Food doesn't cause a flare?

[partlycloudy]

Food doesn't cause a flare? I've seen this mentioned here a few times and am rather surprised. Maybe I'm defining "flare" incorrectly, but if I eat, for instance, a large salad I'm down for a week to a month with diarrhea, waves of cramping, exhaustion, nausea. That's what I mean when I say "flare."

As long as I avoid said salad or whatever I'm okay...no D, no cramping, no nausea, no exhaustion. I feel normal (for me).

I used to eat salads...anything....symptom free. Okay, beans gave me gas but that's normal.

So, that description above is not a flare? I'm confused about this.

 

[Crohns08]

There aren't any studies or scientific evidence (well enough of it at least) for doctors to comfortably tell you that certain foods can trigger symptoms. Some people think it does, some will deny it. I will say that everyone is different so to make general statements for a disease so complex would be inaccurate I think.

 

[Nytefyre]

There aren't any studies or scientific evidence (well enough of it at least) for doctors to comfortably tell you that certain foods can trigger symptoms. Some people think it does, some will deny it. I will say that everyone is different so to make general statements for a disease so complex would be inaccurate I think.

This.

 

[Astra]

The difference is inflammation.
People have different definitions of what a flare is, to me it's inflammation in my TI.
At the moment, I don't have any inflamm, but I have symptoms, diarrhea or gas caused by some foods which I know I should'nt have ate!

 

[partlycloudy]

Interesting. Thanks for the responses everyone. Busy day so will check back. I find this subject extremely interesting.

I've always assumed The Salad not only was difficult to digest due to scarred intestine but also inflamed things as it scraped its way through.

I suppose the difference may be systemic inflammation vs. localized inflammation in these definitions of what a flare is too. I don't even know if "flare" is a legitimate GI word, lol. Probably not.

 

[Jennifer]

The difference is inflammation.
People have different definitions of what a flare is, to me it's inflammation in my TI.
At the moment, I don't have any inflamm, but I have symptoms, diarrhea or gas caused by some foods which I know I should'nt have ate!

Exactly. That's how its always been described to me by all of my GI docs ever since I was a kid. A flare is when the intestines are inflamed and only when that inflamation is caused by Crohn's. If say a salad were to cause some inflamation (if it does its not because its sharp, its because there's a reaction to the raw veggetable itself hence it being a trigger food for you (food that causes symptoms but not flares)), it would be temporary inflamation. How temporary depends on the person. If its the Crohn's causing inflamation then the inflamtion will not be temporary and will need to be treated by medication before it gets out of hand and causes a bunch of scar tissue or any other unwanted complications.

People can easily have symptoms without being in a flare and these symptoms aren't always caused by what we ate. If it bothers you, don't eat it or eat it on occasion but just because you're kinda sick afterwards and it clears up on its own doesn't mean you had some random mild "flare."

 

[partlycloudy]

A flare is when the intestines are inflamed and only when that inflamation is caused by Crohn's. If say a salad were to cause some inflamation (if it does its not because its sharp, its because there's a reaction to the raw veggetable itself hence it being a trigger food for you (food that causes symptoms but not flares)),

Here's what I'm not understanding. I've bolded the parts I'm referring to.

Prior to developing Crohn's and being dx'd I could eat all the salads I wanted. Now I can't. They cause the symptoms I described above.

The only difference is Crohn's. So, wouldn't Crohn's be indirectly causing these symptoms? Hence, the cause of the inflammation and symptoms is Crohn's.

If I sound frustrated it's only that I'm not understanding. I'm not frustrated with anyone on a personal level.

Edited to add if a food is a trigger only because I now have Crohn's then it appears Crohn's is the cause.

 

[Jennifer]

Prior to developing Crohn's and being dx'd I could eat all the salads I wanted. Now I can't. They cause the symptoms I described above.

The only difference is Crohn's. So, wouldn't Crohn's be indirectly causing these symptoms? Hence, the cause of the inflammation and symptoms is Crohn's.

Edited to add if a food is a trigger only because I now have Crohn's then it appears Crohn's is the cause.

What it may boil down to is not being in remission entirely in your case, not to mention that there are many foods out there that are hard to digest for anyone in general. Take lettuce for example. It contains cellulose and humans are not capable of digesting it. "Humans are unable to digest cellulose because the appropriate enzymes to breakdown the beta acetal linkages are lacking." http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/547cellulose.html

So you see in general, there are many types of foods that are hard to digest. Why you can't eat a salad now, I don't know. How come sometimes I can eat a salad with no issues at all? I have no idea. The point is that fiber gets your guts moving and sometimes it doesn't help to eat fiber when our guts are already moving (because of the Crohn's). So if your guts are already inflamed, then the lettuce will just go straight through because its already difficult to digest even when your guts are working at 100%.

I hope that helps you understand it better. Main thing to remember is that food can trigger symptoms (like diarrhea) in anyone (IBD or not) but this should go away but a flare will never go away on its own.

 

[partlycloudy]

What it may boil down to is not being in remission entirely in your case

I was wondering about that last night as I lay in bed pondering the mystery of the Lettuce Not-A-Flare situation. Although my blood work comes back fine. I'll have to ask my doc when I see him in March.

In general I'll get behind science rather than anecdotal info so this has me intrigued.

Thanks for your responses.