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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 10/25/2010 2:57 PM (GMT 0)
i think im having my first flare up and desperately need some help.  since friday night, i have had probably 15 BMs a day.  7 since midnight last night. it burns so bad to go, but other than that, no other pain.  i am not currently taking any meds for crohns. i was diagnosed a cpl months ago with severe crohns due to the amount of inflammation present, and the stricture in the lower intestine.  we are trying to get remicade approved, but the ins co keeps denying it saying that we haven't tried any other conventional methods.

i need to know what i can take to try and calm these BMs. also is there any foods to eat, or foods to avoid. and how long does something like this last?? this is day 3, and i cant keep living like this. thanks.

Posted 10/25/2010 3:20 PM (GMT 0)
Have you tried Immodium (Loperamide) to help control the diarrhea? I'd also recommend you get an appointment with your GI doc asap.
Posted 10/25/2010 3:22 PM (GMT 0)
You can take prednisone, or any number of the other IBD meds that are out there. Is your DR saying that s/he wants to start with the biologics (a lot do)? Then get your GI on the phone with the insurance company to argue that position.
Posted 10/25/2010 3:29 PM (GMT 0)
When I am having a lot of D I take imodium. I think you might want to call your doctor first and ask. The reason why I say this is because maybe you should make sure it's not a stomach flu or smething first else first before taking imodium. I have had most doctors tell me to take imodium and a couple who said "no" but doctors I am seeing now say it's fine.

I should be starting Remicaid this week or next. There are programs out there that help pay (I guess depending on where you live). I live in NY and applied for patient assisitance program and faxed over the paper work last wednesday and called them this morning and they informed me that is is being processed as we spoke and then they will send the info to my doctor to get me started for my first remicaid infusion. I can give you the # if you want.

As far as what food to eat, you can try drinking ensure (or something similar like boost) and drinking a lot of gaterade, water, and having some broth just to give your intestines a rest. Then you can try white rice, chicken, and boiling some potatoes and see how you feel and if it helps to slow down your bathroom trips. I personally can't eat rice at all for some strange reason and it will make me run to the bathroom so much so everyon's body is different. I was just in your shoes after being discharged from the hospital and I boiled potatoes, made chicken breast and drank Gaterade (because of all the electrolytes I lost from all the bathroom trips) it helped slow down my trips to the bathroom. I would try to advoid caffine, stuff with sugar, and dairy products. As I mentioned, everyones body is different so you have to try and see what is best for you. I know I am not to much help because I am still learning myself but I am sure someone will come along and give you some advice too.
Hope you start to feel better.
-Mia
Posted 10/25/2010 4:33 PM (GMT 0)
Call your Dr asap and let him/her know what's going on. They may want to give you some prednisone to hold you over until they can get the Remicade approved. They haven't put you on anything once you were diagnosed? The side effects for pred can be horrible, but is very fast acting to get your symptoms under control quickly.

For the burning from having to go to the bathroom so much, use baby wipes and pat, don't wipe. When I have that issue, I use the hand held shower attachment to clean that area and try not to wipe at all. Also, get some diaper rash cream. Every one has their personal favorite, I like Calmoseptine. It's the only thing I have found that starts relieving the pain as soon as it's applied. You can call any pharmacy and ask if they have it, if not, they can order it. I get mine from Walmart pharmacy and if they have to order will have it the next day.

As sweetnakira suggested, immodium helps me a lot. I have to take 1-2 a day to keep my diarrhea at a manageable level. Sometimes when you first start taking it it can make you gassy. The gas pains can be horrible. You can purchase immodium with a gas reliever in them, but I always keep a gas reliever like gas-x around and would take those with the immodium. Both of these are pretty safe and over the counter so it shouldn't hurt you to take them, but I would still talk with your Dr.

Good luck to you and I hope you feel better!
Posted 10/26/2010 2:39 AM (GMT 0)
things have lightened up quite a bit today. not sure what happened, but the BMs are def more sparatic than they have been the last 2 days. they want to start with the remicade b/c he feels the other ones arent strong enuf for the situation i got going on.

also, on a side note: someone told me today that once you start remicade, you are not able to take humira at all, and vise versa. this person takes humira, but i have never heard that before. any info? thx to all for the help
Posted 10/26/2010 3:15 AM (GMT 0)
That could've been a bug on top of yr CD. We're not immune to that. :-) Wish you luck with remicade!

:-)
Posted 10/26/2010 6:56 AM (GMT 0)
You can not take remicade and humira together but if one does not work you can switch to the other. I know because I have been on both and cimzia. There is a lot of misinformation out about TNF inhibitors and remicade in general. Please do not get scared by all of the horror stories and please realize that not all of the side effects are going to happen to you.
As for the other stuff, did you contact your doctor yet? Your doc can prescribe medicine that can help you when these situations pop up. Especially with your disease not being treated with medicine now, you should really have something on hand for symptoms. I would talk to your doc about antispasmotics and suppositories for the rectal pain. When I am flaring I keep hydracortisone suppositores with acetamethaphin to help with internal hemmroids and the pain. Most of us here on a normal day have to go 8-15 times a day and more when flaring, so the baby wipe and suppository advice comes from experience.
Posted 10/26/2010 2:20 PM (GMT 0)
thx for that info dawg. i thought i had seen that a bunch of you guys had tried both remicade and humira, but when i heard that yesterday i thought maybe i was wrong. i was really scared of the remicade when i first heard about it, just like most probably were. but someone had posted a link on here of a web address done by some doctor talking about all the different types of meds available, and put into perspective the chances of getting those side effects vs other drugs. it really put my mind at ease and made it easy to accept having to take the remicade. im going that route b/c i have heard that after either injection, or treatment, you feel sick the next day, and i would rather only feel sick once every cpl of months instead of weekly. but it is good to know that if it doesn't work for me, that there is still some other option to fall back on..
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