Hi,
I had my gallbladder out in June 2021. Straight away I then suffered from urgent severe diarrhoea, bloating, yellow poo, fatigue, excessive flatulence and exhaustion. My GP ordered a calprotectin test in September which came back at 222 and I had a repeat one in December which came back at 430. My GP wrote to my local Gastroenterology department at the hospital for advice. The consultant mentioned that it could be Bile Acid Malabsorption or bowel disease. I was then referred to Gastroenterology but because my symptoms were getting worse I rung them up and was told that because of Covid it would be a year before I was seen!
Two weeks ago I suffered 7 days of non stop trips to the toilet which was up to 12 times a day. I wasn't eating anything and still going to the toilet. I drunk fluids as I didn't have an appetite at all. I had severe diarrhoea, severe abdominal cramps, extreme fatigue that I was sleeping during the day, fever, feeling hot and cold, headaches and aches all over my body. I rung 111 and I was lucky to see a GP out of hours as it was bank holiday Monday. I was referred straight to the hospital because my right abdominal side was tender. He believed it was appendicitis. When I got to the hospital I had bloods taken which showed inflammation and a CT scan. The results of the scan took ages to come back so they decided they were going to keep me in for the night. Luckily the results came back so I didn't have to stay the night. The scan showed that I had s small infraumbilical hernia that contained a small loop of bowel but no obstruction. I also had chronic inflammation in my terminal iluem and caecum. They thought it could be inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's. They suggested a colonoscopy to rule it out. I told them of my current situation that it was already being investigated and they told me to get in touch with the Gastro team. I was discharged with Colitis/Terminal iletis.
A bit about my medical history. I have had bouts of diarrhoea on and off since 2006. I was diagnosed with Gastritis in n 2009. I was then verbally diagnosed with IBS the following year . I ended up getting married in 2012 and in 2015 I had a complicated ectopic pregnancy which resulted in an emergency laparotomy as my tube ruptured. The surgeon said I was lucky to be alive and that it was 1 of the worst cases he had seen in a while. I was discharged but only to go back in 3 days later with a DVT and multiple PEs in my lung. I was on warfarin for a full year. From 2016-2018 I suffered with abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, tiredness everyday. I worked as a nursery nurse and I was finding it difficult to work as it was a physically demanding job so I reduced my hours. It was in June 2018 when I felt really ill. I hadn't pooed for days, I was sick and bringing up brown/green fluid. I had fever and was exhausted. The GP put it down to an UTI. I was given antibiotics which didn't help as I was getting worse. When I went back to my GP I was severely dehydrated. I was referred to the hospital told it could be a kidney infection. I was put on a drip which helped a bit. I had an ultrasound scan which showed that an incisional hernia was obstructing my bowel. I was told I might have needed a temporary stoma bag but luckily I didn't as with the small bowel resection surgery they only removed 10cm. When I was discharged and I got home I had wound dehiscence. It took 3 months to get better! Later on that year I was also diagnosed with severe sleep apnoea and now use a CPAP machine. From 2018 onwards I began to suffer from constipation and sickness. I had pain in my upper right quadrant with mid and upper back pain. My GP referred me to a Colorectal surgeon. He was lovely. He was the first doctor to listen to me. He ordered a ultrasound scan which diagnosed me with gallstones. He also mentioned a colonoscopy which I was happy about because I though maybe it was more than IBS and thought I would be getting answers. The colonoscopy went well. I found the moviprep difficult! They found apthouous ulcers in my terminal iluem and I had biopsies taken which came back normal. I was happy it wasn't anything serious and just IBS!
With my diagnosis of Colitis/terminal ileitis I rung up my local Gastroenterology department and which was strange and lucky that I managed to get an appointment for the next week! I feel that after 16 years I might be finally getting some answers!
I'm sorry for the long post! I'm interested in if anyone has been through anything similar? How likely is it that it could IBD? If so I had my last colonoscopy two years and nothing showed up apart from the ulcers. Could this be due to current active inflammation? Is Colitis/terminal ileitis normally linked to Crohn's? Thank you for reading!
Slow or referrals not actioned
Colitis
Focal Active Colitis
Crohns diagnosis 
Crohns or colitis
