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First flare in years... can you share your experience?

This is me in a nutshell... I am 29 years old, have had severe crohns since I was 5. My childhood is foggy, as I was sick through most of it. I have an ileostomy. I am happily married and teach special education :) I dabble in the SCD diet and love yoga! My life is pretty great considering the degree of my disease.

What is going on right now...

I just developed a peristomal fistula. Does anyone else have one? How do you keep stool from leaking all over?

I recently switched from Humira (7 years) to Cimzia. I am not sure if it's working? What are your thoughts on Cimzia?

I want/need to gain weight. Any tricks out there?

I'm trying to get caught up on the buzz in the Crohns community... After a 7-ish year remission, through my 20's... I feel a little disconnected with this flare and I am trying to navigate through diets and meds... I'd love to hear what others successes are :)
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Hi Mzlynne, welcome to the forum. I was in remission for about 2 years but recently started flaring myself, so I can relate. I love yoga as well, and also weight lifting. I feel like, for me anyway, keeping myself in remission requires a multitude of things to work together in harmony. Exercise, diet, medication, vitamins/supplements, stress management, getting enough sleep, etc. - all that seems to play a part, and it's a really tough balancing act at times.

Did you fall out of remission before or after switching to Cimzia? I recently switched from Asacol to Delzicol, made the switch just a couple months before I fell out of remission, and I suspect that med switch may have played a part in my current flare.

As far as gaining weight, there are a lot of threads in the Diet & Fitness section of the forum here. Generally speaking, a lot of people like things like olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, nut butters (almond butter or organic/natural peanut butter), etc to gain weight. All of those things are very high in calories but also generally fairly healthy and shouldn't cause you too much digestive trouble.
 
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