HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

what causes most flare-ups after being in remission?

Support Forums
>
Crohn's Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 4/10/2015 10:06 PM (GMT 0)
I was wondering what was the cause, if any, that brings a flare-up on?
Posted 4/10/2015 10:27 PM (GMT 0)
A lot of people have mini-flares brought on by poor food decisions. It's important to know what your body can and can't handle. When I was in remission, I could eat a lot more than I do now, but I still avoided certain things like red meat and fried food (which are triggers for me).

I'm pretty sure I brought on my current flare (started in summer 2012) with NSAID use. I was taking it to deal with the headaches I get when I work out--nearly every day for two months.

Stress and other illnesses can make people flare--some people will start with a cold/flu and it morphs into a full-blown flare.

So there are lots of reasons. It's important to keep up any maintenance meds you're taking even if you feel great and to take care of your body as much as possible.
Posted 4/10/2015 11:55 PM (GMT 0)
Very informative and appreciated. I honestly believe that antibiotics caused me to develop crohns. Unreal. Fried foods are triggers and red meat, but before thr antibiotics I was fine. Go figure. Ive started hammering away with some powerful probiotics and mastic gum along with doctor prescribed methylprednisone. My complications are mild right now, but will not let it continue. I know my triggers and will get it under control.

Im mad that my doctor prescribed a powerful dose of antibiotics for h pylori and now it seems I have crohns.

I had a ct enterography done tuesday and it came back normal supposedly.. They told me that was the gold standard outside of a pill scope. I also had a barium swallow in december that was normal. The complications just began recently with flares. They were mini flares that would be for three to five days and then stop it seemed on its own. This last flare was the worse and got my butt ready for the inevitable. I have a scope coming in thr next 3 weeks so we shall see how that goes. If I get worse I am to head to er.
Posted 4/11/2015 12:38 AM (GMT 0)
Anything can bring on a flare, there's no direct correlation to diet according to researchers but I think diet does play a role and many have been able to figure out what they can and can't tolerate...but even those that take their meds faithfully and stick to a diet that they feel works for them, can still have flares, it's the nature of the beast.

Researchers say that there is a genetic component to why some people will flare terribly while others are more mild to moderate with their flares and to date no specific foods have been related to any severity from mild to severe.
Posted 4/11/2015 12:45 AM (GMT 0)
Strange, because I can connect each of my flares to fried catfish, and red meat. I eat one of those and BOOM.. I stay away, I get better. I dont trust anything the medical field claims. I trust my gut "pardon the pun"..

How about jordan rubin? I dont do his diet, but he changed his diet completely and has been in remission for years. How can you not believe that there is a connection between crappy food and other things like industrialisation? You treat yourself like crap and you will become crap. I am guilty of that. Lots of people are coming down with this disease and it has to be connected to something.
Posted 4/11/2015 12:55 AM (GMT 0)
Stress, trigger foods, getting sick (like a cold or something), and antibiotics. I can link every flare to each one of those. Oh, and when my Remicade stopped being as effective and we had to up the dose and frequency, then it was good again.
Posted 4/11/2015 1:08 AM (GMT 0)
My wife's uncle has ulcerative colitis and has been in remission for YEARS.. His words to me were exactly that, "stress".
Posted 4/11/2015 1:11 AM (GMT 0)
My wife's uncle has ulcerative colitis and has been in remission for YEARS.. His words to me were exactly that, "stress".
Posted 4/11/2015 3:47 AM (GMT 0)
chewitup, I don't think you actually have a Crohn's diagnosis. I'm sorry that these foods are bothering you. We'll see what the scope says in 3 weeks.

I've eaten a healthy diet with minimal junk food for my whole life. At this point I have been gluten free for almost 4 years. That seemed to help but it clearly did not keep me in remission forever. I take all the meds my DR prescribes.

