HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

How do you know you are Flaring?

Support Forums
>
Crohn's Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 3/17/2013 12:11 PM (GMT 0)
Hey all, its been a few months since I have been back here. We are back in the hospital again. My daughter had her 1st flare and started the rapid weight loss again, blood in the stool, etc so we are back in the hospital. Don't think we can take another stretch like last time being here for almost a month when getting diagnosed. Finally weened off to only Remicade and now since being in the hospital they have boosted her with Flagyl, Cipro, and finally now prednisone.

Question: How do you predict your flare is coming? I would like to learn & teach her the signs so we can hopefully squash it before it gets this far and be back in the hospital whenever possible. What are some indicators or warning signs early on?
Posted 3/17/2013 12:12 PM (GMT 0)
I see the profile didnt come up, so here is her stats below. ;-)
Posted 3/17/2013 2:15 PM (GMT 0)
Personally I found it difficult in the beginning. The digestive system is quite a complicated system and normal people have variations day-to-day that aren't alarming, so it is hard as a person with IBD to differentiate between normal variations and an early flare.

I would ask your daughter to tell you whenever she has a soft stool or diarrhea. Whenever she has a day when she needs to move her bowels more than twice. If you notice she is more fatigued than usual, or if she suddenly has a change in her appetite.
Posted 3/17/2013 4:28 PM (GMT 0)
I'm a suck-it-up kind of person, so I usually wait until I start bleeding. I DON'T recommend that. @kazbern had great suggestions, also I would say if her pain level changes.
Posted 3/17/2013 4:43 PM (GMT 0)
I've had flares that have come on gradually, and flares that seem to come suddenly with no warning at all. So while it seems like a good idea to do some prevention, it doesn't always work. I think Kazbern's suggestions were great. Hopefully all her medications will help her stabilize and go into a long remission soon!
Posted 3/17/2013 8:44 PM (GMT 0)
I think my daughter is ore like you scifigal2k & will try & suck it up. It may be why we ended up back here... we were both hoping it wasn't a flare until there was no other choice but to recognize it as one.

Is twice a good indicator? I was thinking more than 4 was a cause for concern. Is everyone different?
Posted 3/17/2013 9:54 PM (GMT 0)
I think four times is a bit better gauge than two, unless the two is a lot of diarrhea, cramping, etc. and goes on for more than just a couple of days.
Posted 3/17/2013 10:34 PM (GMT 0)
Everyone is different. You should keep a journal. She's only 12, and puberty is going to make everything more confusing. I suggested 2 because that seems like the most a "normal" person would have on a given day.
Posted 3/18/2013 1:32 AM (GMT 0)
One thing I find helpful, is to have your family doctor red flag her bloodwork. Our family doctor does this and will call if any inflammation markers are elevated, or if iron and vitamin D are down.

Posted 3/18/2013 2:01 PM (GMT 0)
Se should be getting blood work each time she goes for her remicade infusion so this should give you an ongoing picture of her inflammatory markers and Hgb levels. The other thing that I would have my son do, is to tell me any food that made his stomach feel "funny" and it made him aware of what foods might make him flare.
Posted 3/20/2013 12:10 AM (GMT 0)
I know that I'm heading towards a flare up when my pain cannot be controlled by normal antispasmodics, when I feel fatigue and need to sleep a lot, and sometimes when fever starts to rise. As for diarrhea, my GI tells me that I have to take Imodium after the third bowel movement as I rapidly get the 7th and the 10th or even more in less than an hour and become very dehydrated.
Hope she feels better soon :)
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply