One other thing occurs to me. It may be that your fatigue is due to the effects of SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). This is a condition characterized by nutrient deficiencies,...
High sugar and high carb diet? Aside from the tooth problems, that diet will cause problems for Crohn's patients. Here's what I mean... One feature of Crohn's that is part of the description that is...
Vitamin D deficiency is very common in Crohn's. Apparently the disease causes conversion of stored vitamin D to active circulating vitamin D, so you have no reserves of the vitamin. This can result...
White willow is a salysalate(sp?) source which is very close to aspirin. That is a common trigger for Crohn's flares and I wouldn't go there. Slippery elm has a large complex carbohydrate component...
This is one of the illegal additives for the SCD diet. It can cause undesirable bacterial growth in the gut as well as probiotic growth. Too much of it will cause gas at the very least....
I want to caution you about the dangers of overuse of laxatives. This alone could be the source of many of your problems - including constipation. Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laxative...
Culturelle is the one that has the most research supporting its benefits, but the ones recommended above are all among the best....
In Crohn's, your gut bacteria are not normal. A reaction to them can cause a fever. It may be that eating a lot of peanut butter could result in bacteria that you react to multiplying and causing a...
You really need to rule Crohn's out - or in. My illness is not very severe, but it is definitely there and a number of seemingly unrelated problems are probably due to the underlying Crohn's. I also...
I would guess food sensitivities. They are more common in Crohn's than the general population. For some idea of what foods etc can cause a reaction, have a look at this abstract: Immune sensitization...
That article says that there is an estimate that 5% of all women have intestinal endometriosis. It would not be too unlikely that you could have Crohn's and intestinal endometriosis together....
Homogenization makes little bubbles of milk wrapped in butterfat/cream. These bubbles do not digest in the stomach because fats are mostly digested in the small intestines. It is not fatal, but it...
No, it does not show up on a colonoscopy. Here's the link for the article - he seems to think that it can be diagnosed by symptoms, but you should have a look at the article:...
One thing that is often overlooked is endometriosis. It can spread to the intestines. One fertility doctor even said that anyone with a IBD diagnosis who has symptoms that worsen during periods...
I use a multivitamin and extra vitamin C (600 mg of calcium ascorbate), D (currently 2000 IU of a liquid emulsion - make sure that you use D3), E (400 IU) and cal/mag and a folic acid/B12/B6 combo...
I was deathly ill when I was less than 1 year old and as a kid, I spent all day outside playing in the dirt, climbing trees and all the rest. I don't think that my mom would think that I was too...
First thing that you might think of is erythema nodosum, but that is more common on legs and arms. If it is just a rash, vitamin E oil might help it, but if it is EN, you would be better off checking...
All your symptoms are possibly due to an adrenal crisis likely brought on by stopping prednisone or some other steroid without enough of a taper. It is also possible that you suffer from Addison's...
They have to try to duplicate the conditions of Crohn's in mice and generally they just cause inflammation and run their tests on the inflamed mouse gut. It's not a very exact model, but it does show...
Funny, I had stopped eating peanut butter several years before I had a diagnosis - it just gave me heartburn. Almond butter is completely different. It gives me no trouble. This is probably one of...
There is some possibility that diet can reduce inflammation. It is not yet the subject of a study, but it is not hard to connect the dots. First, there is a characteristic of Crohn's called...
Low-Dose Naltrexone Therapy Improves ActiveCrohn’sDisease: http://www.fertilitycare.net/documents/LowDoseNaltrexoneTherapyImprovesActiveCrohnsDiseaseAmericanJournalofGastroenterology2007.pdf Same...
You have thought of psoriasis, my first idea, but there is another possibility. Doctors call it a "fixed drug reaction". It is usually reddening, but the symmetry makes me think that it might be...
One thing that occurs to me is that your exercise might not be entirely the problem. If I recall, endurance sports advise a large carb loading before the event and after to keep the muscles fed. This...
