Safe Foods That Work During A Flare

so after a month of paleo, i realize it's just not working. my flare is too much for me to handle so I am going back to complete basics and hoping it'll help manage symptoms until drugs hopefully start to work.

today my diet consisted of chicken broth and crackers, some gatorade to try and stay hydrated and water. my drug regimen was altered today (updated in sig)

basically we're going max prednisone 60mg and trying librax to hopefully manage anxiety and spasms

edit: my sig isn't updating, changes above

I too recommend homemade chicken broth over Gatorade to calm down inflammation.

I usually eat PBJ when I am flaring. Not much substance and seems to only cause minor pain and frequency compared to other, larger meals.

PBJ is one of the few things I ever want to eat these days. I recommend Better 'n' Peanut Butter, which I THINK can be found at Whole Foods. It's basically peanut butter that's made with defatted peanut flour, so the fat content is minuscule compared to regular peanut butter. The downsides to it, besides how difficult it can be to find, is that you have to refrigerate it (which makes it a little tougher to spread) and it doesn't taste QUITE as ridiculously yummy as regular peanut butter. However, I used to eat it out of the jar in college, and couldn't really tell the difference. I certainly can't tell the difference in a sandwich.

If you use that, plus white bread, you should be okay!

Flare foods I like (easy on the gut + actually want to eat): chicken nuggets, Jell-O, bagels (not whole wheat), ramen, potato chips, tortilla chips, cream of wheat, white pasta with butter, white rice with soy sauce (lived on this when I had my first flare in college), bananas, apples (peeled) and applesauce. When I go out to eat, I stick with french fries (screw the fat content).

I'll drink ginger ale, apple juice, and V8 VFusion juice, as well as water. I don't like Gatorade very much. I actually don't like drinking water all that much, either, but it's free!

Things I eat and drink during flares that might not work for other people: mozzarella string cheese, macaroni and cheese (white pasta, sauce made of milk and American cheese), pudding, cream cheese on my bagels, and orange juice (high potassium in this actually increases gas).

I don't eat a lot of soup--I prefer homemade and never feel up to making it. I also lack the energy (and money) to cook a lot of fish, chicken, or beef, so while they would be great to eat, it's just not happening. If you do cook fish, I recommend wild salmon--not farm raised.

And now I think I'm going to have another bagel ... I regret buying low-fat cream cheese from Whole Foods. It tastes terrible!

ate two fruit filled cookies last night (apricot and rasberry) and died this morning from the pain, librax couldn't even help cut the pain/spasms. today maybe i'll try chicken noodle soup? i just don't know what to do anymore, other than see a new doctor after my colonscopy for a new perspective. also have to decide between cimzia and remicade bc I think Humira is no longer effective

you might be right, i think my doctor is just as frustrated as I am about how I'm not responding. I made the decision to up it to 60mg of prednisone (he suggested 40-->50 and I said hell no, no more reverse taper).

I decided to just eat what I wanted now, had a bagel with tuna and pickles. hopefull the librax I take helps with any issues that come about.

today i just abandoned my diet. i realized it's more important to put on weight than anything else. i'm down around 160, and given that i'm 6' tall, it's not a good look. people are telling me i look sickly, to which i reply "it's because i am @#&^^%@". 60mg of prednisone definitely makes me more of a jerk, i don't care, i'm miserable. i do think the librax has helped a BIT, but there's still considerable pain but maybe with some time and the new dosage of prednsione it'll get better?

i had a bagel with tuna (hollowed out the inside of the bagel, lol)
wanton soup and some chinese fried rice with extra chicken
and 3 chips ahoy cookies

(doesn't sound like much, but it's alot of food compared to what I was eating)

and magically i didn't die from pain so maybe the theory of diet for me doesn't apply (sigh)

as for the new GI, after my colonscopy i'm going to reach out to Ellen Scherl, as she was recommended and the research I did on her came back good. I'm in CT, so I am also willing to consider other doctors and my family has even considered flying out to Mayoclinic because we're just at a loss right now. I'm only 1.5 years in but i'm really in bad shape and i'm struggling big time with this battle. i had alot of fight before but it's really tough this time around :(

tomorrow is my colonoscopy, after that i'm going to probably be seeking out another GI for a consult. i looked into wormegg therapy as a potential option, as well as some other 'out there' things. i'm basically going to make a list of things that I have yet to try and take it from there. my GI seems to think i did respond to humira initially, and maybe i did, but after a year it's clearly not working. he's pushing cimzia, but i'm leaning to remicade... i just want my life back, i'm literally 7 weeks from finishing my MBA and it's definitely up in the air, just hoping the professors will work with me so it's one less thing off my plate.

I know I'm new here, so...I actually ate nothing but toast for breakfast, applesauce between, 1/2 cup white rice and 1/2 grilled chick breast with 99.3% fat free broth for lunch and dinner, and jello for snack - if that...I've lost 27 lbs. since Jan. 20. I found now I can have a cup of rice krispies with a cup of almond milk, fills me and almost soothes my stomach a bit?