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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 1/7/2010 5:37 PM (GMT 0)

Hi,

I have had Crohns Disease for 10 years now mostly in remission.  I have a small stricture in my small intestines and a little in my colon.  I have now been sick for 3 months and cannot get better!  I am off of 6mp and was put on Humira (I did my third injection 2 days ago).  I am also on 40mg of Prednisone--which i have been on for three months.  Now my dr is saying that she does not think i am suffering from crohns and that i possibly have IBS as well.  She said this based on my colonoscopy from 2006, 2009 and a CT scan in October--which shows no difference in my stricture.  I do, however have pain in my lower abdomen.  And now she has prescribed me drugs for IBS as well-which blurs my vision.

It seems like i am in a cycle where i am constipated followed by severe pain and diarhea.  and i have no idea what to eat!  i have done the low fiber thing and it seems like it does not matter what i eat--i still get sick.  i have had severe stress in the last 6 months (divorce and 2 family deaths) and i have 2 little ones--so i know stress is a factor.  does anyone have any tips?  For Diet?  For Stress?? 

Thanks,

Mindy

Posted 1/7/2010 6:26 PM (GMT 0)
hi, i dont really have alot of advice for you tbh, i just want you to know that i know exactly how confusing it can be when they add IBS in to the equation!! i have went from "probable IBS and no crohns" to "IBS and Crohns" and yesterday i was even told "probably just crohns n we were wrong bout the IBS!" Hopefully something will help you asap!
one thing my dr did tell me (when they said i probs had both IBS and crohns) was to cut out cereal as this can irritate your intestines and cause you to be unwell. When i was doing this i could eat rice crispies, white bread and white pasta, but no other cereals, brown bread, brown pasta etc. basically u can have anything made with rice or white flour. They also recommend that you stay away from oats, rye, etc at the beginning and slowly introduce these back in time if you can tolerate them. I was told yesterday that i could probs eat cereal again coz it didnt really work for me, but you never know it might work for you and anything is worth a shot!!
hope you feel better soon!
Posted 1/7/2010 9:30 PM (GMT 0)
Ok I can relate to the stress causing IBS attacks. Whenever I get really anxious or have too much stress I get cramps, diarrhea and nausea. First thing that has helped is taking a med such as Xanax to help stop the anxiety. If I take it at the first hint of stress/anxiety, I can stop it in its tracks. My other suggestion is when you are stressed and get frequent diarrhea is to take Librax. I really like the Librax as it has something to calm the cramps and diarrhea, but also has something in it like Xanax to calm the nerves.

Many of us with Crohns have IBS with it. I find my IBS acts up the most when I am really stressed or anxious. For the longest time, before I understood what the problem was, I would have what I thought were mini flares that would knock me down good for 4-5 days. Now that I know its anxiety/stress causing the problems I use one of the suggestions above and have been able to stop the mini flares. Hope that helps a little.

Hugs
Gail*Nanners*
Posted 1/7/2010 9:42 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the advice. I have tried bentyl, librax, hyomax. All three make my vision so blurry--it makes it hard to read anything. I also take zoloft and ativan as needed. is there a specific diet that you used while having a flare up? this has been almost non-stop for 3 months and i feel like i am gonna lose it! it seems like every 2 days or so will get small bowel movements--like thin and long and then day 3 a huge blowout and severe pain. then maybe a day or two of not going at all. my dr has me taking miralax daily....but it is getting ridiculous!
Posted 1/8/2010 3:54 AM (GMT 0)
When that happens to me I go on a liquid diet of Nutren 1.5 with an occasional Ensure for a flavor treat. This gives my gut a break and allows it to heal. It usually only takes a couple of days but it may take up to 2 weeks.

Hope this helps, good luck.
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