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Please help with advice on how I can gain weight.

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 8/3/2011 8:24 PM (GMT 0)

Hi everyone,

I have Crohns disease at the terminal ileum with about a 6 inch stricture.  I have what I believe to be mild/moderate crohns symptoms. I have an average of 2-4 bowel movements a day. It's kind of strange to me that all of them almost always occur only in the morning hours between 6-10 and them I am done for the day.I have been losing weight for the past month. I have gone from 115 to 105 partly because of a flare up. I need advice on how or what I can eat to gain weight. I am taking ensure 1-2 times a day and eating at least 2 meals a day.  I can handle having crohns but I hate looking like a saggy skinned women due to the weight loss. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sharon

Posted 8/3/2011 8:32 PM (GMT 0)
So wierd sharon..I have been going through exact same thing..lost 19 pounds ..down to 93 pounds and feel so unattractive, ya know? I know you know..but I did gain four pounds by drinking ensure and I am eating blizzards from dairy queen every night..its the best I can do..
I am not really in a flare so have no idea how I lost the weight?
Well if you get any advise about other ways to gain weight..please let me know! Good luck Sharon.
Posted 8/3/2011 8:40 PM (GMT 0)
I have had mild/moderate Crohns, too. When I had my stricture, same thing with me and BM's. Usually all in the morning before noon.

If your stricture is a certain width when not flaring, it is even narrower when flaring. I would probably call the doctor, have blood work (SED/CRP) checked and see about medicinal options to reduce the flare.

In the meantime, my goal, too, was to minimize weight loss. Here are some tips I tried to follow:

Count your calories...plenty of places to check online how many calories you should eat a day for your height/activity level. Those days that you only eat 2 meals, you might be surprised how few calories you take in. Even if you are eating the magic number of calories needed to maintain/gain weight, you still might not be able to put on pounds.

Smaller meals - maybe 3-5 smaller meals instead of 2-3 big ones
Low fiber, easy to digest meals
If it is difficult to eat frequently or eat much volume over the course of the day, you could bump the ensures up to 3-4 a day.
Posted 8/3/2011 8:47 PM (GMT 0)
@Lasardo: My transition from "flares only" the first dozen years with this disease to "stricture flares" the past 10 years left me with seemingly different types of symptoms each time. A flare in the first decade of my disease was always categorized by (1) more frequent, loose stools (2) lost weight and appetite (3) sick to my stomach type of feeling and the symptoms typically stuck with me until I took something like prednisone to kick it back into remission.

With a "stricture flare", my bowel habits didn't change, or were more frequently constipated. My appetite would come and go, and looking back it was probably based on what I ate. I had more pain cramps than nausea. And the symptoms would present themselves for a couple of days, then I would feel better for a week or more.

Another thing that has helped is exercise...if you feel well enough to do some aerobic activity, that has helped me in the past with energy and appetite.
Posted 8/3/2011 9:25 PM (GMT 0)
Make what you can eat count. Does that make sense? In other words eat as healthy as you can. After my first major flare and surgery the dietician told me to load up on calories whenever possible. I was under 100 lbs at the time and needed to put some weight back on -- little did I know 30 years later I'd be 100 lbs heavier! Have you mentioned this to you GI? He might try different meds to control your flare.
Posted 8/3/2011 9:26 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks everyone for you time and advice
Posted 8/4/2011 3:31 AM (GMT 0)
Am going through the same thing Sharon...I've lost 15 lbs in the past 6 months.
I'm eating more now than I did before. I've had Crohn's for 19 years and this is the first time I've lost weight, although my crohns is very active right now. If I find a solution, I'll let you know....:)
Posted 8/4/2011 3:12 PM (GMT 0)

MCG said...
Am going through the same thing Sharon...I've lost 15 lbs in the past 6 months.
I'm eating more now than I did before. I've had Crohn's for 19 years and this is the first time I've lost weight, although my crohns is very active right now. If I find a solution, I'll let you know....:)

Does your doctor know?  When I go to the doctor, and my weight is lower than last time - first question is "are you trying to lose weight?" 

Our bodies can't absorb calories proficiently when we are flaring.  Adjusting meds or taking a course of prednisone is about the only thing we can do to calm down our insides so that we can eat and gain/maintain weight. 

I know it is frustrating for me.  I'll feel good 6 days out of a week, but then have 1 day where I don't feel well and eat very little.  Two weeks later I weigh myself and I am down 5 pounds.  Then, I try to eat a lot of calories.  Have to get my weight back up...two weeks later, I haven't lost any more weight, but I haven't gained any either.  I shouldn't not gain weight eating like that...another bad day, 3 more lost pounds.  The bad days start to gain ground, the good days decrease in frequency.  I delay, delay, delay going to the doctor.  Why do I think I can will this away? 

Posted 8/4/2011 3:17 PM (GMT 0)
small meals through out the day helps alot..shakes ..that's what i do when the pounds melt off.
Posted 8/4/2011 4:32 PM (GMT 0)
I always gained weight back after I got out of a flare and started to heal. Best I could do while sick was break even and stop losing weight. Though for that I ate a lot of ice cream and cheese. Avocados help too since they're a healthy fat. I just stick to high cal food and I ate mulitple small meals during the day and it seemed to help me stop losing.
Posted 8/4/2011 4:50 PM (GMT 0)
I did as tooth does. I just lost 15 lbs after being in the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks. Just saw the doc the other day and he said to eat 4-6 small meals a day. If you can tolerate milk, you can get carnation instant breakfast and mix it with some ice cream, makes a great protien shake and has high calorie content. Increase the Ensures will help too. Try to eat if all possible. I know its not easy, as I am suffering the same as you. Amazingly, yesterday I forced myself to eat to a "Cup of Soup", and it went down well and later helped me to feel hungry enough to eat dinner. Not the healthiest of foods, but surprisingly it helped. But the multiple small meals help me the most.

I so feel you about the saggy skin and bones comments. I feel like my skin just hangs on me. I can't wait to put a few pounds back on. Went to the doc the other day, and I had gain 1 lb. Not much but its a start:)
Posted 8/4/2011 5:15 PM (GMT 0)
hey sharon i know what you going through im 18 and just got diagnosed with chrons in march 2011 i went from 160 to 137 in just a couple weeks and the 1st few monthes of diagnose i started to hate everything always question like whyy me out of every1 but thanks to God im back to 148 and trying my best to reach back to 160 1st step of me realizing that i stoped losing weight is when i stop worrying i accepted the fact that im not going to have the same life as before with food so time to accept it and move on

here's my daily meal
egg and bread in the morning 10 am
after an hour 1 ensure 11 am
then another egg and bread at like 1pm then a gatorade
then an avocado at 3pm (sometime)
then rice and includes green gran its one of the softest meal around 5pm
then a banana at like 6 pm
then another ensure at like 7-8 pm
then again the rice that include green gram around 9pm
and i also take a vitamin pill and drink about 2-3 gatorates a day i hope you gain all your weight back good luck hope this helps and most importantly dont be depress cause i think thats what caused me to lose alot of weight
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