Hey everyone, struggling with my diagnosis!

[tomdapom]

hey everyone, struggling with my diagnosis!

Hey everyone, I'm Tom and I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease about 4 months ago. I was first put on pentasa and prednisone, which definitely worked for the first couple of months since I was diagnosed. However since coming off the original prescription of prednisone (40mg, decreased by 5mg/week), I started feeling lowsy again, so I was given even more drugs! Metronidazole and iron tablets, as I was low on iron. Upon seeing my gastroenterologist again last week, I've now been put on another course of prednisone and azathioprine. Already looking forward to more acne and mood swings, haha.

Over the past week, I really haven't felt much better, still got real bad and constant stomach pain. I was wondering how long I'd expect to notice a difference, and if any dietary adjustments could help to speed up the whole process?

Cheers! Tom.

 

[littlefreebird]

aww big hugs tom and welcome to the forum. flare ups tend to happen when the doseage of steroids is reduced. hopefully the azathioprine works for you. unfortunatley crohn's is long rollercoaster and finding the right medication really is trial and error, but you'll get there! there's many other meds that are available that you have yet to try so don't worry. i knw it's a lot to take in and a lot to get used to.
in the meantime, make sure you are on a decent painkiller for pain, tramadol has been a life saver for me, i have no pain at all once i take them, ask your dr, you need to be comfortable.
as for time length, it may take a while for the aza. to kick in because it works by supressing the immune system thus de-activating the crohn's attacks, i'd give it a maybe 4 weeks before contacting the dr again, unless you start to feel worse.
some crohn's sufferers go on a low residue diet to help control symptoms these are foods that easily broken down meaning that your intestines do not need to do much work and can have a rest. the diet excludes foods such as harsh grainy cereals, seeded bread, wholegrain, citrus fruits, berrys, raw vegetables, strong veg such as onion cabbage etc. nuts and potato skins. the diet is pretty easy cause you can still eat meats, potatos, chips, rice, pasta etc you're really just cutting out overly healthy grainy foods and fruit and veg and any food high in fibre. whether the diet works or not is subject to debate, personally i think it helps to an extent but if i'm properly flaring it won't really make a difference.
some people would also argue that probiotic yoghurt/ yoghurt drinks are effective in reducing inflammation but again everyone's different.
good luck anyway with treatment. hannah.

 

[David]

Hi Tom and welcome. I'm glad you found your way here but I'm sorry you're having so much trouble

Dietary adjustments do indeed seem to help many people here. I suggest checking out or diet and fitness forum for ideas on various diets and foods that seem to affect people with IBD.

I wish you all the best and hope to see you around the forum

 

[tek254]

Hi Tom and welcome. I sympathize for you. In regards to the abdominal pain, it can take weeks for the inflammation to reduce to a somewhat normal level which will give you spikes in pain. Talk to a dietician and also make sure you stay hydrated. Best of luck. Lots of info here as well as great people.