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can a crohns flare last 4 months? then just go away?

Hi Folks

I am sure a couple of you have read what im going through, i have a question regarding a crohns flare, whatever is going on with my guts dont make sense, i stopped all dairy again and it seems like its going away, within days i had energy back my guts feel so much better its unreal, so the question is does a crohns flare last 4 months and then just go away on its own with no medication?
 

my little penguin

Moderator
Staff member
Were you tested for lactose intolerance by a doctor ?
I have one kiddo with severe lactose intolerance
and his gut was a reall mess - Gi even considered ibd until they did the test for lactose intolerance
He does not have ibd

his brother is not lactose intolerant but does have crohns

I would talk to your Gi
 
I am lactose intolerant i was drinking lactaid milk also, but i was also eating allot of butter on bread, im wondering if i may be dairy intolerant, my doc said once i could be allergic to a certain protein in dairy and eggs and a few other things. they still have not diagnosed me with crohns thats in about 2 weeks now, i tried this because i was told to go on a ow residue diet i ate rice ches with lactaid milk for 3 months, my guts were hurting, so i tried something different and it was like night and day. can this still be crohns?
 

my little penguin

Moderator
Staff member
For my kiddo he does not tolerate milk in any form even lactaid milk
Definitely no butter or other milk products
Even products made on the same manufacturing lines as milk (listed on label as may contains milk )

How to read a label for milk
They like to hide it

IgE allergies (allergic ) you would know - can ge life threatening quickly (my ibd kiddo has this to tree nuts and fish )
These cause a reaction within minutes to 2 hours of eating a food (hives , trouble breathing ,etc...) =epi pen for two or more systems
Mainly to the top nine allergens (milk ,eggs ,soy ,peanuts, tree nuts ,fish,sesame,and shellfish )
An allergist helps determine that in the office

food intolerance - causes belly /gut pain
No test that valid on this one
Trial and error

only a GI can tell you if you have crohns based on test results

but you can have more than one thing going on at once
 
i think im curious if crohns can just go into remission all on its own, there more to my history also, I had a severe TBI 8 years ago, took me a year to learn how to walk and talk right, then shortly after that i started having gallbladder attacks sometimes everyday others couple times a week, the ER refused to scan my gallbladder, the gastro folks told me to eat more fiber, 7 years later it failed bad, in hospital for a week, they said it gave me gallstone pancreatitis, and it may or may not go away, then it all hit the fan again last November, guts where upside down and i tore a disc in back at the same time. now they are actually doing testing the last one is in a couple weeks, the doc said hes not so sure its crohns but this test will find out for sure. My question i guess is does crohns just go away on its own? i could have many other things wrong but im fearing the worse i guess,
 
lactose can feed some pathogenic bacteria, if the dairy products you consumed had lactose like milk sugar. saturated fat is also bad for our health. low fat dairy is better.

reducing refined sugar may also help you too.

sometimes milk has bacteria in it too that crohn's patients might be more sensitive to as well, so there are many possibilities here. MAP bacteria and e.coli are sometimes in milk.

a low residue diet is usually low in fiber too, but fiber will help IBD to feed good bacteria in the gut oats are a good choice the soluble fiber is what the good bacteria like the most.

pathogens can also come from out environment, keep a very clean house, and disinfect surfaces regularly.
 
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I used to eat oatmeal for breakfast everyday, my doc said stay away from oatmeal?, i was eating lots of fiber but it was a habbit from when my gallbladder was failing for so long, they kept telling me to eat more fiber so i went with oatmeal, then this year they said eat low residue diet and drop the oatmeal. I wish i could figure this out, i hear so many different things even from different gastro docs, and they seem to contradict eachother on many things. in the past they all were consistant with eat more vegetables and fiber, no its dont eat vegetables and eat low residue foods. most of this makes no sense really. I never wanted any part of the medical world but between negligence and accidents im stuck in it. now i know why i didnt ant to see docs, can crohns just flare up then go away without medication?
 

