Question about frequency of flareups

[num1habsfan]

Hey guys. I'm currently having another BAD flareup, it started last week and it continues to get worse. I'm going home this weekend (believe it or not, just to get some gluten-free bread from my parents house) and I live 2 blocks from the hospital so I may just make a visit to the ER if it gets any worse. It's to the point where it almost hurts to sit because that spot is so flared, it feels like...someone cut me open, lit a match, and sewed me back up. That's how on fire it is...This is my first though in 3 months, and I've only had the bloody diarrhea in that time period twice instead of at least once a month.
You all know I'm on the no-meat, no-veggies diet (besides my lactose-free and gluten-free diets).
Do you think the diet could be a reason why it's been so long since my last ER-bound attack??? Have any of you notice a difference in the length period of attacks by following the diet???

~ Lisa ~

 

[mikeyarmo]

Hello Lisa,

it is really too hard to fully say what the reason it has been so long since the last attack has been. I know that I felt better once after going on the SCD, however after 2 weeks on it I was in the hospital for the first time. Diet may have been the main reason why you have avoided the ER for so long, but it could have also been a number of other factors (less stress, making yourself feel better as you are on a better diet, etc.). As long as the diet is not dangerous though and makes you feel better, there is no reason to stop it. On the other hand it is possible that you may need to change your diet based on the frequency or types of attacks you are having, but that is a choice for you to decide (with your doctor and other professionals). Personally, I had been on a number of diets with mixed results. Some worked great (low symptoms) but did not provide me with enough calories and resulted in me just losing weight with no real change to my disease. Others instantly landed me in the hospital, and others were somewhere in between. Therefore you need to do what feels best for you and what is also a healthy choice.

Hope that helps a bit and that you are feeling better now.

 

[Jeff D.]

I think that diet has a lot to do with it but I have been on a eat everything in moderation diet and I have felt decent for years until I went to college and started eating some of the worst food ever. Dominoes was probably the best thing I would eat in a week. I hope that helps a bit. I think that since everyone is different a different diet must be made for us all. Best of luck

 

[Kev]

I essentially 'managed' my condition, or at least managed to avoid a serious flare.. by sticking to a rigid regimen of diet, vitamins, supplements, proper rest/exercise.

course, I could have been deluding myself... cause without me changing anything, my disease FLARED out of control AFTER nearly 6 months of this otherwise 'bliss'.

 

[BWS1982]

If I recall you mentioned that in another thread, your currently in a flare that's lasted a couple weeks now and said it was your longest ever....Don't take this as me trying to make light of your suffering, but I've been flaring for 7 + months now, and am simply sharing this to make you feel better. Trying to put it into perspective I guess, flares are flares, and I know what you're going through, just trying to maybe make it seem not so bad for ya.

Don't know if it'll make you worry though that yours will last as long....my first flare lasted 7 months too and coincided almost with this one as far as being late summer until spring....the problem is this one is MUCH worse, my disease has spread throughout the colon (according to Oct. colonoscopy) and I know it is going to last longer, but I'm doing better than I have been doing in months.