When Life Changed–Life With Chronic Disease

First Diagnoses–When I was first diagnosed with multiple chronic diseases.

They say the only two things for sure in life are death and taxes. While that is true, over 50% of us will be diagnosed with some sort of chronic health condition.

I was 16 years old when I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Even though I was officially diagnosed with IBD when I was 16, I had experienced minor symptoms of this horrible condition the majority of my life. It wasn’t until my symptoms became so severe that they almost killed me that I received the medical attention I needed to get a proper diagnoses and treatment plan.

I was still in the hospital recovering from my first life threatening IBD flare up when I started to feel an intense pain shooting through my ankles–a multitude of factors including high doses of prednisone and being extremely sick had caused Avascular Necrosis (AVN, dead bone) to develop throughout my ankles. To make matters worse, my ankles and other joints started to swell up so much that it looked like I was half elephant. This was due to the enteropathic arthritis (Arthritis correlated with IBD) my body decided to bless me with.

In a matter of months, a healthy, normal 16 year old had gone from poster book healthy, to chronically ill with 3 chronic health conditions. My life forever changed. I didn’t know anybody else with IBD, I didn’t know what to expect from my health in the future, and I didn’t the best way to manage my new health conditions. I feel like anybody that has a chronic condition or has gone through something similar can relate to these feelings that I felt.

While I struggled at the time to cope with the realities of having 3 chronic health conditions, I can now realize how my adversity with a lot of hard work has transformed into one of my greatest opportunities. I hope you join me in this journey as I share what it’s like to live with chronic health conditions, and share with you helpful tips I wish I knew when I was first diagnosed. Please feel free to share any questions or comments; I’ll always try to answer everything.

Author: Dylan B Nelson

After being diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, Avascular Necrosis, Enteropathic Arthritis, and an Atrial Septal Defect, Dylan like so many other people with chronic conditions struggled to manage his health. Being frustrated with the current solutions, Dylan helped create mediswarm.com, a social health network where it's easy to meet other people with the same conditions. Users can ask questions and get real answers, see top solutions for their conditions, and get support from a community of people just like them. Dylan's ultimate goal for MEDI+SWARM is that it can become a resource for individuals who have chronic health conditions to get the help they need and to help improve their overall health outcomes.

14 thoughts on “When Life Changed–Life With Chronic Disease”

  2. Hi Dylan. Welcome to blogging! Thanks for following my blog, also. My late brother suffered from Crohn’s as well, although his was pretty well under control. My wife battles IBS so I also empathize with you on that score. You seem to have a great attitude about dealing with these setbacks so I applaud your efforts to deal with them as well as educate and help others who suffer from these multiple diseases. Looking forward to more posts.

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    1. Hi Al! Thanks for the warm welcome! I appreciate your kind words. IBD and IBS are tough conditions to deal with. I hope your wife is doing okay. Keep up the good work with your blog! Thanks again 🙂

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  4. When we put our powerful minds to set a course we can do it. I’m not saying it’s easy. I know from personal experience what it is like to loose your life as you once knew it to be. I encourage you to research on your own, keep strong, and please don’t believe those reports are you. NO! You are the soul within and not those reports which are just words. You should see my list of “diagnoses”. Those are not me and I refuse every day to live according to them. I wish you only the best of what Life can offer you. YOU are better then prior to your “diagnoses”. Much love, ❤

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    1. Thanks so much Ipuna! Your kind words have made my day! Feel free to give me any feedback, good or bad! We want to make the best social health Network and with your help we can! We’re just starting off so Mediswarm.com might be a little rough around the esges, but we appreciate your support! Thanks again😀

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    1. It really so easy to take your health for granted! Once, you are sick you realize how lucky you were to be healthy! Thanks so much for your positive comment, it really does mean the world to me! I’m happy to report that I’m doing much better now! I’m looking forward to reading more of your blog! All the best! 🙂

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