My 10 year old was diagnosed with crohns in April of this year. Since January, he has not gained any weight. He does eat all the time PTL but I am somewhat worried bc he is not gaining any weight. He has had a pretty good summer. Just a few days here and there that he hasn't felt well. Should I be worried about the weight? He is already skinny.
Weight gain
- Thread starter Jenr1016
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Did the labs indicate inflammation was present in June? (Not that labs are always reliable as many parents here will confirm.) Is he being treated with medications? I would be concerned that inflammation was not under control is my son was eating well and not gaining weight. It's great that he is feeling weel and had a good summer.
As someone else who is new to this, I never know when to worry and I pretty much worry all the time. My son's Crohn's symptoms include fatigue and looser stools, along with a small amount of blood. In our case, increase fatigue would be a warning sign. But, of course, other things can cause fatigue. My son's bowel movements were green most of the time before he was treated for Crohn's. He still has green stools once in a while, and I report them, but the dr has not changed anything. They just ask if the stools are watery.
Is he any better today? Anything different about his diet recently? Is he having frequent stools? (Not that all kids do.)
Is he any better today? Anything different about his diet recently? Is he having frequent stools? (Not that all kids do.)
Just had another yellowish green bowel movement this morning. Seems a little better energy wise but he just went outside so we will see. His appetite is poor also which is very unusual and yesterday he kept spitting like he was going to throw up all day he was very nauseous which is not abnormal bc of where his crohns is he gets that frequently but a lot over the weekend. Just don't know.
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I would let his gi know today.
Any time you have new symptoms its a good idea to call that day.
As far as weight gain - it depends .
What meds he is on and when he started taking them as well as disease location.
It wasn't until DS was on remicade and en ( formula plus food ) that he grew and gained weight .
His labs have always been near perfect.
He currently drinks 2-3 peptamen jr a day plus humira/Mtx.
He has gained 36 lbs and grew 7 -8 inches since dx.
Formula and the right med is key
Kids with Ibd need more calories than they can take in due to malabsorption and inflammation issues.
DS is back at the 75% for both .
Good luck
Let us know what the Gi says
Any time you have new symptoms its a good idea to call that day.
As far as weight gain - it depends .
What meds he is on and when he started taking them as well as disease location.
It wasn't until DS was on remicade and en ( formula plus food ) that he grew and gained weight .
His labs have always been near perfect.
He currently drinks 2-3 peptamen jr a day plus humira/Mtx.
He has gained 36 lbs and grew 7 -8 inches since dx.
Formula and the right med is key
Kids with Ibd need more calories than they can take in due to malabsorption and inflammation issues.
DS is back at the 75% for both .
Good luck
Let us know what the Gi says
Hi Jen, I saw your other post too, and was wondering what treatment your son is on. My son was on Prednisone at dx and had a huge increase in appetite as a result. That made him gain weight, of course, but once the Prednisone was stopped he didn't gain any more weight until he was in remission (which was about 6 or 7 months after dx). He also didn't grown in height until remission. Can you increase your son's calories? Like MLP said, some supplemental formulas might help. Does the GI consider your son to be in remission yet? The fatigue, loose stools, and no weight gain make me think he's not there yet, despite the good labs... but I'm just guessing. Hope things turn around soon.
He is only on Pentasa 500 mg 2 pills twice a day. He is on Omeprazole also but just takes one before bed. He also takes lots of vitamins. He eats like a horse normally and never stops all day. He was diagnosed as mild when he had his first flair in January. He has frequent stomach aches and gets nausea. He doesn't have diarrhea much but sometimes he does. He does get fatigued quite quickly.
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Pentasa is typically not enough to be used as a monotherapy in children.
Most Gi refer to pentasa to be about as useful as giving aspirin for a brain tumor not going to help much but not going to hurt either.
Most Gi like to try it at least .
We tried it for DS . It wasn't enough .
His is constipation based not much diarrhea either .
Most Gi refer to pentasa to be about as useful as giving aspirin for a brain tumor not going to help much but not going to hurt either.
Most Gi like to try it at least .
We tried it for DS . It wasn't enough .
His is constipation based not much diarrhea either .
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It does sound like he's not in remission. Our GI (and the GI we saw for a second opinion) both said Pentasa is usually not strong enough for kids/teenagers with Crohn's. It might be time to talk about other meds with his GI or at least add something like Peptamen/Pediasure to help with weight gain.
My daughter drinks 2 Peptamen a day and initially it was a struggle to get her to drink them (we had to bribe her!). There are still days where I have to bother her to drink them, but most of the time she is so used to drinking them that she doesn't argue.
My daughter drinks 2 Peptamen a day and initially it was a struggle to get her to drink them (we had to bribe her!). There are still days where I have to bother her to drink them, but most of the time she is so used to drinking them that she doesn't argue.
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Is he maintaining weight? Though it would be ideal if he gained, holding his weight is a good sign too. I agree Pentasa may not be enough and his latest symptoms could be showing a sign of what is happening on the inside. I would call the GI and tell them about the symptoms. They will probably want to move the blood work up sooner.
My daughter didn't gain for over a year and struggled to keep her weight on at all. We had a window of everything just working right and she shot up 2" & gained significantly. She is up to 110 lbs. Granted a good portion of that is due to prednisone, but the fact that she made it over 100 lbs is a success for us. Keep track of his weight & height & track it. When the medications get managed he should start growing again.
Peptamin & other enteral nutrition is a good way of increasing those calories in a good way. My daughter now takes GNC shakes that she can actually tolerate the taste. It doesn't have everything an Ensure or Peptamin has but the fact that I don't fight her on it means she is more likely to have it. For now I can live with it.
My daughter didn't gain for over a year and struggled to keep her weight on at all. We had a window of everything just working right and she shot up 2" & gained significantly. She is up to 110 lbs. Granted a good portion of that is due to prednisone, but the fact that she made it over 100 lbs is a success for us. Keep track of his weight & height & track it. When the medications get managed he should start growing again.
Peptamin & other enteral nutrition is a good way of increasing those calories in a good way. My daughter now takes GNC shakes that she can actually tolerate the taste. It doesn't have everything an Ensure or Peptamin has but the fact that I don't fight her on it means she is more likely to have it. For now I can live with it.
I took stool samples to the lab today so hopefully we will know soon if something is going on. He is being treated by a ped gi. At the time of his dx he was considered mild so this is the course the gi wanted to go which was fine with me bc I was so afraid of the stronger meds.
