What do you do when you feel a flare coming on?

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Cat-a-Tonic

Cat-a-Tonic

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I can feel a flare coming on. I felt fine when I woke up, but as the morning progressed I felt more and more nausea and LRQ pain as well as back pain. Then my face went totally pale, which for me is usually a sign of a flare. I took 8 mg Zofran and that's just barely taking the edge off the nausea. I just tried drinking half an Ensure and the nausea is worse now, so it seems I'll not be eating anything anytime soon. Oh, and I feel like crying, which is another symptom of a flare for me - my emotions always go haywire in a flare.

So I'm wondering, what do you guys do when you feel a flare coming on? I should mention that it's a Friday and I am pretty sure my GI is off most Fridays. I could call his offfice and see if he could be paged, or I could talk to his nurse who may or may not be able to do anything. Or I could call my GP, who believes I do have some form of IBD and would probably be happy to prescribe something or see me, although I don't know how much he'd be able to do since he isn't a specialist. So I'm wondering, what would you guys do? Try to page the GI or go right to the GP? And if neither are in, should I just try to ride this out or should I go to urgent care and try to get pred or something?

I should mention that this is my first flare in over 8 months, I was on Entocort from Oct '10 - April '11 and didn't flare during that time. So I'm a bit rusty as to what to do in a flare. Thanks for your advice and support.
 
I would call the GP first and see what he or she wanted me to do next.
 
Update: I decided I couldn't wait any longer and I called my GI. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he's actually in today. The nurse I spoke to took my information and said she'd tell my GI what's going on and then they'd call me back. That makes me feel better already. :) Sorry if I sounded like a spaz in my original post, like I said it's been awhile since I last flared and I really wasn't sure what to do or who to call.
 
Thanks ekay03! Unfortunately I've been waiting 2 hours now for a call back and haven't heard from my GI yet. The nurse made it sound like she'd call back "right away" so this is not cool. I wish doctors and nurses knew what a flare was like so that they'd take it a little more seriously and not make people wait like this! :(
 
Hiya Cat

I went to work on Monday and at 11 am I got a terrible sharp pain in LRQ, within seconds I was burning up, hot, and felt like I was gonna chuck, then I nearly fainted.
I was like nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
Not again.
So I went home, phoned the GP, left a message, he rang back and I swallowed 3 Entocort.
I went to see him on Tuesday morning, still feeling sick, LRQ aching, and he said my electrolytes were low, gave me some Dioralyte and told me to drink lots of water.
My BP was high and temp was up.
I went back to work yesterday and here I am feeling great, I believe we nipped it in the bud before it escalated. I'm staying on Entocort for another month to make sure.
Pain has gone now and I'm eating well.
I believe it won't do you any harm going back on Entocort for a while til it settles down.
Failing that, if you vomit go to A&E.
Hope you feel better soon Cat, it's such an unpredictable bitch this CD, I'd been feeling so good for ages too.
xxxxxx
 
Thanks Joan. I wish I could go back on Entocort. After leaving several messages, I finally heard back from my GI's office. My GI has decided to take things slow (in other words, not nipping it in the bud at all). He's upping my dose of Amitriptyline from 25 mg to 40 to see if that makes a difference. If my flare continues after a few days of that, I'm supposed to call him back and he'll bump up my next appointment (currently set for June 20th) and will consider putting me back on pred or Ento. But for now, I'm so upset because I don't think the increased Amitrip will do a damn bit of difference for a flare, and so my weekend is basically ruined. I'm so mad!
 
Aw Cat I agree
I can't see the Amitrip helping at all! It's not anti inflammatory, it's an anti depressant and does nothing for the immune response to inflammation. It'll probably send you into oblivion on that dose!
We both know why we're on it, for our headaches and sometimes as an anti spasmodic, but if you've got inflammation brewing you need to nip it in the bud asap with the Entocort or Pred or similar.
I don't know what else to suggest really, maybe a light diet, lots of water and some ginger for the nausea. You know the score, you'll know what to do, try and rest for the two days then kick some arse Monday!
Take it easy and try not to worry, you know this will aggrevate it.
xxx
 
Thanks again Joan. I am stocked up for a flare - plenty of gatorade, ginger tea, bland foods. I am going to rest as much as I can this weekend and will call my GI first thing Monday morning to tell him the Amitrip didn't stop my flare.

I can see both sides of the situation - on one hand, I'm not diagnosed, so I can see why he'd want to start with something minor and then work up to the more hardcore treatments. But on the other hand, he KNOWS that I respond to pred and to Entocort so clearly I must have something autoimmune/inflammatory! So really it does seem like a waste of time to try me on Amitrip, but I guess that's the price I have to pay for still being undiagnosed. Sometimes I feel like I'm a guinea pig that he's doing experiments on. He once told me I'm a "tricky case" and I think that means he doesn't really know what to do when I flare. Oh well. At least I'll sleep well the next few nights! ;)
 
Cat - I sure hope this doesn't turn into a full blown flare. And you are so right, if you respond to pred/entocort, that should be a sign that you have inflammation and most likely IBD. I don't understand why these doctors are afraid to call it what it is. Hoping you are a little better today. Keep us posted.

Joan - Way to go on nipping that flare in the bud! I am really impressed at how well you know you body and how to manage this disease. I hope one day I can be as attune to my body. Hope you are feeling even better today!
 
