Foods to help flare

Sorry to hear you're still contending with a severe flare. What are you going to try next in your treatment? Have you been in contact with your doctor recently about your lack of progress?

Regaining weight while flaring severely isn't going to happen. Rather we must be mostly healed and on the rebound before we can makeup for the weight we've lost.

In flares, I eat as bland as I can: soups, broths, and chicken and potatoes. I drank ensure.

I poop- yes they ordered a blood test and upped my pred because it showed more inflammation but other than that every time I call it just goes to voicemail and they never return the calls... they don’t know what else to do about treatment right now unfortunately
Imagardener2- Oh I was hospitalized in November on IV pred which didn’t seem to help either but did gain weight when I went home on 60 mg, but have lost it all again as the pred only seemed to help for a week, I think it may be losing its affects on me. I will try to add some more meat it seems like everything is affecting me the same so wouldn’t hurt to try! I didn’t know about oils will try that as well.

Eating while dealing with a severe flare up is very difficult. No matter what I ate, I suffered horrible consequences. I would tend to eat PBJ or grilled cheese a lot. I went through phases where i tried a lot of dietary restrictions, and none of it improved my symptoms, despite going heavy on it for months at a time. Ultimately, I found that eating something was better than eating nothing, so I ate whatever I could stomach, and it was often PBJ. Soups are usually good, but really, if I am flaring, no matter what I eat, I am going to have many, many trips to the toilet with urgency, blood, cramps, pain, gas... when things were really bad, I would eat at very specific times, otherwise I wouldn't be able to make it through a day of work. I think iPoop is right, you need to look into treatment options. Get stool tests and do testing to see if you're responding properly to humira. I think ensure has a lot of bad ingredients. Maybe there's something better...

I ate bananas, rice, chicken broth when I was flaring. That was about it.

Thanks everyone for the replies, unfortunately I couldn’t keep anything in me no matter how hard I tried and had to come to the hospital, they said they are keeping me because I am unstable.. I’m not sure what they will do as prednisone does not seem to work anymore... and the last time the IV steroids didn’t work and I was on the maximum dose.

Yes they are doing stool samples now, And thank you!

Thank you! They never said anything about my stool samples so I guess that means I’m safe lol. They just can’t seem to get my inr under control so the bleeding isn’t stopping! They are sending a surgeon my way today to talk to so that can’t be good but I’ll do what it takes!

Mak37 said...
Thank you! They never said anything about my stool samples so I guess that means I’m safe lol. They just can’t seem to get my inr under control so the bleeding isn’t stopping! They are sending a surgeon my way today to talk to so that can’t be good but I’ll do what it takes!

it's scary to even think about surgery being on the table, but you make the decision ultimately. If you're not ready, or it's not something you're interested in, you can easily say NO WAY!! I am proud of you for going on the consult though. It's only positive to be informed, no matter what you decide to do. I had surgery, and I am very thankful to be able to do all the things I was missing out on, but I have to be realistic and realize it's not for everyone. I have seen fantastic results, and I've seen people continue to struggle. If you do decide to go for surgery, you shouldn't let them tell you which surgeon to go to, do research, consult multiple, go tot he best and most experienced one you can. Also, do not rush, make sure you do all the proper testing to ensure you're a good candidate & take your time to ensure you're making the decision that's best for you.

If solumedrol isn't working then you could try IV cyclosporine. However, you need a plan afterwards as cyclosporine is only temporary usage.

Hey Mak,

Sorry to hear you are still not doing well. I've also been flaring since May and nothing but IV steriods seem to help. I'm also in the hospital as of yesterday. I was going 20 times a day, all with blood. Had a colonoscopy today and doc said colon is really inflamed. I didnt get to ask any questions as I was still groggy. I'll get more info tomorrow though. I'm worried about what I can do when I get out to keep symptoms down since nothing helps me either. I do have an appt for a consult with a surgeon on Wednesday so I hope I'm well enough to make it.

I've tried several different diets and no changes. I avoid dairy when in a flare as it causes bloating but thats about it.

I hope your procedure will give you more info. Good luck.

Thanks Mak,

I will be following your thread to see how your doing. At least you get to see the surgeon while in the hospital. I hope you get all your questions answered and can move forward. 😊

I think I feel better in the hospital because the bathroom is less than 5 feet away so I'm not stressed about having an accident so I can relax which in turn helps my symptoms.

For a flexible-sigmoidoscopy, the prep is usually two fleet-enemas (containing salt water). One fleet enema is administered two-hours before the procedure, one is administered one-hour before the procedure. If you're badly inflamed, salt water may be an unpleasant experience (salt + wound = ouch). I've used tap water within the fleet bottle and that works just as well and is gentler.

If they have not mentioned a prep to you then it is possible it will be done there by the nurse. I'd call and ask for clarification, also possible they forgot to give you instructions.