DX'd with Crohn's since 1997

I am currently experiencing a flare up. I was searching online for Crohn's flare up friendly diet suggestions and found this forum. I was diagnosed in 1997 after a year and a half of experiencing severe abdominal cramps. I used to work in the medical field while in the military. I worked on a med/surg ward as well as in an internal medicine clinic. During my time in the field I encountered doctors that would occasionally refer to a patient as a little crazy or "it's all in his/her head". I used to mentally shake my head at those remarks. When I first began to experience abdominal cramps I saw the same look on the medical staff whether it was a doctor or nurse. Their reply was usually that I just needed to watch my diet or that I was experiencing Irritable Bowel Syndrome. For a year and half I had to deal with severe cramps on an hourly basis if I ate. It got worse as time passed until I began to throw up. That is when one doctor I had not seen before, take notice. He immediately scheduled me for an upper GI. The doctor took a biopsy and it came back positive for Crohn's. He scheduled me for surgery the following morning. I wasn't relieved that I had Crohn's but I was relieved that finally what I was experiencing had a name and made more sense than all the other answers I was given. I had a resection. They took out a foot and a half of small intestine that was too damaged to repair with meds.

Since that time, I have had I guess what is called, flare ups. The doctor that first dx'd me placed me on Pentasa. After a while it just didn't work. Another doctor placed me on 6-MP for about 5 or 6 years until it was no longer effective. I told the Dr that the effects were hard to distinguish between a flare up and the medication. That DR told me to go off of it for a few days and then back on. Well, I have been medication free for three years now. As soon as I stopped taking the medication I felt so much better. No bloating or anything resembling cramps.

This past year, I was diagnosed by a neurologist with Peripheral Neuropathy and they have no proof but it is Neurologist's theory that it was caused by the medication, 6-MP. The Dr placed me on Elavil and it is currently working. What do ya know? A neuropathy drug that makes a person feel good at the same time. I joked with someone that now I just don't hate the pain.

I finally have that under control. Now I am experiencing a flare up. I think it may be a stricture but I'm not sure. It seems when I eat that the cramps begin about an half to one hour after eating. I live in a very remote part of west Texas. That is about where the resection took place which is the section of the small intestine after leaving the stomach.

Has anyone had strictures before and what foods did they find helpful that could pass through without much complications or pain?

I have plans to go to the doctor but circumstances will not allow me to do that just yet. What I need is a temporary diet plan that will allow me to eat.

My story sounds like a country song. My truck is in the shop and my internal medicine dr is a two and half hour drive. The GI doctor is even further away. So...that is my situation. What I'm looking for is some diet suggestions for the time being.

A simple chicken dish, either broiled or baked has always been a good item. The Mayo Clinic suggested bananas. I don't know about anyone else but bananas really work the intestine and usually make me want to hurl when I'm experiencing a flare up. However, strangely enough, my favorite food has always been tolerated in the past, which is a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Oh, and most types of junk food. One time I had a Dr's appointment. Peppermint Patties really work well to sooth my stomach. The attending nurse asked me what I had been eating that I could tolerate. I told her PB&J's and junk food such as Hostess...(pick any one their products). The look I received from the nurse was a look I had not seen except on my mother's face last time I was a teenager. When she reported to the doctor what my diet had consisted of her tone was amusingly scandalous. I felt like I was watching Nurse Ratchet in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest all over again. LOL

Any Hoo. That is my story.

Thank you for any suggestions. I did look in the forum and found some good ideas but I was wondering if there was anyone that had experience with eating and strictures?

Siarl

Welcome! I had to smile at the part about PB&J's and Hostess, junk food. Ironically, the only food that is easily digestable without pain for us during flares especially, is....junk food. I lived on that diet alot when first diagnosed. The GI didn't seem to mind, he just wanted weight back on me. I had a jerk ex-boyfriend yell at me and tell me eating like that might be why I had Crohn's....please! I ate well before Crohn's, lived on salads, loved them.
Many do use the BRAT diet to help settle, bananas, rice, applesause and toast. Low fat, low residue diets can help as well. This site is a wealth of information.

Wow. I did not know that the BRAT diet existed as such. I found out by trial and error or trial and cramps that those four foods did not make me uncomfortable. I have stocked up on applesauce with 4 gallons of the stuff and it is my favorite food since I was a kid. Toast, yep. That used to be my breakfast when I was in pain. Bananas are one of three fruits that I am not allergic to raw along with strawberries and grapes. Rice is okay with some brown gravy or curry sauce but not by itself.

Now I have a new issue. What I can only describe as, water blisters. They are small, about the size of a grain of rice, raised blisters that when they pop, exude a clear water like substance. However, when they are popped just from the fabric of jeans rubbing against them, they enlarge to about the size of a quarter and do not scab over readily as sores or scrapes usually would. They remind me or resemble what in the medical field would be called a decubitus ulcer. Except these are on my shins and just a few appear. I've looked up the description in relation to Crohn's and all kinds of things shop up in the search. None of them pretty.