17 yr old just got diganosed

i just got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and crohn's disease. a mix of both. i am 17 yrs old. the damage to my colon is surprisingly severe. im currently on colazal (9 pills/day) and a rowasa (mesalamine) enema nightly. im looking heavily into diet control. i was wondering if theres anything that anyone has tried which has greatly improved their tissue and their condition and hopefully made their colon much better. i am willing to stick to strict diet regime.

My daughter is near your age, so I feel for you. When flaring,we did not find that an altered diet helped much, but as the previous poster said, some things works for some and not others. The low residue diet was helpful when bleeding, as you want to make the digestion as easy as possible. Raw foods are health-filled, but can hurt the sensitive lining of your colon when it is fragile. Had to stick with things that would not cause extra gas,or have seeds that might stick and cause more inflammation, etc. We had to go on the big drugs to find relief unfortunately--after a 1-1/2 year flare, we had to stop the damage.. Keep reading this site, you will learn lots....Take care, and do your OWN research--- there are hard core believers that think their way is the only way. Your path may be an easier one!

Hi and welcome! My son is 17 also. Tough to struggle with a disease of this type during this time in life! My son just isn't really that willing to try too much diet modification, but then again, I'm not really sure diet matters a whole bunch in his case. When we tried bland, low residue, he just lost a lot of weight - didn't change the UC flare. Once we let him eat what he wanted he was able to stop losing and start regaining (he was over 6 foot tall and under 120 lbs and did NOT have room to lose anymore).

Being that your dx is Crohn's, you might want to look into Elemental. I don't know much about it, but parents I know with Crohn's kids swear by it.

{{{Hugs}}}

Try Cortifoam (rectal med) it works quite well and is very easy to use. I hope you get this under control soon (and you will).

Hi kalupants..welcome to the forum!

I'm assuming it's actually Crohn's Colitis you have...Crohn's in the colon but following the development pattern of UC...it's one or the other.The treatments are pretty much the same.

I'm happy to hear the doctor didn't put you on prednisone as a first-line treatment....and that treating both ends in the hopes of treating the inflammation you have now and keeping it nice and quiet and limited is a good med strategy.

REgarding diets, as stated above, there are a lot of them, and some do follow strict food intake with varied results.
My suggestion would be for you to eat as healthily and as balanced as best you can, cutting out for sure artificial sweeteners and large amounts of "unhealthy foods"...
It's pretty subjective as to what one can tolerate regarding food...some do change their diet a bit when flaring compared to when they aren't.

How would you classify your diet at this time?

I would suggest you stick with the 5ASA meds you're on and only until you realise you're not improving to consider a change in it. I have much success with the 5ASA meds...for 20 years...and hoping it continues, where others doin't and do use the topical steroids or immuno suppressant type meds.

Do also check the Crohn's forum since that's what you have firstly....it's the "where" you have it that fits in with the UC forum. So, it'll be nice you can get lots of connections from both forum.

There are a few CDers with Crohn's Colitis that frequent this form.


What symptoms are you having at this time?

I hope you start to feel better soon.

quincy

I was diagnosed at age 20....im 35 now... Looking back there are things that I would have done different that I can suggest that you try - the food diary as mentioned above is a great idea and something I should have done years ago...you need to experiment with foods that work for you, and things that dont. Keep in mind that sometimes results take a little time, so it can get a little complicated keeping track of what works.
Fast food should be avoided whenever possible....thats a given. Sweets, and artificial stuff - same applies. Start cooking healthy bland meals such as chicken or turkey breast baked, salmon, baked pork chops, etc. It can get expensive to eat like that, especially when going out on your own... Boxed foods should be avoided when possible no matter how convenient they are...

These are a few suggestions from someone who as experimented a lot with food....like people have mentioned - food tolerance is different for everyone so its an experiment... this forum is a great place for support and answers....