Better ask before you go to a food bank. They may not want to chance the meat being off or they may not have storage for it. They usually want stuff in cans for that reason....
Inflammation in the gut or the urinary tract or the reproductive tract all interact. You are likely getting problems because of your Crohn's, but it can happen the other way around. That is, if you...
I got mine after my first routine colonoscopy (they decided that I should get one at the same time as upper GI I was getting to please my doctor who did not believe that I was controlling my GERDs...
A breath gas test might be done, but normally they just go by symptoms. Sugar Smith - always being tired can also be due to bacterial overgrowth. I recently read that Crohn's patients consume above...
There have been a number of people here who have had a worsening of joint problems after starting meds that should help their joints. Remicade has apparently caused this (no proof - just a few people...
There is the possibility that urgency is the result of the mucus. If there is enough to prevent gas from getting by it, you would get a feeling of urgency even if there was almost nothing but gas...
You could try a capsule as a way of avoiding the binders, excipients and fillers that they use in tablets. If the problem remains, you may be able to avoid it by opening a capsule and dividing the...
I love good news! Thanks for the ray of sunshine....
Work weekend? Sick last Christmas? Maybe you have stress issues - that can cause flares all by itself. Can you take a day off? You might want to do a broth only day - no other food and only water or...
One further thought - an overgrowth of gut bacteria can cause a lot of fatigue. It's just like having the flu, without the sore throat, congestion and fever. You can easily test this by fasting for a...
Mucous in the stool is probably due to the gut trying to evict bacteria or other irritants from your gut. Frequent bm's suggests an increase in gut motility. This could be a response to an irritant...
Spooky - I would think that fistulas are caused by certain bacteria - probably a combination of E coli, Bacteroides fragilis and probably a couple of others. They are adapted to the gut and have ways...
By all means get your vitamin D level checked (as well as B12 and iron and electrolytes). Vitamin D can be high in some people with Crohn's because the intestinal cells that characterize Crohn's...
The SCD has its quickest impact of the SI. It controls the bacteria there by cutting out their food supply. I was having a bit of trouble figuring out how it worked for the large intestine, since...
The constipation and vomiting sounds a lot like a stricture or even a blockage. Have they said anything about surgery? If he is not responding to prednisone, he may have a stricture/blockage that is...
It does sound like part of the "follicular occlusion tetrad" which is doctor-speak for four related acne-like problems related to hair follicles - basically variants on hidradenitis suppurativa, like...
Maybe you are reacting to something else in the pill??? It does not work that way for me....
Magnesium can promote loose bowels, which may be a problem for someone who is already tending that way. It is advisable to take it in combination with calcium which has the opposite effect. Taken...
The fat is internal and wraps around the intestines. It is different from normal fat in that the cells are smaller and consume more energy. Here is a link to an article describing that fat: cells ...
The only sure diagnosis for Crohn's is a colonoscopy with biopsy. They examine the biopsy for granulomas (altered cells) which show up in Crohn's. Some people are unlucky and the biopsy misses the...
I did not say that SIBO was the only cause - the first bit of my last post was about food intolerances which is caused by a whole different set of foods (proteins) than SIBO. I have a suspicion that...
About the steroids and osteoporosis - ask about calcitriol and calcitonin. (see: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/328/24/1747 For maintenance meds, they usually start light - asacol or...
Reflux in Crohn's is likely due to intestinal inflammation. There are several likely mechanisms that could be at work and it may be that different ones apply for different people. In my case, since...
I can't really argue with you - the stuff does its job. I was on a couple of them for over a year - or was it two? Anyway, I was not happy with the fact that I was not able to tell if there was...
Well, diarrhea is one of the results of SIBO. It sounds backwards, but bacterial growth there (depending on which bacteria are growing) can cause D. I don't know the full story, but I would guess...
I should qualify the SIBO caution. Researchers say that PPI's cause SIBO, but not at a "clinically significant" level. I think that it is not a good idea to promote low level SIBO in Crohn's, even if...