Flare Misdiagnosed as Food Poisoning/Gastroenteritis?

i've been in relative remission for about 5 years, with infrequent, mild bouts of "flares" (not sure if they are technically considered to be flares, but i have some pain, discomfort, D, constipation, etc.). late last week, i started noticing how achy my body felt, specifically in my joints (wrists, fingers, ankles, specifically). i felt worse and worse over the course of the weekend, culminating in waking up monday morning with a bit of a belly ache. through the course of the day, i felt worse and worse--got that familiar, terrible distended belly thing and overall discomfort. i had a bit of soup and some french fries around lunch time. things got progressively worse after that, and i felt like someone was squeezing and releasing my guts repeatedly. this feeling was really similar to a pain i'd often gotten several years ago, when i was really really sick, so i got a little freaked out. at about 9:30pm, i decided to go to the hospital because i felt so terrible. i had D around 7-12 times that day, each time, almost completely water, which is unusual, even for me.

after bloodwork (normal), fluids, dilaudid and anti-nausea medicine, and a CT scan, i was discharged from the hospital with the Dx "gastroenteritis" and was reassured by the attending doc that this wasn't Crohn's related. i still have felt pretty bad (feeling better, all clear liquids yesterday and this morning; white toast and a few bites of instant mashed potatoes this evening), but am starting to feel better. called my gastro because i'm not really buying the "gastroenteritis" thing and he decided that i had a bout of food poisoning. i don't really know much about food poisoning, but i don't feel like i had it. i didn't throw up once (just nausea), and i'd been feeling bad for several days--it wasn't a sudden thing. i'm inclined to just go with the food poisoning thing--it would certainly be better than a flare--but i just don't know that i believe that's all this is.

has anyone here had food poisoning similar to what i experienced? or, has anyone ever been Dx'd with food poisoning, when it was actually a flare? any insight or thoughts are appreciated... i'm trying to determine if i'm over-reacting and being overly cautious, or if i should push the doc on this...

Even us Crohniies can get viruses. And I'm sure we take longer to recover. It's not possible to tell from here what has happened but I'd say if you don't continue to improve then call your DR back.

Sorta sounds like you had a stomach bug. With food poisoning you get sick pretty quick and better in no time.

When my healthy husband gets a stomach bug he is down about 2 days, when a I get it, it can take me a good week to recover from it. Hoping for you its just gastroenteritis. Hugs!

Same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I started feeling worse and worse, with killer joint and muscle aches, especially in my neck, shoulders, back, and arms. I was nauseated and having D (mostly just bile and sludgy water) uncountable times a day. I had abdominal cramping and complete loss of appetite. After about a week of this, I discovered that I was running a fever (which I never, ever do) of close to 102. I spent three days curled up on the couch, eating nothing but occasional bits of tapioca and chicken noodle soup.

I had a previously scheduled appointment with my GI doctor about a week later. He didn't believe I'd had a Crohn's flare. He said it was probably a stomach virus (or possibly food poisoning, despite the fact that I never vomited). But to be sure, he gave me a series of blood tests--which indicated no inflammation in my system. No it wasn't a flare after all.

It's the second time I've had a truly terrible stomach virus, and, both times, I've assumed that it's been a Crohn's flare. But it hasn't been. You never know.