New Crohns diagnosis questions

Hi,

My name is Chris and I am a 61 year old women. Last April I was diagnosed with Anklyosing Spondalitis (AS) which is an auto-immune arthritis disease. In July of last year I went to the ER as I was vomiting, had a fever and had bloody diarrhea with severe abdominal pain. Spent 3 days in the hospital. Doctors were not sure if there was a correlation at the time.

11 days ago I had the same symptoms but much worse so took myself to the ER again. A CT scan and a colonoscopy was done and I have now been diagnosed with Crohns. It is not unusual for AS & Crohns to be linked together.

I have been on Humira and Enbrel for my AS and am now going to be switched to Remicade to treat both. I am presently on Entocort and Asacol.

I have absolutely no idea what started this last flare up and still have diarrhea. How long before I should expect a normal stool if ever? How do you know if a flare is coming? Is there anything I can do to try and keep them at bay?

I am on a low residue diet and have finally started eating food after 10 days of clear liquids in the hospital. Any suggestions as to what foods are good to start off with? Today I had toast and chicen noodle soup with Ginger Ale.

I need to go back to work ASAP and I am resting for the weekend and hope to go back Monday. I feel really wiped out but I expect that is from being in the hospital for 10 days and not getting any substantial nutrition.

Any suggestions and guidance is greatly appreciated.

Hello Chris and welcome to the forum. With this disease there is no hard and fast rule to follow that will stop a flare, we are all different and what works for one will not work for another - not very helpful I'm afraid. Since you started the new meds have you noticed any improvement at all? If not I would say you need to speak to your doc to see if the dosage needs to be ammended. It is possible to get bad to normal poop etc it can just take a little while initially whilst the inflammation is getting back under control.

Definelty have a good nosy around the forums to check up on things like the meds and the different diets that can be tried, there is such a lot of really helpful info and support here from a great bunch of people, if you are not sure about something do not hesitate to ask.

Hope you can be feeling better soon.

AB
xx

Thanks so much for your help. Yes, the medications seem to be helping. I just got out of the hospital yesterday and my stools seem to be getting a bit more formed and I now have control. I am just so afraid to eat something that will start everything all over again!!!