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Crohns and Colitis Exchange

This is a place for members with Crohn's Disease or Ulcerative Colitis to get ... more

Length of remission with IBD?

Would a 6 year remission be more characteristic of IBD or IBS? Background:I was...

Posted by audevivere

Would a 6 year remission be more characteristic of IBD or IBS?

Background:I was diagnosed with 'colon spasms' about 10 years ago. The Dr. chose not to pursue a colonoscopy or endoscopy diagnosis at the time because I was significantly underweight and uncompliant (I was 12 and hated doctors). After 6 years of having an 'attack' at least once a day it eventually went away and then I have had 6 years of maybe 5 very mild attacks per year until these past few weeks.
An attack for me is a very painful abdomen, to the point that it wakes me up at night, a fever accompanied by sweating and chills, and diarrhea for 30 minutes- 1 hr. At the worst point in time eating anything (a banana, a single slice of bread) could cause an attack within minutes or it could be hours later (I got really tired of waking up at 3am). I don't remember having a normal bowel movement during those 6 years. There were times I felt that I could not breath much less move. Anti-spasmotics would take the pain down a bit but it still hurt like hell.

The attacks started going away about the time I graduated high school which was also around the time I became a vegetarian and when I started drinking coffee regularly. Since then I've had maybe five instances a year where I'd get comparatively mild abdominal pain and diarrhea. One thing that I have found a little weird is that all my bowel movements are due to my morning coffee. If I skip the coffee or delay it, the bowel movement follows suit. In the past few weeks things have been changing and I am beginning to think that the good times are over.
My symptoms don't seem to fit even the norm for even severe IBS (with the fever, frequency, the children's equivalent of >30% loss of weight, stunted growth, and waking up at night in pain), but I am skeptical of IBD if my remission lasted 6 years. I can't seem to find any scientific information of duration of remission with IBD, so any information or experiences anyone could provide me would be greatly appreciated.View Thread

Posted byaudevivere

3 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Length of remission with IBD? Would a 6 year remission be more characteristic of IBD or IBS? Background:I was...

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