As difficult as it is to deal with Crohn's disease, you would think all of us would do everything we could to avoid a flare up. I cannot tell you how many times I have either eaten or drank something that would knock me on my ass. I still mess up today although not nearly as much as I did in the past.
Five years after Angela and I were married, we were divorced. Thinking that just because I was married and had a child that I had "caught up" with my friends, obviously was not the case. The next 15 years of living by myself, learning who I was is really when I grew up and matured as an adult. Unfortunately, too many late night meals and too much alcohol consumption led me down a path of self destruction as far as my Crohn's was concerned. Many of the medications associated with helping ease the symptoms of Crohn's disease are sulfur based. Unfortunately, I am allergic to sulfur, therefore all of my flare ups were treated with huge cycles of prednisone. In fact, I was on and off prednisone for a total of 33 years. Can't even begin to describe what that has done to my body. It has been 9 years since I have taken prednisone. I can confidently say that no matter what happens to me, I will never again take that awful medication. During the 15 years after my divorce, I had 3 more surgeries. Two were Crohns related and the 3rd was to remove my gall bladder. My last surgery was in December of 2002. After that surgery, I was left with about half of my colon and precious few feet of my ileium. Unfortunately, by early in 2003, Crohns was back. I knew that I had to do everything and anything that I could to prevent any more surgeries. It was at that point in my life that I made the change that finally put me in control of Crohn's rather than Crohn's being in control of me.
Five years after Angela and I were married, we were divorced. Thinking that just because I was married and had a child that I had "caught up" with my friends, obviously was not the case. The next 15 years of living by myself, learning who I was is really when I grew up and matured as an adult. Unfortunately, too many late night meals and too much alcohol consumption led me down a path of self destruction as far as my Crohn's was concerned. Many of the medications associated with helping ease the symptoms of Crohn's disease are sulfur based. Unfortunately, I am allergic to sulfur, therefore all of my flare ups were treated with huge cycles of prednisone. In fact, I was on and off prednisone for a total of 33 years. Can't even begin to describe what that has done to my body. It has been 9 years since I have taken prednisone. I can confidently say that no matter what happens to me, I will never again take that awful medication. During the 15 years after my divorce, I had 3 more surgeries. Two were Crohns related and the 3rd was to remove my gall bladder. My last surgery was in December of 2002. After that surgery, I was left with about half of my colon and precious few feet of my ileium. Unfortunately, by early in 2003, Crohns was back. I knew that I had to do everything and anything that I could to prevent any more surgeries. It was at that point in my life that I made the change that finally put me in control of Crohn's rather than Crohn's being in control of me.
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