The treatment for h.pylori is abx. Most people do not develop inflammatory bowel disease from taking abx.
Posted 4/11/2015 4:01 AM (GMT 0)
Having Crohn's. It's a chronic condition, which means at some point it will come back. It will come and go, flare up and get better. Although there are things that can make our symptoms worse, I don't think they know for sure what causes us to flare up. Having a bad day because I ate something I shouldn't I really don't consider a flare. Even "normal" people get days like that. Stress, nsaids, antibiotics, all can make us feel worse. But I don't believe they cause Crohn's. But in the end there is nothing we can do to keep it at bay forever.
Posted 4/11/2015 4:25 AM (GMT 0)
I am definitely listening to your theory about my current condition. Here ia my problem though: before the antibiotics I had no food flare ups, ever. I never had chronic fissures/hemorrhoids, and I havent weighed 151lbs since high school. But, to be fair, I am not eating hardly any carbs anymore. But, my stomach hurts lkke it never has before too. I guess I will find out in three weeks. How about my night chills and night sweats? Maybe that is the methylprednisolone and if not what is it? I hope you are right about it all, but im not sold.

I also do not just have a bad day. I lose weight with each flare. I admire yall though tremendously. I mean that. Stay tough.
Posted 4/11/2015 7:51 AM (GMT 0)
The antibiotics could have been the last straw for your disease, in what set off the flare up. I know I can't take them without getting VERY ill. In 2011 I was hospitalized after a round of antibiotics for sinus infection. It made my disease SO much worse. I was already sick before that, but it just really got things going. Could have been a factor in what sent you down a spiral of feeling unwell. I hope you can get some answers!
Posted 4/11/2015 2:59 PM (GMT 0)
I agree. That is why I am hammering away with some of thr strongest probiotics around.
Posted 4/11/2015 4:51 PM (GMT 0)
I personally hate the word flare because I don't think it accurately represents my circumstances at all.
I can eat pretty much anything but I've had an active fistula since 2009 that 2 surgeons both refused to touch.
Would you consider me in a flare since 2009?
Or since 2008 when I had my first abscess, which abx got rid of?
If that's the case, then stress from grad school + lack of meds were what really did me in.
I rarely post on here because seeing people make the same mistakes I did just upsets me.
By mistakes, I mean feeling fine and going off meds, thus allowing your disease to progress for years untreated and almost dying.
:P
Posted 4/11/2015 5:27 PM (GMT 0)
Nobody has a clue what triggers Crohn's and the never-ending speculation is boring to me, because it is blatantly obvious that nobody really knows.

I have Crohn's and my brother has Crohn's. He was diagnosed with it about a year or two earlier than I was. He has been in remission nearly all of the time, never needed surgery, never been on a biologic. I was never in remission until my colon was removed, got progressively worse, went on two biologics and was hospitalised several times.

Unless you can tell me why Crohn's is so different from person to person, then I'm not interested in anybody's speculations. You don't know. I don't know. Medical researchers across the world don't know.

PS: Ever since surgery 2 years ago I've been in remission even though I've eaten complete junk food, been utterly stressed out the whole time, etc. I'll give it a few more years, then if I'm still in remission I'll write a book about my miraculous regime for curing Crohn's disease.
Posted 4/11/2015 6:08 PM (GMT 0)
lol @gypsy I feel the same way - I have an active fistula that they haven't been able to fix either. I don't count it as a flare. I guess I count a flare when it severely alters my lifestyle for more than a couple of days; when symptoms have me cramping so badly and running to the bathroom numerous times each day. I know I have certain foods that trigger those symptoms for me: popcorn being one, Fritos another. As for stress, we went on vacation for 10 days to visit my husband's family. His parents are going through a rough divorce, and the trip was extremely stressful. The last two days or so I started having lots of explosive D.

So I guess I would count a flare as when I start getting back to the situation when I was first diagnosed with Crohn's before Remi started working.
Posted 4/13/2015 2:00 PM (GMT 0)
Totally agree. If "flare" is just referring to acute onset of symptoms (the kind that really knock you out, force you to go to ER) then we really need a word/description for all that other time when we're feeling unwell due to the disease.
Posted 4/13/2015 4:53 PM (GMT 0)
Exactly, vitaka!
Posted 4/13/2015 6:09 PM (GMT 0)
Hello,
I have always thought I was flaring when I was in intense pain/running to bathroom/cannot go to work etc... What I have recently found out is that you can be flaring and damage can be occurring even when you are just feeling so-so... I am in the process now of being re-assessed by a new doctor.. So I am interested in hearing all that he has to say... Although things that cause me to 'flare' red meat, too much dairy, stress..
Posted 4/13/2015 7:00 PM (GMT 0)
Nicecupoftea: put me down for a signed first edition 😊.
Posted 4/14/2015 8:04 AM (GMT 0)
For me it is all about magnesium. Anything that lowers my magnesium levels, or blocks absorption like antibiotics will cause me to flare. Antibiotics are guaranteed to make me flare up.

