Hi there and welcome
Ugh, I'm sorry to hear you're in a flare, that stinks. Certainly not a good time to need to find a new doctor
But please do take the time to find a new doctor if you haven't already. It sounds like it's definitely checkup time. In the meantime, here's some ideas:
- Dietary changes -
Enteral/elemental nutrition, [wiki]paleo diet[/wiki], or [wiki]specific carbohydrate diet[/wiki]. Juicing is also growing on me a lot.
- Hydration - Dehydration and loss of electrolytes is common. Proper hydration and adding electrolytes back in can help you a lot.
- Alternative treatments - I'm a fan of
Low Dose Naltrexone. Two studies in adults have had great results (see the stuck thread in when following that link) and there are very few side effects. It's also not very expensive.
Medical marijuana has been shown to help a lot as well if that's something you're comfortable with and is legally available in your area.
- Stress reduction. Do whatever it takes to reduce your stress levels. In addition, a weekly or even monthly massage if funds are tight is great.
Studies have actually shown that massage can reduce inflammation.
Give yourself self-massages as often as possible in between the professional ones.
- Exercise if you're able -
a gentle yoga is a good one
- Vitamins and minerals - find out which you're deficient in and properly supplement. People with Crohn's disease are commonly deficient in
vitamin B12,
vitamin D,
folate, and
magnesium as well as a host of others. But those four first ones should definitely be checked. DO NOT blindly supplement, treat these as medications and get your levels tested FIRST.
- Supplements - there are a variety that help improve overall health. Check our our
diet/fitness/supplements forum for ideas. I'm personally a big fan of
tumeric (curcumin) and strongly suggest utilizing it.
- Alternative medicine - This could be stuff like acupuncture, including a naturopath in your treatment team, etc.
Bring your new doctor in on the conversation for all of this. Get their input and let them help supervise your disease state. Some doctors might need a little push on some of this stuff, but we can provide studies that showcase the efficacy of all the above.
