Anatomy of a Flare: What Do YOU Do When You Have One?

[wmonique2]

Bonjour y'all,

I am trying to figure out how we deal with flares and essentially if I am an anomaly or just like everybody else.

What do you do when you have one? How do you get out of one? How long does it last? Do you up your meds? How often do you get them? Can you figure out what triggers them?

Here's the scoop (on my poop )

* I added an antihistamine to my regimen to calm the nausea, continue taking my mesalamine
* I stop functioning, pretty much in bed (or on a couch) during most of the flare (this time I am on day 7--getting better though, by tomorrow I should be able to hit Starbucks)
* I stop eating not because I want to but because I can't eat
* I juice in the morning, lunch grits or hot cereal, dinner mashed potatoes, blended soup--all soft foods
* I stare at the ceiling a lot and watch reruns of Seinfeld, which keep my spirit up otherwise it's doom-and-gloom-and-agony-on-me
* Meditate, do acupuncture, communicate with family and friends otherwise I feel suicidal and homicidal (or the other way around, I'll kill somebody first then I'll kill myself)
* The experience leaves me weak, wiped out and a lot thinner (not that I need to)

Share your coping mechanism. Maybe we can all learn something.

Love,

Monique

[Leah]

This is a good post Monique and I hope many people chime in. I don't think I can be much help because I haven't really had a full on flare since healing. At the worst, I react to something with D, maybe a few times that day and I'm done. During that time I go back to just eating meat and rice mostly. Not much help, huh? Sorry :)

Leah

[tlras]

Monique....well it sounds like you are getting better....so sorry it's taking 7 days or longer to get there. I haven't flared yet and praying I never do but WHEN it happens my doctor told me to take Pepto for a few days to calm things down since that seems to be the med that works best for me.

Would be nice to hear from others who have flared and what they do about it. How they cope, etc. But it sounds like you are doing all the right things. Hang in there. Do the antihistamines help with your nausea?

Terri

[Hoggett]

I'm new to this so all I do is to stop eating for two to three days then exist on corn flakes for breakfast and plain omlette for my tea for another few days. I feel awful but just ignore it and keep on going, I know I shoul rest more than I do for the other problems I have but feel as though I'm wasting my life away

Even when I lost my second leg the nurses had to plead with me to lie down for an hour everyday, I was aching to get up! and that was in hospital!

[tex]

Monique,

Interesting that you should post this question today, because I just got over a 3-day D event, yesterday. Unless I somehow picked up a bug (which seems unlikely, since the only time I left the farm in the previous week was to pick up a few groceries), the D was triggered by maple syrup on a pancake for breakfast, and it was apparently enhanced by jalapeno pork sausage for lunch, and a snack later in the day, in the form of a bowl of Honey Nut Chex with almond milk. Other than the D and a few aches and pains, though I felt a bit off, and didn't have much energy, no other symptoms seemed to be significant.

It appears that I'm losing the ability to produce certain enzymes, because sugar seems to be an increasing problem.

Back when I was always sick as a dog during a flare (including nausea), I would eat chicken or chicken and rice soup for a few days before graduating to more solid foods, but this time I just cut out sugar and any hot stuff, and minimized carbs. Bacon and eggs for breakfast, and plain pork sausage wrapped in a corn tortilla for lunch and supper seems to have brought me back to normal after a couple of days.

I agree with Leah — great question.

Love,
Tex

[JeanIrene]

Monique, hope you're good as new soon!

In looking at my food diary, I see that I got better when I eliminated all starches and sugars. No fruits except bananas, homemade chicken soup with soft carrots and celery, turkey, chicken, squash, avocado. Very boring, but did the trick.

Jean

[MBombardier]

A Hee-Haw fan, I see...

It's been a long time since I had a really bad flare. I had a slight one several weeks ago when I dared to eat a piece of grilled chicken at Wendy's. I could tell that it was working its way through my body because the symptoms came sequentially with minor overlap instead of hitting all at once, so that was a relief. When I am having a flare, I generally just sit in my chair in front of the computer because the joint pain and brain fog pretty much preclude doing much else. The bloating and off-and-on nausea are troublesome, but the sense of urgency and constant trips to the bathroom really bother me, especially since they mean I have to move.

I don't use any medication, though I have been tempted a few times to try Imodium. I do pop a half of Vicodin now and then for the pain.

[Carriagehouse]

Hi Monique
I return to the BRAT diet for a day or two and it seems to do the trick. Tex, I am also finding sugar and carbs to be an issue, and doing my best to cut back on them. I stay home, if possible, and do creative things like sewing or quilting to pass the time, unless the brain fog is too thick to concentrate, then my activity of choice is napping ;)

[Lesley]

Monique - so sorry you are feeling horrible.