I take several high quality magnesium supplements daily. I avoid magnesium oxide as it has terrible absorption. Magnesium glycinate, magnesium citrate, magnesium taurate, and my favorite is magnesium chloride are all wonderful. The chloride helps keep my stomach acid in good condition. I use three different versions of magnesium chloride from various vendors.

I take at least 800mg of magnesium daily. I like to take 1200mg but it is hard to keep up with since I feel good, and start to neglect the extra supplementation.

The best supplement I have found is a magnesium lotion because it does not go through my digestive system. However it is 8$ for a small bottle, and I can easily use a bottle every couple days. So I use the oral supplements whenever possible.

I have been experimenting with magnesium for the past year, and I am 41. Before this time I never used magnesium supplements, rarely if ever ate vegetables or foods with magnesium. After supplementing I have never felt so good in my life. Up until a course of cipro last week for a nasty infection I have been wonderful. The cipro has drained my magnesium levels terribly. Everytime I take magnesium supplements right now I feel good for a couple hours. I am on prednisone now too trying to get things back under control, but after a single 200mg of magnesium citrate I am calm, sleepy, have zero pain, and I want to eat. Magnesium is very much like a drug for me.

I have tried to get several doctors to give me the magnesium chloride vials so I can inject it, but no luck. I want to go to the hospital so they can give it to me through an iv for several days to raise my magnesium levels back up.

I just wanted to post this hoping someone else looks into it. It took me several months to adjust to taking magnesium. I had liquid stools during that time until my body got used to it. After that everything for me changed with my crohns. As long as I keep my magnesium levels up my crohns will give me minimal issues. Antibiotics are just especially nasty, and I don't yet understand the way they block off, bind to, or burn up magnesium at such an incredible rate.
Posted 4/14/2015 1:59 PM (GMT 0)

Duffle said...
Nicecupoftea: put me down for a signed first edition 😊.

Will do :p

Small sample: I had a bacon sarnie for lunch today. I made sure the bacon was non-SCD compliant by checking to see if it had nitrates in it: it did. I then put the bacon onto supermarket quality white bread. And it was delicious. This was washed down with a cup of tea made with cow's milk. Unfortunately all the Easter chocolate has gone, which means my sugar intake has temporarily decreased, but that won't last for long. I will soon buy some more chocolate and sweets.

vitaka said...
Totally agree. If "flare" is just referring to acute onset of symptoms (the kind that really knock you out, force you to go to ER) then we really need a word/description for all that other time when we're feeling unwell due to the disease.

ITA as well. 95% of my time with Crohn's was spent in a simmering state, not an acute flare-up. The 'simmering' got worse as the years passed, and I was sometimes very ill. But I was functional, just about. And there was Pred to knock any acute flare-up on the head.

Eventually I became completely steroid-dependent and couldn't get off Pred at all. That I think is a different state to just having simmering disease, since you would be in hospital having emergency surgery or on TPN if it weren't for the Pred. You are basically in a flare up then, but Pred is just suppressing it.
Posted 4/14/2015 9:53 PM (GMT 0)
Nice cup of tea - like your thinking but oh tea with milk ... What's going on there. Just wrong!😱 keep it real - that was pushing believability too far 😆. Can you ensure there is a cocktail chapter too?
Posted 4/14/2015 10:18 PM (GMT 0)
My husband doesn't have Crohn's, but if he eats fried catfish, as you say "BOOM". One reason is because it's very fatty. It's an interesting question, but you don't have to have Crohn's for your gut to react to stress, medications or certain foods.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply