Gastroenteritis hospitalization
January 18, 2013Recently, right before Christmas 2012, I was hospitalized for gastroenteritis! Lots of diarrhea and vomiting, very intense. The first day of that illness was by far the worst day of my life, even worse than any days with a colitis flare-up. Fortunately, I’m much better now and there were no lasting effects on my health.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: Have you gotten gastroenteritis before? Tell us about your (unfortunate) experience!
Wow Dennis. Glad you made it out okay. Thank you for the information and the update!
Sorry to hear about your experience & glad to hear you’re better. I work in an aged care facility & a few months back we had to isolate the facility because of a bad gastro outbreak (noroviris). As I’ve only had my jpouch 2 years they did warn me of the situation so I could opt not to go. I did go to work but with standby medical preparation should I get it. Fortunatley, I was one of the lucky ones because my workmates with everything still intact suffered badly. It definitely something I am not looking forward to but I expect that it is not totally unavoidable :(
Dennis, I’m so sorry to hear about your bout of gastroenteritis.. Sounds extremely painful.
A quick question, I’m still condemplating this 2 stage surgery, and hoped that for me, I would never have to take humira, or any immunosuppressants ever again.
You said in your video that you ARE on immuno suppressants- after. 5 years from colon removal- does everyone still have to be on immunosuppressants?? Or other drugs??
Thanks, still trying to figure out what to do??
Surgery, or stay on Humira??
John Schlosser
Wisconsin
Hi John,
I’m on immunosuppressants because I was diagnosed with chronic pouchitis. Normally pouchitis is like a bacterial infection, I think, but for me, it has an autoimmune cause. So I take immunosuppressants, but I haven’t met another J-poucher in my situation. I think my autoimmune pouchitis is kind of rare. But normally, if you have UC, you probably won’t be taking immunosuppressants. If you have Crohn’s, then you likely will be.
I can’t make the surgery decision for you: it’s all about the quality of life you want. If humira is working for you, then you might stick with it. But if you are out of medicine options, then surgery might be okay. But surgery is not perfect, and it’s not a cure: it won’t return you to the way you were before being diagnosed with IBD. There can be complications. Though most people who go through with surgery do say that life is better than before surgery.
I hope this helps a little!
~Dennis