Other Than My Guts...

"You need to eat more salt" "What?" "You need more sodium, just drinking water isn't going to solve anything"

So, welcome to my life of many complexities. That's the delicate way of putting all the poopy secondary problems my Crohn's causes.

I've been over the initial disease symptoms and stuff before here, I'm pretty sure it's clear. If not, check out the post that I did on them here. 

But this post gets into all of the OTHER delicious complications my Crohn's has so graciously bestowed upon me. Let us delve into it, shall we?

1. Eye Problems

Thank god I'm not this bad.

•  Crohn's legitimately causes it, so I had a hard time debating whether or not to even put it in this post, but alas, here it is. 
• I've experienced episcleritis. That's essentially inflammation of the white part of the eyes. 
• What do they treat it with? Prednisone and ibuprofen eye drops. All I could do was laugh at this. Yet again, I met the bane of my existence  prednisone. Luckily no side effects were experienced from the drops. 
• The worst part: my eyesight changed. I went from having better than 20/20 vision to having astigmatism. I got glasses. Big whoop, I'm over it. 

2. Blood Pressure Problems

Just like me, fainting away.

• I'm pretty awesome, I've got low blood pressure. Ok, not so awesome, it's a bit too low. So low that last summer I ran into a bit of a problem with fainting. ....in public.....alone. My pressure would drop, and I would faint. 
• THAT WAS A PROBLEM MUAH HA HA. In all seriousness, it wasn't good.
• What do they treat it with? Salt and watah. The salt makes you retain the fluid, and the water is the fluid you retain. This increases your blood volume and keeps your blood pressure up, ergo, no fainting. Yaaaay!
• The worst part: fainting. Duh. 

3.  Low Nutrition

Disgusting.

• I eat healthy. I try to eat a variety. But when your gut is inflamed it's really hard to absorb all the nutrients you need, so as a result, my nutrition is out of whack. I have low magnesium, low calcium, low vitamin B12, low vitamin D, low blood protein, low potassium, and who knows what else. I snuck a look at my bloodwork when my nurse left the room last week and let me put it this way, there wasn't much in the "normal" range.
• What do they treat it with? Gatorade for low potassium, protein shakes for low protein, supplements for magnesium and vitamin D, B12 shots, chewable calcium, and a chewable multivitamin to try and cover my bases. There's hardly room for food in there...
• The worst part: protein shakes. Those things are NASTY. 

4. Hair Loss

A sheer veil...

• Whether it's from treatments (low grade chemo), or lack of nutrition I've noticed pretty substantial hairloss since I was 15. My hair is strong and healthy, just fine to begin with and now it's thin. IT doesn't fall out in clumps and I'm not bald, but I do have some, less than hairy spots on my scalp. I don't have a thick curtain of luscious locks, but rather a sheer veil of satin threads. I work with what I have.
• What do they treat it with? Nothing, this really isn't at the top of my priority list right now.
• The worst part: it just doesn't look nice. 

5. Recurrent Yeast Infections

• I know many of you reading this saw that in red capitals and had a mini panic attack. But really, I'm blogging about having a disease that gives you violent diarrhea, I'm not too embarrassed or too good to talk about yeast infections. 
• I get them pretty much every time I go back on steroids or a new immunosuppressant, which totally makes sense because your immune system is knocked down, your natural yeast goes a little crazy for a while. It happens. I've had them in my vagina, duh, but i've also had them on my skin, because EVERYONE has yeast, living ALL over their body. Go figure, and get over it. 
• What do they treat it with? I just use the not brand name version of mono stat 3 day suppository pills, or for my skin, treat it with Loprox lotion. 
• The worst part: The fact that you're going to the bathroom so much already just means you're extra sore when you wipe. I suggest investing in some Charmin Ultra. 

These are the things that have really affected me physically from Crohn's without being Crohn's. 

What else do you guys deal with?