I can tell when i'm starting to get a flare up of Crohn's. i usually start having sad/distressing dreams, which are very vivid. I will wake up feeling very depressed. I focus alot on the negative of everything. I begin to feel more introverted and want to actually hide from people and the world. Nothing seems to make me happy and i see the sad in everything, like my cats and dogs will be loving and playful and all i can think of is that they are going to die one day and i'll be all alone.
I used to get eczema as a first symptom, then i started getting the eye infection but now i get pain and stiffness in my joints, flu like symptoms. i have no energy, black out when i stand up and prefer to lay down in the quiet with no stimulation. i can't watch any drama on tv, not that i watch very much, but i noticed drama made me stress out like crazy. Comedies didn't seem funny and i even complain about them and feel like everything is offending me.
Then comes the putrid smelling gas, extreme pain and cramping, cold chills, vomiting......it gets worse as you all know. But my very first clue is always the vivid, negative dreams that cause me distress, and wanting to push people away from me. I can act or say things that make people go away. I find people drain my energy and cause me alot of stress. I don't think i'm shy so much as i just want to be left alone.
When i'm not sick, i feel alot of energy and happier and more social. There is definitely a co-relation for my moods, energy and the illness.
Oh i forgot that i start washing my hands alot when i start getting sick. I get a real phobia of germs and wash my hands incessantly. I try to keep people away from me also because of the germ phobia that starts manifesting.
I have often wondered if I was a bit autistic and i now know after reading a bit that those symptoms are related to the onset of flareup. I almost want to scream, run and hide from people, i want to rock myself, I become introverted, I find only comfort in snuggling w my animals.
I do take probiotics, b complex vitamins, extra b 5 (pantothentic acid), and vitamin c (high doses), usually right away at first symptoms (if i remember that those nightmares are a precursor to worse symptoms). These things don't help though if i don't take them early enough and let my symptoms get to the stage of needing meds or hospitalization.