I was recently diagnosed with a severe case of Crohn's disease. My mother has it and the doctor believes that mine is due to that. Previously, I had been experiencing on and off again stomach and intestinal inflammation accompanied by loose bowel movements and then constipation. My doctor felt I had intermittent IBD, but I did not get a colonoscopy at that time because I was young and scared. Now I wish I had. Three years after that incident I began having daily abdominal cramping and painful bowel movements. I finally got health insurance and went to a specialist. After having a colonoscopy, they discovered the Crohn's. My diet before the diagnosis was mostly eating fruits, chicken and vegetables with whole wheat products. Now I eat very little, mostly chicken and pasta. Since 2013 I have lost 80lbs, going from 310 to 230. Not all of that was due to sickness, as I was being more active in an attempt to get better. Within the last 2 months, my Crohn's has put me in the ER twice and the hospital once (for a week, with what they called an exacerbation of Crohn's). At this point I have stopped eating red meats, pork, lamb, whole wheat products, soy products, lactose products( born intolerant), spicy foods, fried foods, greasy foods, raw fruits & vegetables, caffeine products, carbonated products and chocolate products. All of this in an effort to get the abdominal cramping and severe bowel movements to lessen. I attempted to get Humira but my insurance declared it to be an "experimental drug" and refused 3 times to pay for it, even after a peer-to-peer with my specialist. So I am taking a 3/4ths dosage everyday of Mercaptopurine ( I am supposed to be on 100mg but am slowly working up, at 75mg now). My questions are as follows: How often do the flare-ups happen? Is there some point where I can re-introduce foods back into my diet? Is hair thinning and/or loss normal when taking Mercaptopurine? Is daily cramping of the upper abdomen normal? Is there a way to deal with the depression which happens as a result of the condition without medication? Thank you so much for reading this and for any replies. ^_^