crohn's flare, and stomach ache - ouch? help!

So...presently I'm in an 'active' flare.  take 3 budesonide daily.  4000 fish oil and 150 probiotics daily.  Just increased my fish oil yesterday, then ate a plain hamburger last nite.  Woke up at 4 am w/a terrible stomach ache directly under my belly button w/lots of gurguling.  This is very different from the burning pain I've had in the past. 

Certainly don't want to eat.  Have gone twice this morning - it's semi formed 'mud'.  Had the same thing on Saturday so took immodium and then I didn't go until Monday. 

How do I get this pain to go away and put this flare OUT?  I took a Librax this morning and hope that will calm things down?  Do I need a stronger crohn's medication?  If so, what's the next level?  It's time to get this under control.

help....tks so much!

Nancy

NANNERS POST
If you have only gone twice, I would not take the Immodium, especially if your stools are semi-formed. Also, it could be because of the hamburger you ate and you could be having a bad day(s) because of that. I ate a hamburger not too long ago, and that one hamburger had me miserable for two days.

Librax is a good med to help with the spasms and also helps me at least to slow the bathroom visits down. At this point I would stay with a very bland diet and see how you feel in a day or so. Not thinking you need new meds at this point. Just thinking that maybe its possibly food that caused you these issues, not so much the disease. Good luck and I hope you get feeling better soon. Hugs!
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Gail*Nanners*
Crohn's Disease for over 36 years. Currently on Asacol, Prilosec, Estrace, Atenolol, Percoset prn, Zofran, Phenergan, Probiotics, Calcium, Vit D, Folic Acid, Magnesium & Xanax prn. Resections in 2002 & 2005. Also diagnosed w/ Fibromyalgia, Osteoarthritis. Currently my Crohns is in remission, but my joints are going crazy



I deleted the double post with the mistake poll. Nanners if you want to repost, I'll delete this one. xx

Why don't you stay on a liquid diet for a couple of days until this flare up clears? Budesonide won't kick in quickly, it will need some time or have you been taking it already. If it is a severe flare up, I think you need a new med: pred with a quick taper or Pentasa, for example. Contact your doc and ask him/her for advice.
When I'm in such a flare, I increase the doses of the meds I take and if they are not effective, I contact my doc.
Hope you feel better soon:)
Take care!

Why not ask for the brand name Entocort?  We had many members who have bad luck with the generic Entocort.  Many had the same problems as you have and have had to either change to Pred or go back on the brand name Entocort.

And yes your GI should be telling you which meds to take.  Entocort is not a maintenance med.  It is as you know a steroid, and you really should not be using it to maintain your Crohns.

As for how you are feeling now, I would give it a couple of days as I suggested earlier, becuz it could be what you ate that got you this time.  At least thats how it sounds to me.  And for that I would stick with something like the Librax.  If its the effects of maybe one of the fillers in Entocort or from eating that hamburger, no other Crohns meds are gonna fix that.  You will have to change to the brand Entocort and go with a lighter diet for a few days.

As for what to eat, stick with soft/bland foods, things that are easy to chew and easy to digest. Good luck!

Hi NancyP,
I have been flaring since Sept. and the generic Entocort seemed to make me worse. I've never tried the real stuff, so I don't know if that would have helped. My doc kept thinking that my complaints were IBS, because for several years I was in remission, and I only showed a little inflammation in my terminal ileum with my colonoscopy in Oct. This past week though, I ended out in the ER with a partial obstruction, and they did a CT which showed the disease has spread.

Where is your Crohn's located? Maybe you need more imaging of your small intestine, or another colonoscopy if you haven't had one in awhile. The next level beyond the 5-ASA drugs like Pentasa and Asacol, are the immunosuppressives like 6MP, and then the biologics are the next level beyond that. If you go to the Crohns website ccfa.org, you will find good descriptions of all of the medication options.

I don't know if you need a 2nd opinion, unless you feel you can't get anywhere with your current doc. My Crohn's stayed mild for several years, and when my symptoms worsened my doc probably could have done more testing a little earlier. That said, he is such a kind and dedicated doc, and our symptoms are really tough to figure out for us and for the docs. I would suggest making another appointment with your doc ASAP and tell him your worries. If you get nowhere, then a 2nd opinion makes sense. I hope you feel better soon!