Hello!

Just wanted to pop on and say "my story". This will have to be brief being as one of my 3 kids is already pulling at me. Anyway, I was diagnosed in 2007 with UC after the normal symptoms and colonoscopy. I was put on colozal but after a month or 2 it wasn't working. Dr's here in NJ SUCK..to say the least. I was just told I have IBS on top of my IBD. Thought that was off. I researched and decided to take trigger foods out of my diet. Ironically at the same time as all this going on with me my oldest (then only 3) was also sick and they couldn't figure out what was going on. They wanted to diagnose him with CVS (chronic vomiting syndrome) but to me that sounded like a diagnoses of "we don't know what it is". So, we decided to take gluten and then eventually dairy out of our diets. My son never ever was sick the way he had been again. I was able to get off medication and life was good. Only occational light flares that resolved in 2-3 days. That was 3 years ago. We're still all gluten and dairy free but in April this year (after the birth of my 3rd in Dec.) I flared up BAD. It went out of control and ended up in the hospital for 4 days pumped with fluids and steroids. Started taking Asacol HD at home. Worked a little while then I started having issues again. Thought it may be that Asacol has lactose in it but not sure. I stopped taking it and the 1st day I was perfect. After that things got bad again Back on meds, Lialda and prednisone, for about 2 weeks now and still not back to normal. I;m not really bleeding anymore but I still can't tolerate many foods. I've dropped another 12lbs (down to 128lbs now). I don't want to lose anymore wieght! And I need some energy to try and keep up with my 3 kids and the holidays. Any tips? I've never been in the situation for so long and am trying to rebound. I usually treat everything homeopathically, herbs, or with energy work but meds were def needed this time again. This is really putting a toll on my babes (and hubby). They're homeschooled and any outside the house activities have been out on pause. I feel so bad Well at least we got them a Wii for Yule (aka Christmas to most of you I'm sure, lol). So happy to have found this board! I finally feel like I'm not alone.

Hi welcome to the forums!

This time of year is always really hard on people with IBD, I generally flare up anywhere from now till Jan.

The best tips I have for you may not work as kids are not something that can be "put off". Try to stay stress free, try a clear liquid diet for a few days to give your guts some time to rest and heal themselves, I am not sure if ensure or boost would be gluten free but, they are a great way to get some calories and vitamins in your system when you are really down. Try to stay hydrated, with all the D its very hard. If you are starting to tolerate some food try to stick with bland, mushy food. Keep in mind you have open sores in your guts, anything you eat will run over them so it can cause more D and Pain. (I like to think of it like a scraped knee, if you keep scraping it it will never heal)

Keep in mind prednisone has a laundry list of side effects, depression and insomnia are the ones I deal with the most. Some of what you are feeling may be heightened from it.

Try to enjoy Yule. Relax and remember that you only have to do so much, other "important" things are not as important as you once thought. Lastly, Happy Winter Solstice.

I hope you start to feel better soon. Remember that on this forum no topic is TMI, we all deal with symptoms no one really wants to talk about. But this is a place you can talk about it and not feel like you are grossing anyone out!

Thanks for the tips! Bland food has been my game for a while now. Because I already have many restrictions there's not much left. I do miss my veggies. I'm a big veg head. Mostly it's been rice noodles with soy sauce, tumeric and oregano with chicken. I was eating soup my husband made me which consist of organic veggie broth, chicken, paes, green beans, celery, onions and rice noodles but it started to bother me. No clue why!

I am aware of prednisone's nasty side effects. I take St. Johns and 5 HTP during the day and valerian root at night. Seems to be a good combo so far. I've already tapered down to 15mg from 40, so hopefully only a few more weeks of this. It makes my legs swell something awful! By the end of the day I feel like I'm lugging around elephant legs! Which is hard handling the kids by myself. My oldest is self sufficient, he's 7. But my daughter is 4 and my youngest son will be 1 year old on the 31st. So, yeah stress is a major factor here! lol. They are good kids, really. But they're kids! And the 2 oldest some times want to kill each other when stuck in the house because of me and the weather. We have no one to help us either so no breaks . I think being able to connect to others on here will be of greta help and I am very grateful!

Have a wonderful Solstice to you as well! Blessed be :Karl:

Hey there sorry. For your troubles but my aunt has colitis (I have crohns) an I know for the both of us whenever we flare it doesnt matter what we eat for the most part we just get sick. I can tolerate some stuff in lighter flares but when the bad flares hit I might as well eat Mcdonalds cause its going to come out the same as any healthy meal. So best of luck getting it all under control and welcome to the forums.