Thanksgiving with Crohn's Disease

[tracy3808]

How do people handle Thanksgiving while in a flare? This year I do not have family close and had a few invitations from friends, but turned them down not wanting to face a meal full of food that would probably make me sick. I was told I am over reacting, but was not sure the best way to handle the situation....

Any suggestions?

 

[Ribo]

Well, it's easy to say you're overreacting. I'm guessing that the people who say that don't understand Crohn's in general and your condition and symptoms specifically.

Personally I totally understand. I sent to a late lunch / early dinner at a nice buffet in a higher-end hotel yesterday with my wife and father. About halfway through I excused myself for a quick trip to the restroom I had scouted out. I'm comfortable with sometching like that, but the thought of being in someone else's house and having to make a bathroom run - not sure I'd like that as an option, to be honest.

 

[UnXmas]

I go to meals out and family dinners and either don't eat, or, more often, eat only what I'm ok with - even if that's just soup, bread, or whatever. My family understand this. How much do your friends know about your disease? I see no point in making myself ill just to conform to social expectations. It can be awkward with new friends or people I don't know well - I do tend to avoid eating in these situations - but if it's a meal with someone I'm close to then what I eat isn't an issue. If you're celebrating Thanksgiving with them, perhaps you know them well enough to share more about your disease?

For Christmas dinner with my family (no Thanksgiving here) I'll probably have some turkey and potatoes with gravy. I've got a new ileostomy so I'm not quite sure yet whether I'll be able to handle other vegetables. My portion will be tiny compared to everyone else's.

 

[Scaryman]

Ahh thanksgiving with crohns. Last year I spent this wonderful holiday in the hospital. This year I spent it by myself in my apartment. Having just gone through a minor flare. Two weeks pior I had a colonoscopy (no sedation) that a expert in the firld of crohns performed. Well that went awry and I ended up hospitizized in maryland. When a patient made the mistake of smoking in his bed and burned to death. Thus the ER I was in was a mess. I did a AMA discharge in a Crp inflammation of 17 and flew my flaring self back to Chicago's experts. Lol even they where perplexed at my condition, having done the procedure there and they admitted me so fast. They did my right hemicolectomy and having almost died in the recovery room there, the ER staff plugged me into telemetry so fast before administering the same narcotic that made me stop breathing. In short gotta hate crohns, I thought I'd get a reprieve after surgery. But I'm still felling minor pain. Thus I hate Thanksgiving.

 

[Ckoenig]

Ahh thanksgiving with crohns. Last year I spent this wonderful holiday in the hospital. This year I spent it by myself in my apartment. Having just gone through a minor flare. Two weeks pior I had a colonoscopy (no sedation) that a expert in the firld of crohns performed. Well that went awry and I ended up hospitizized in maryland. When a patient made the mistake of smoking in his bed and burned to death. Thus the ER I was in was a mess. I did a AMA discharge in a Crp inflammation of 17 and flew my flaring self back to Chicago's experts. Lol even they where perplexed at my condition, having done the procedure there and they admitted me so fast. They did my right hemicolectomy and having almost died in the recovery room there, the ER staff plugged me into telemetry so fast before administering the same narcotic that made me stop breathing. In short gotta hate crohns, I thought I'd get a reprieve after surgery. But I'm still felling minor pain. Thus I hate Thanksgiving.

Thanks so much for sharing! makes me feel a lot better. I just posted my story of Thanksgiving (my first with crohn's, that has ended even better just now in a monumental fight with my S/O.