Scipio

Well-known member
Location
San Diego
Yes, Crohn's can flare and then die back down on its own. It is often episodic in nature. However, when it goes away it is unlikely to go away for good. It's usually just a matter of time before another flare comes along. If you have a flare that goes away and never comes back I would question whether it was really Crohn's in the first place. It may have been misdiagnosed.

As for fiber- like everything else in Crohn's: it depends. It depends on whether you have a stricture in your gut. If your bowel is more or less of normal width despite the Crohn's then fiber is usually a good idea. But if it has been significantly narrowed due to inflammation and scar tissue build-up then docs often advise against high fiber foods. They don't want to risk the bulk of the fiber creating a blockage at the narrow stricture point.
 
I have my colonoscopy this coming Monday, hopefully that answers some questions i have been having, either way it comes out its not great, if its not crohns then it would probly be IBS, if it is crohns, then its crohns. the reason i ask is my only real symptoms is gut pain and nausea along with weight loss. however i do have a high liver enzym issue, the weight loss also happened when i had gall stone attacks some times a couple a day sometimes a few times a week, that went on for a total of 7 years, then my gall bladder failed and i ended up in ER, with an infected gallbladder and that gave me pancreatitis, they said the pancreatitis may or may not go away so my guts been through allot over the last 7 years. now this, this one im not sure if i caused it or not, i tore a dics and my guts went nuts, i was getting nausea, the pain from my back made me pass out in the ER, but my guts where hurting allot my doc said try a low residue diet, i ate rice chex every day 3 times a day for a while, then i remembered i have lactose intolerance, so i was making my own guts hurt myself. when i realized it a couple months later i went to almond milk and my gut pain is now down to almost nothing, in fact i am eating hot turkey sandwichs with tons of ketchup and mustard. pasta and sauce, it stopped hurting within a day of stopping dairy again. i lost almost 80lbs in the last 5 years, i went from 215 down to as low as 118lbs now im back to 130lbs and maintaining it so far. everything i read said rohs wont stop unless you get meds, mine is like just a cramp on my lower left flank.
 
OK had my colonoscopy, they said me entire examined large intestine was normal, they said they found a singular erosion in my terminal ileum, they sent out for a biopsy. I have not had right sided pain other than my gallbladder attacks for 7 years then that turning into pancreatitis also, could this erosion have been caused by years of gallbladder attacks? i read some about finding a singular erosion and its about a 50/0 shot it will be crohns, anyone have any thoughts on this?
 
she said the entire colon or large intestine was normal, the only thing they saw was a singular erosion, not a ulcer, she said they took a biopsy and will let me know in a few weeks or probly let my doc know then he will tell me. it sounds strange to me honestly, i really expected allot worse, they did an upper GI with small bowel and said it was clean. I have heard an endoscopy is the only real way to tell, i had one of those last year when my gall bladder failed but i dont think they went into my small bowel
 
i think im curious if crohns can just go into remission all on its own, there more to my history also, I had a severe TBI 8 years ago, took me a year to learn how to walk and talk right, then shortly after that i started having gallbladder attacks sometimes everyday others couple times a week, the ER refused to scan my gallbladder, the gastro folks told me to eat more fiber, 7 years later it failed bad, in hospital for a week, they said it gave me gallstone pancreatitis, and it may or may not go away, then it all hit the fan again last November, guts where upside down and i tore a disc in back at the same time. now they are actually doing testing the last one is in a couple weeks, the doc said hes not so sure its crohns but this test will find out for sure. My question i guess is does crohns just go away on its own? i could have many other things wrong but im fearing the worse i guess,
In my experience when I was very stressed I usually got a flare but later it went into remission on its own or if I took Metronidazole and Prednisone it went away faster. But I did not know it was Cronhs.
 
In my experience when I was very stressed I usually got a flare but later it went into remission on its own or if I took Metronidazole and Prednisone it went away faster. But I did not know it was Cronhs.
did you have multiple erosions ? where was your pain mostly? what other symptoms did you have?
 
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