUNOSUPPRESSANT. This means my immune system is essentially "turned off" and that means I cannot be even in the remote vicinity of someone who has a cold. A cold can swing into pneumonia for me in as little as three days. My body cannot fight ANY type of infection. The drug is in the Chemotherapy class and naturally, there are "normal" side effects that come with it. On top of those "normal" side effects, I have tons more that only 5% of people receiving the drug experience. Awesome, right? During my first few infusions, we found out that I [unfortunately] happen to be extremely allergic to the drug - I had many anaphylactic reactions. And so, prior to my infusion beginning, I receive steroids, Benadryl and anti-nausea medication all via IV. That is the only way I can get through an infusion without my throat closing and my tongue swelling. Also, my infusions have to be administered slower [to basically "trick" my body into not recognizing this drug it's allergic to is entering it] so each one lasts anywhere from 5-9 hours. After each infusion, I suffer many post-infusion reactions: severe muscle aches that can only be described as Charley Horses all over my arms and legs. I get extremely worn out, tired, nauseous and have a terrible chemical taste in my mouth after each infusion. The list goes on, but this is getting long. See all that I mentioned up there, in all of those paragraphs? That's just SOME of the physical part of having Crohn's. It also severely impacts me emotionally and psychologically. For example, try doing a normal thing, like going grocery shopping, but living in fear that you might crap your pants in the middle of the store. Nothing in my life can be spontaneous. Everything must be planned. EVERYTHING. And so here I am, in February of 2009, having been diagnosed officially on November 14, 2006 - without a remission. I've had diarrhea every day, sometimes 10+ times a day since May of 2006. I've had too many colonoscopies, endoscopies, small bowel series, blood tests, to count on all my fingers and toes. My life is forever changed. Everything is planned. I can't do fun things like go out to dinner or plan a spur-of-the-moment trip. I need to have a bathroom in close proximity at all times, which makes driving anywhere beyond 15-20 minutes out of the question unless I don't consume any food for many hours beforehand. There is so much that goes along with this disease that I couldn't possibly sum it all up here, but now you have some idea of what my life is like. I know people like to say they are "living with Crohn's" but until I go into a remission, there isn't much living going on.