I don't know when I am in a flare. I think it is permanent with me. I have a weird cycle. I have ZERO idea what does it. I am constipated and need stool softeners and sometimes laxatives to get me going. I have had 2 D days in the past couple of weeks, one of them yesterday, but the D doesn't last more than a day because then I head into C again.

I wish, though, I could stop eating. The worse I feel, the more I want to eat. No wonder I don't loose weight!

[ant]

Dear Monique,

I have just come out of a 2 to 3 week flare..... I hope you are out of yours...

For the last year or so I thought I had it sorted.... if I was glutened or dairied or soyed, I would go back to basic foods: chicken, fish, rice and up my dose of entocort to one or two a day (as distinct from "maintenance" of one every other or every two or every three days), also I would add Imodium and pepto to the "end my flare" regime. With this the flare was gone usually in 2 to 3 days.

This time it took much longer (like a couple of years ago when I was in the early stages of "healing"). Not sure why. But, I suspect it was the first time in a long time that I was really "dairied" (accidental yogurt followed by accidental cheese).

The other thought is that I had been tapering down for about the last two months to one entocort every three days and this may have made me more susceptible to a longer flare.....

As you can see I have still not been able to take of the training wheels (entocort) of my bicycle.....

I am now back to one entocort every other day...

Best wishes, Ant

[DebE13]

I've finally tapered to one entocort every second day which is a HUGE accomplishment for me. I still rarely see Norman but D 3-4x a day is actually tolerable for me. I've been on it since February of 2012 so I would really like to be off of. I would actually be quite content at this point with my progress if I still weren't dealing with the horrible eye pain and now sinus pressure. The acupunture treatments have been encouraging but I had two major set backs- once with the flu and the other with a head-cold. The actual sickness was quite mild but it seems to have aggravated my whole head and now my tongue and inside of my mouth hurts.

I don't think I've healed enough to recognize a true flare. I feel like everyday is either a mild flare or sitting on the borderline of going into one. I was very tempted to try one scrambled egg this morning for breakfast but I just couldn't risk it and ruin the whole day. I no longer have a constant stomache ache or nausea, so when that returns I consider that my flare. I go back to sitting on the couch and eating meats, broth, and rice.

[Polly]

Here's what I do for a flare:

1. Go back to eating only MRT "green" foods (the ones I am least sensitive to)
2. Eliminate fiber as much as possible (no raw foods, nuts, etc.)
3. Increase my water intake and pay attention to electrolyte balance
4. Add histamine blockers around the clock instead of prn
5. Increase my exercise routine (yes, that's right, increase, because exercise is my most effective stress-buster
6. Try to schedule more down-time........... relaxation/meditation time............ to clear my mind from constant worry/obsession with the D

The above formula worked well with my last flare (when my brother died after an agonizing time with pancreatic cancer). Note that it did take a number of mos. to get back to square 1. There is no substitute for PATIENCE, IMHO.

Love,

Polly

[wmonique2]

Hello friends,

Good to hear from all of you on how you deal with flares. I have learned a lot from the posts and I am bookmarking this post so that I can refer to it when I need it. I am adopting some of your suggestions. It seems like we all have different approach to flares but there is one common denominator: we all go on a rigid diet to appease our system. We don't all experience the flares in the same manner or to the same degree but one thing for sure: this condition IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OFFENDER.

Tex---good timing, huh? ;-). You need to lay off the hot stuff! It's like taking a darn torch to your gut (I guess living in TX has its perils--too close to Mexico and their tongue-scorching jalapenos

Terri--yes, antihistamine helps nausea since I eliminated Elavil--I felt sleepy and hungry and I gained weight. Didn't like how I felt when I was taking it.

Polly----you increase your exercise? I can barely move out of my couch. Impressive! And thanks for the warning about electrolytes and PATIENCE. Important.

Ant--your experience mirrors mine. My flares last 2-3 weeks. I still have training wheels on my bike too (mesalamine), that is

Thanks Lesley and Leslie, Deb, Marliss, Jean, Leah, Hoggett...your contributions are appreciated.

Love,

Monique

[amberlink09]

There's some great information here! I am definitely going to try out the antihistamines for nausea, I had no idea they had that effect. I am currently on day 11 of a flare, I was hoping it would go away on its own but apparently it has no intention of doing so so I've dropped down to eating only chicken soup and rice, and maybe some toast here and there. Also adding lots of probiotics and resting as much as possible. Hopefully it is gone soon!

[wmonique2]

Hi Amber,

Yes, there is lots of good info here.. I was glad so many shared their experience...

I am in a flare too. 2 weeks now. sick of it.

Monique