New Here

Hello I'm new here. I was diagnosed with crohns disease in my small bowl a little over a year and a half ago. I was diagnosed when I had a flare up after a colonscopy. Despite some days of cramping and pain I always considered myself lucky because my GI told me I had a mild case. At first I was put on Asacol and then was switched to Pentasa and put on the maximum daily dosage. The past few months I had a lot of cramping and a few weeks ago I was hospitalized for the first time. I was put on 40 mg of prednisone and i am now starting to ween off of it. I am now taking 30 mg and am still taking the pentassa. I am currently seeing a new GI because we were unhappy of the care that I received when I was hospitalized. This new GI who is suppose to be very good and associated with Mt. Sinai is retesting me because he doesn't think there is conclusive evidence of crohns diesease from the past colonscopy, cat scan and upper GI tests. He said that just because it shows that my small intestine is inflammed does not mean it's crohns although it is likely since i have a family history of IBD. I'm just kind of nervous to go through the colonscopy again because of the flare up I had from it the first time. I'm first getting a gi series of my small bowl done on thurs. i'm hoping i don't have to get the colonscopy done. I'm just getting very frustrated because my stomach is still very sensative. I have been following weight watchers the past few months and doing very well on it but it is starting to get difficult with following a low residue diet. I also find that I go through periods of being extremely hungry which I think is from the prednisone. If anyone has any suggestions on food or anything else i would really appreciate it.

Liquid everything is good when having a flair However it certainly doesn't help with the runs. The pred will definitely make you hungry. I'm not a big person and I've always had trouble gaining weight however when I was on pred I would eat like I had bottomless pit for stomach and I put on a good 30-40 lbs. Which was actually a good thing. Anyway, good luck with your new doc.

advice

I think diet is different for everyone. My GI tells me me whatever my stomach can't handle, don't eat it! I love salads, but I pay for it dearly if I have one. When on steriods it seems that you never really get full:eek2: and so I would always eat more than my stomach could handle and pay for it on the toilet shortly after:sign0085: The only way I can describe steriods and how they affected me was, it made me feel like I had energy that I really didn't have (understand?) I hate HATE steriods, but they are a wonderful drug for some people. Right now I'm on the pity pot-not wanting to do anything but lie on the couch and watch HGTV.

I pretty much went for the liquid during flair scenario. Ensure, pudding, soup, even pureed lasagna (tastes remarkably good), milkshakes, ice cream, oh and chocolate because Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) had a LIQUID river of it, crackers & pringles & funyons because they all turn back into a liquid form in your mouth. It's survivable that way.

Its possible that if you have small bowel crohns disease, the colonoscopy won't be needed as this is only for the large bowel anyways. An endoscope or a barium meal should determine that, along with bloods. I agree with the others that Pred will make you hungry and you may feel rather sluggish after coming off it with a loss of appetite also. Its best to trya nd take things a little easy whilst things are grumbling, try to eat blander foods with fewer gassy ingredients and plenty of fluids. Hope all works out for you.


Ruth

Im currently going through a flare up and im on 15mg of predisone (going down to 10mg tomorrow HURRAY!) and i find anything thats suppose to help you lose weight will hurt my stomach but also greasy fatty foods aswell. ive put on a total of a stone whilst on my steriods which was good as i lost soo much weight but now i just look fat and frumpy which on a small frame looks like a have a swollen face all the time. kind of funny but not. i find biscuits are my weakness. i can sit and eat packets at a time without actually noticeing. but they "stay in" if you know what i mean. also aloe vera and cranberry juice soothes my stomach though i dont really like cranberries that much so drink it very much but when i do it feels loverly. my doc has put me on codiene phsophate along with a nausea tablet and i find that is a god sent! it takes away the feeling of "oh my god ive gotta go toilet now" and the cramps etc.. feel alot less worse. i think personally the weight watchers diet thing is a bad thing at the minute. ive tryed it and found the milkness (i know its not a word but i can describe it anyother way) made my stomach go heywire!
i hope ive helped and i hope you feel better soon
best advice, relax and dont do too much work!