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Crohn's Disease Forum

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Oct 26, 2016
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Hi, I am a 49 yr old male diagnosed (eventually!) with a stricture in the illieum in 2013, currently taking 100mg of azathioprine which seem to be stabilising things, previously on Pentasa(didn't work) and cortisteroids(did work). My symptoms seem less severe than most I hear about; my bowel movements are conventional with no diarrhea, the abdominal pain spasms are much weaker now, although with more gurgling noises, weight stable at 80kg, but still fatigued. I would like any advice and/or ideas on anything other than the usual guidelines for the disease (e.g foodstuffs, alternative meds etc. Health food shop stuff, lifestyle).
Thanks
 
Hello, welcome to the forum!

I'm glad things seem to be stabilising for you. You mention you are still fatigued, when was the last time you had a full range of blood tests? There are many things that can cause tiredness and deficiencies in Iron, B12 and vitamin D are included in this. These are all common things for people with Crohns disease to lack and can usually be solved quite easily by taking supplements or having vitamin injections. If you are unsure when you last had these things tested then you could ask your doctor to check them for you. Having a chronic illness tends to make us tired too, your body is constantly fighting a silent battle with itself and this takes a lot of energy, some people find this eases off when they are in remission but for others it's a constant companion.

With regards to food, there is no one size fits all answer. You may find it helpful to check out the diet and fitness section to see what others are doing and how they work out what's best for them. My advice would be to keep a food and symptom diary, record what you're eating on a daily basis and keep a record of any pain (score this between 1 and 10) and bowel movements etc, this will help you to see if there is a connection between what you're eating and the symptoms you're experiencing. You can then use this information to identify the foods that are "safe" and the foods that are best avoided. In some cases there are no specific foods that cause problems, in my case it is just the act of eating that causes my pain to increase.

In terms of alternative meds etc, I dont have any recommendations there but I will say that you should always run any form of treatment by your own team. This is because even natural remedies and supplements can cause issues including dangerous interactions with prescribed medications.
 

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