So what is going on? A little graphic...

Ok..so for me CD has always been more pain and sickness...lots of big D...no surgeries.

Lots of weight loss..then big gains when in remission...

I can eat anything I want without any problems   if something does cause a problem...then the next time I try it ...no porblem....there is is no constant to what may or may not affect me.

The last year I have been on Humira and holding my own...up to about 185 or 190 from 175.  Maybe three very good days a week...lots of energy...no D (actually no bathroom trips at all except to pee) then by the fourth day I am so backed up that I am very uncomfortable that I feel real tired and bloated...followed by three or four days of evacuation that usually means 15 trips or more per day.

I throw several blood clots every week or two.  Stool is somewhat formed but certainly not solid.  Mild cramps 1/2 the time when I go.  Next to no nausea.

NOW THE NEW EVENTS.....last weekend we had plans to have dinner with our sons in-laws...great people...felt fine all day Saturday...didn't really eat anything out of the ordinary or even eat a lot.  I had not been passing much in the way of solid waste so I knew I was backing up just a bit (all normal stuff)...by the time we left on Sunday at noon I was starting to feel a bit bound up...by the time we got there (1 hour away) I was worse.  I tried to eat a bite or two of dinner and was putting on a big front so as to not ruin things for everyone else.  By 4 I was feeling so bad I told my wife we had to leave...we basically fled out of there...the entire way hope I fought off an overwhelming feeling of nausea.

Get home and have to go to the bathroom, pass some stool but then I start dry heaving....pass more stool and then I start projectile vomiting....cramps are so bad I can't stand straight...take meds for cramps, and nausea...very little help...then I take 2 gas-x and things let up a bit.   I go the bathroom 4 or 5 more times and throw-up twice more.  Finally get to sleep and wake up inthe morning tired but feeling fine.  The week progresses as normal...good days...big D days.

Then this Saturday (day before yesterday)  everything is fine...Great actually...lots of energy...getting chores done....eat a light breakfast....eat a nice light lunch...lots of liquids (water and gatorade)...then we go out to dinner.  a very nice place...very relaxing....not a heavy dinner, but very good food...1 mixed drink.....start home and BINGO...same as the week before only the cramps are worse and I dry heave for several hours before anything comes up...and when does come up...it all comes up.   Then I sleep and wake up yesterday tired but hungry...some soup and rice for lunch and dinner and all is fine again.

Nothing from either day as far as what I ate  is consistent...pasta and sauce one day....broiled seafood the next week.  No drinks the first time....one drink the next.   Bread both days....but I eat bread two or three time a week.

Any thoughts?  Anyone else ever have this happen?

I just had a colonoscopy (within the last 6 weeks) and all was clear there.....but I assume if there is an obstruction it could be higher up...???

Would an obstruction start and stop?  There are some days next to nothing comes out (mostly gas and liquid)...next to no discomfort or pain....then other days you can't stop the flow of formed but soft stool...but again very little pain when it passes (every now and then it does cause some harsh cramp type pains)

Thanks Nanners  AND thank you Mike

Nanners...

but does being backed-up make you physically ill to the point of severe cramps and vomiting?  For me ...when I get backed up i feel bloated for a day or two and then the dam breaks and all is well...but until now I had not felt any truly dibilitating cramps followed by projectile vomiting. 

I am wondering if it is a little of both some constipation and some sort of blockage as Mike suggests...but I have always assumed that a blockage would be constant and not happen just once a week....but then again never having had one I do not know how they act.

Yes if I get backed up I start feeling really sick. I will have more tummy problems and vomiting can occur. Could be as Sarita said it could be a partial blockage, I would call the doc to check just in case. But as long as I keep things moving I do okay. I know if I miss a day, I lose my appetite and then the nausea and stomach cramps kick in until I get things moving again, then I am okay again.

Tell you the truth, I am really afraid of a blockage again, so the stool softners help alot. At least it keeps my bowels moving.

Unfortunately it sounds like a classic obstruction (partial). I had something similar after a few years of successfully battling flare ups with pred. Eventually the scar tissue and adhesions cause for a partial obstruction. If the case, it is not about what food, it is about any food. I ended up needing surgery despite not being actively ill at the time. See your GI and get scoped. Best of luck.

I will hope for gas versus an obstruction...but I am wonder about obstructions...

Do they take place anywhere in the system?  More common in the large intestine versus the small?

I was scoped 6 weeks ago and the large colon was clear...there were plenty of signs of active crohns...but there was not any kind of obstruction or major scarring...is it common fo an obstruction to just show up in a matter of a few weeks?

Again..thank you all for your comments and help

sr...

thank you...and I think I have been through what you have been through....but that was back several years ago.  It used to be very common for me that while having a movement I would get extremely nausous and either feel like vomiting or would actually vomit.  On many occasions I would have to sit there with a trash can in front of me spitting into the can because the amout of saliva I would produce would be overwhelming.  In my opinion, the nausea was caused by the intense pain associated with the BM.  One similar issue now is that the build up of saliva is starting back again and seems to happen everytime I have to use the bathroom.....and that for me (and I think others) causes a bit of a catch-22...if I swallow enough saliva, that in itself makes me nausous and I usually end up throwing up.

This time around though, for this major complaint, the nausea builds up over a 40 to 60 minute period...there is no real pressure to have a BM.  The cramping is severe and there is a very real tightening of the stomach area....but not any kind of major extension that you might expect if it was gas build up.  The first time I had not really had much to eat within 24 hours....then this last time the attack came on after a day of three normal meals.  The nausea lasts several hours.  There is projectile vomiting and dry heaves.  If it happens again, the only thing I can think to do is to take the anti-cramp meds and the Gas-X at least one hour apart so that I know which one if either is working.  It may be worth the hell of that hour to be able to zero in on the problem.  If it is neither...then I have at least found that out.

I had this issue once before on a much smaller scale and it seemed to resolve itself for about 18 months...

even though the pain is the worst I have ever felt....the part I hate the most is way I feel for 1/2 a day afterwards.

At least I have my appointment for next week....and today I am going to see an acupuncturist (for my crohns and a shoulder injury)....I am anxious to see if I respond to acupuncture.