PMS vs. flare?

Sorry to be such a bother but I have ANOTHER question (and thanks again for all the info/encouragement)!

DD says she is having some cramps today. She thinks they may be period cramps but since she JUST got her period for the first time last month, she can only point to where she's cramping. It seems a little high to be period related (right side halfway between her belly button and groin) and she doesn't have an appendix. She's fine otherwise...no fever, diarrhea or constipation. Just wondering I guess if kids have days where they feel crampy because of their Crohn's but are not necessarily flaring. I called her GI but she's out of town and the nurse just said she's pass on the info and to have DD take Tylenol (she did) and maybe a hot bath.

I understanding you dont want it to be a flare
And that your Gi wants testing
But lower right quadrant pain is typical of crohns flares since that is where the terminal ileum is at
No one can know without testing though

Does she have her period now?

I agree, it's a good idea to do some testing and make sure she isn't flaring or starting to flare. Better to catch it early and prevent it from getting completely out of control.

For what it's worth, my daughter does seem to have random days where she has belly pain, but we know she is not in remission right now because of her scopes.

My daughter gets a lot of right lower quadrant abdominal pain. It is hard to tell what's what, especially as she gets diarrhea and cramping with menses also.

She ended up taking a Tylenol and the cramps went away and she's better today THANK GOD! I'll have to talk to her GI when she gets back. I talked to another Crohn's mom and she said her GYN said some of her Crohn's patients are on birth control because menstrual cramps can sometimes start flares. So now we have her GI, follow up with the urologist tomorrow about her kidney stones and now I have to add a GYN to the list!

kernelmom3 said:

She ended up taking a Tylenol and the cramps went away and she's better today THANK GOD! I'll have to talk to her GI when she gets back. I talked to another Crohn's mom and she said her GYN said some of her Crohn's patients are on birth control because menstrual cramps can sometimes start flares. So now we have her GI, follow up with the urologist tomorrow about her kidney stones and now I have to add a GYN to the list!

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I would recommend that your daughter be tested for endometriosis, too, as that can cause painful cramping, blood in stools, and bloating. Sometimes, the endometrial lining that is supposed to be in the uterus only can grow outside and get into the GI tract. For me, that time of the month was so painful. Now, I'm on progesterone and I feel much better. I don't mean to say that this is the right path for everyone, but it helped me differentiate between monthly pain and everyday pain. Hope you can get answers soon.

A lot of girls with Crohn's experience worse menstrual cramps and a mild Crohn's flare during their cycles which seems to calm back down after. Some girls do go on the pill to help with this. When on the pill you can get your period once every three months instead of every month and other girls just live with it. Since she has only had one cycle so far I would not reccomend running to a birth control pill just yet but rather wait and see how she does. She can take Tylenol or Pamprin (which is for menstrual pain and is a Tylenol based product. Model has Motrin so is contraindicated in people with Crohn's). Warm compresses also help my daughter as well.

Hot water bottle

Worked wonders for me when I got my first menstrual cramps. I would go to bed with that thing and it felt better than a heating pad.