Dealing with the pain
Hi Nicola
I have only been diagnosed with Crohn's/uncreative colitis since June.
I was in sever pain and suffering from trouble eating all sorts of things. I was admitted to hospital severely dehydrated and in sever pain, I had to have morphine.
when I left hospital I was prescribed Tramadol pain killers these seem to be especially good. read the side effects though.
A CT scan identified inflammatory bowel disease and a colonoscopy identified severe ulcers in the terminal illium (joint from small bowel to large bowel)
I was prescribed steroids to bring the inflammation down, this stabalised the IBD and allowed me to start to eat foods that I had found very painful
(potatoes and chips, red meat, anything with spices.
I could only take the steroid for 3 months because of side effects, the replacement drug recommended is azothioprene. the side effects are leukaemia, skin cancer and worse.
I decided to research what will help, allowing me to use Asacolrather than azathioprine. Asacol still has some severe side effect but not cancer.
(My NHS consultant was not happy prescribing this drug but I persisted) it is suitable for where in my intestine the ulcerative colitis is.
My research led me to the following to help me with the pain:
- eat no later than 6pm (so that if what you eat causes pain it should be easing off by the time you sleep, it is very important to get sleep to allow your body to heal.)
- Eat smaller meals (5 or 6 per day) with your main meals between 11am and 2pm.
- avoid starchy carbohydrates: potatoes, carrots, beetroot, sweet corn and maize additives
- avoid chicory, found in green peas and some other green vegetables.
- eat small amounts of white fish or egg white for protein
- white bread with olive spread is a good form of staple carbs (ensure it is branded, don't make your own. UK produced bread is fortified with vitamins by law, this will help because you will not get vitamins from the foods you can't eat.
- extra virgin ORGANIC olive oil seems to be especially beneficial, I use it to cook food with, fried eggs, fried chicken and other stuff, I also use it for dressings. I doesn't seem to make me fat but can cause spots because of how much I consume, my skin becomes greasy.
- avoid any cheese, cream and full fat milk
- use caffeine free tea bags
- wheat crunch crisps seem to help a lot and allow me to eat something different.
One of the side effects of Asacol is pancreanitis so I researched the symptoms, these include back pain?
good luck.
I have just joined the forum and have read that ginger root can help, I am going to try some later.
do you have any tips.