Supplements?

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Besides your normal medicine, do you give your child any other supplements? I've been reading up on some and would like to try some. In addition to our usual multi vitamin, 2000iu of vitamin D,and folic acid, we've recently introduced fish oil.

Other supplements I've read about but not sure about quite yet are aloe Vera juice, teaspoon of olive oil a day, turmeric, probiotic....

Going to stick with fish oil for a few weeks before introducing anything new and will of course talk to GI before introducing anything new. Just wondering what you all do as far as natural supplements and if it's helped or not.

PS: my son is also on remicade every 5wks, and methotrexate. And overnight feeding tube for supplemental nutrition (750 calories overnight). We recently got rid of his pentasa. And he also takes growth horomone injections so he's already got quite a lot of things going into him
 
I'm not expert but we are supplementing with: folic acid, vitamin d, and prenatal vitamins.
My boy is on remicade every 4 weeks and fighting with fistula, and weight gain.
 
Supplements are not harmless
So aloe Vera is not recommended at all for Crohns


Ds takes vsl#3 double strength probiotics-you need a prescription
His GI writes the prescription but it is not covered by insurance at all and is $$$
He does very well with it
 
Thanks. Yea, I was skeptical about the aloe Vera...I would like to try a probiotic next though....but not for a few weeks anyway. Want to just do one thing at a time to make sure there are no adverse side effects.
 
Priobiitics are generally not effective for Crohns
But have been proven for UC
Ds has a lot of rectal involvement and is very UC like so the GI tried probiotics
It does help with his rectal inflammation at least
Granted he is on humira every 5days and mtx
 
We do probiotics - Culturelle or VSL #3. We also do Calcium, but that's because my daughter has low bone density. Vitamin D3 when she's low (not right now).

Both my girls take a multivitamin daily. My older one also takes fish oil - my younger daughter used to, but she got bruises everywhere. I honestly don't know if fish oil makes a difference or not though.

Both girls used to take tumeric. They didn't have side effects or anything, we just didn't see any improvements so we stopped it. Both took it for a couple of years.

Is there any particular reason you're asking? Is your son not doing well on Remicade and MTX and supplemental EN?
 
A takes Calcium (because her dairy is now limited) and it also contains Vitamin D. Probiotics seemed to do more harm than good for her.
 
Dancemom the fact probiotics make her worse
Actually makes a lot more sense since she is immunodeficiency
I know for kids who are on a picc line for infection
Probiotics are NOT recommended since it their immune system isn't up to normal
Per our GI
But for regular ibd kids who have an over active immune system to start with
And get immunosuppressants and/or biologics to put their immune system to normal
It's ok to use
 
Daughter (now) has mild /minimal symptoms.

Omega, Vitamin C,
VSL-#3, believe it helps though not 100% sure as started during bad flare (along with other meds) and reduced symptoms significantly. We were told when started VSL-3 to go very slow dosage, ie., half pill to start. We do 1 pill in am/1 pill in pm
Sacro-B (thorne), If she goes off, diarrhea usually comes back
Vitamin B Complex (thorne)

Calcium (when lab levels were low)
vitamin D during winter only
Peppermint Oil pills if abdominal pain

Note: some vitamins have soy, lactose, so we check labels and work with someone on selecting brands
 
We do probiotics - Culturelle or VSL #3. We also do Calcium, but that's because my daughter has low bone density. Vitamin D3 when she's low (not right now).

Both my girls take a multivitamin daily. My older one also takes fish oil - my younger daughter used to, but she got bruises everywhere. I honestly don't know if fish oil makes a difference or not though.

Both girls used to take tumeric. They didn't have side effects or anything, we just didn't see any improvements so we stopped it. Both took it for a couple of years.

Is there any particular reason you're asking? Is your son not doing well on Remicade and MTX and supplemental EN?


He's doing Okay with remicade and mtx. Was looking at supplements for myself actually for stress relief, etc and started reading up on all the various ones and benefits and thought he could benefit from some as well...figured it couldn't hurt to try some.
 
Btw - We have a non Crohns kid on growth hormone. I was recently told to give extra zinc. Also make sure adequate calcium (we supplement given lactose issues) and enough magnesium for growth. Note: Several calcium tablets are formulated with magnesium.
 
Be careful magnesium can cause GI irritation and loose stools or diarrhea
Especially with Crohns

Magnesium citrate is used for clean outs for a reason
 
Multi vitamin, folic acid (re: mtx), vitamin D, and probiotic here. Our GI says the probiotics are a waste of money and while I agree they may not help Crohn's directly, I am convinced my kids are less sick with general colds and viruses overall.
 
My son is on Remicade every 4 weeks and Methotrexate 7.5 mg regular and has been on uceris a few weeks and yesterday started Flagyl. He is on other meds for EOE and zyrtec for allergies.

I give him:
Teen Boy multi vitamin
Calcium and Vitamin D
Probiotics Digestive Advantage
At times airborne to boost him when lots of sickness goes around and vitamin C at times

I want to try fish oil
 
I take many supplements! I take magnesium for my bones. It's a good idea to get your iron levels checked people with Crohn's and other diseases develop anemia. So, I take iron everyday. Also vitamin c is good for immune system health and absorbing iron. I take 6,000iu of vitamin d everyday. You can also get a blood test to test those levels. Discuss taking supplements with your doctor first because they can affect certain medications!
 

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