Hi Cat,

Well, when i had an ass i would put the toilet roll in the fridge as soon as i felt the flare coming on !!

No seriously i just get into bed and take buscopan and sip room temp water.then its a case of sitting it out.

good luck with it all, hope you are feelin better !!

XX
 
Thanks Jill, yeah I feel ok now, resting and taking it easy, I've broke up from school for 2 weeks, feel like sleeping til June!
Hope you're ok too
xxx

Hope you're doing ok too Cat
xxx
 
thanks chuck, just finished my exams on thursday, absolute nightmare.

Might have passed one out of three !!!! . . . . really hard, ah well.

Whats new with you?
 
Sorry you're not going to be feeling well this weekend. Remember you can always go to the ER if it gets to the point where you can't take it anymore.

My flares are strange to where I don't get any warning symptoms for a while before things get really bad. I either start bleeding or I almost pass out while I vomit. Each time these happen I go straight to the ER. I prefer immediate care rather than waiting for someone to call me back. They can call me back while I'm in the ER getting treated. The ER has never turned me away saying that I should contact my GI. I can't imagine any place doing that. They treat your symptoms, give you fluids and pain killers and something for nausea and do tests to figure out what's going on (usually a barium swallow x-ray). Then send you on your way with a prescription for at least Prednisone, pain killers and anti nausea (if needed) then tell you to contact your GI for further treatment but to come back anytime if the symptoms return, get worse or don't go away.
 
I would say other than call your doctor to let them know what is happening, and eating safe foods and taking your meds, if I feel a flare I RELAX. I know this might not be easy to do, but you have to sort of take the mindset if it is going to happen it will happen, you have prepared. You need to know that a person can actually degrade or improve their health using their mind alone. I don't mean you can wish a flare away, but I do mean that you can relieve the symptoms somewhat by being upbeat. Also, exercise if you can, if I am not actually sick but just feel it coming then I will exercise and that helps me feel better.
 
Thanks all. I feel better today than I did yesterday. Ate a bit more and got outside for a little while. Also took a nap and rested quite a bit. My flares usually last anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks so hopefully this will be one of the short ones. No vomiting or anything that would necessitate an ER visit so that's good too.

Billyjoel, I did do a little exercise today. Nothing much, but I took my dog to the park for a little while. It was kind of exhausting, it's so humid out, but I'm glad I went. I hate just sitting around at home doing nothing when I flare, even if I feel like crap I get cabin fever! So it's a good thing that I took the dog out for a walk.
 
I have symptoms on a daily basis (being undiagnosed and therefore untreated) but when I flare I don't seem to have any warning.
Have had several over the years, basically I just keep going more than is usual even for me to the loo, no food stays in, and even a sip of water sets it off again.
I'll let them run a few days, sometimes I come out of it naturally and other times I start popping lopermide to bring myself out (which I had to do last year just before a colonoscopy).
 
Glad you are on the mend cat and Joan it must be in the air. I've spent the last few days vomiting....again. Though not as bad today but I can't even face water, everything tastes strange ..even water, so even getting through half a glass of wAter makes me really nauseous.
 
Thanks Littlemiss, feel much better today, no symptoms at all

That vomiting doesn't sound good, get yourself checked out, just to be on the safe side.
hope you're ok
xxx

Good to hear you're feeling a bit better Cat, take it easy
xxxx
 
Yea, must be in the air. I woke up at 4 am with the trots and went every 10 mins for 2 hours. Has slowed now so I'm having a couch potato day and finishing a crochet poncho for neighbour's daughter's birthday.
 
Thanks Joan,
Its been since wednesday night, but no vomiting for a few hours and so managed to drink some water..it just tastes so strange..everything tastes disgusting. I can normally drink tea at least or some black coffee but I just can't face it. And as for my supplement drinks...uggh. Has anyone else had this where everything tastes different/disgusting? and if so any tips on what they can tolerate.
Hopefully if I can rehydrate myself I will start to feel less nauseous.
Had this a couple of weeks ago as well when I reduced my prednislone...hope it isn't going to be a recurrent problem. I have a feeling my aza may get upped when I see my consultant in 3 weeks.
 
Aw you sound exhausted!
How about some Dioralyte from the chemist? It's a great 'pick you up'! Or Electroade, both of them will boost your electrolytes.
I've been taking it this week, I was dehydrated too, and vomiting will dehydrate you.
Dunno about the weird taste tho?
Maybe a fallout from the vomiting?
Take it easy today
xxx
 
Joan,
OMG how can you drink that stuff, I was given it recently and it tasted like diluted blackcurrant snot...though thanks for the suggestion, lol.
Spoke too soon about no more vomiting - decided to give a cup of tea another go as you can't beat a nice cup of tea..mistake.. :-(
 
MMMMM GORGEOUS,

omg thats lovely NOOOT !!

try the lucozade sport orange the still one, and water it right down.It will help hydrate you too.

Good luck with it !!
 
If you cant take lucozade, try powerade. Tastes good, even tho it's blue. i just pretend I'm on the Enterprise when I drink it. (hehhehheeeeheee!)

Misty
 
Little Miss H, I hope you feel better soon! I don't know if you have this over there, but I drink either Pedialyte (found in the baby supplies aisle) or Gatorade when I'm flaring. Both have a lot of electrolytes and are fairly easy on the tummy. I'm on my 3rd bottle of Gatorade in 3 days and am slowly doing better.
 

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