What does a flare feel like for you?

[Rocky robin7]

Hi All,

I would like to know what you feel like when you are in the midst of a flare? And how long do you have it? And how long does it take to get over it?

 

[Charlotte.]

Hi Rocky robin!

That's a good question! At first, it feels as if I just have a few bad days in a row, maybe eaten something I can't tolerate that well. Everything feels a bit sore, feeling nauseous, don't want to eat much, feeling fatigue, a bit like having a minor flu or something. Pain in my lower right abdomen gets more intense, frequency of bowel movements might go up but not necessarily, feeling bloated very often, gastritis pain coming back, arthritis getting worse (but not necessarily at the same time, can take a few days), mental wellbeing getting worse as well. Normally, I feel really crappy being in a flare-up. I can't concentrate on anything, I'm not very sociable and can't even tell why.
My first flare took about 9 months because my Crohn's could not be diagnosed earlier, my current flare-up started getting really bad in May. No idea how long it's going to take until I'm finally in remission. But, I have to admit, even though I'm still in a flare-up, it's not getting worse and worse mentally over time because now I am very open to everyone concerning my disease, so that makes it a lot easier having a flare-up but still taking part in some social activities for example and not feeling as isolated as I felt during the summer.

When did your flare-up start? Are you having a flare-up at the moment?

 

[ronroush7]

Nauseous, going to the bathroom a lot, bleeding. It depends on the situation. Once I had an abscess that bled for three months before they decided to drain it.

 

[teeny5]

Start to feel nauseous after eating, then pain after eating. Diarrhea and frequency increase. Pain in lower right side and often behind belly button. Feel exhausted and achey.

 

[Daytripper]

I feel like my flares really creep up on me! I often feel 'crohnie' as I call it, but my usual symptoms start getting very gradually worse until I realise I'm having a flare up.
Anyway, I usually know I'm in a flare up because I usually start going to the toilet more, my belly starts cramping, my skin goes paler than usual, I start sleeping a lot more, all types of food start becoming an issue for me rather than just my problematic foods, bleeding, nausea and I have no interest in food whatsoever.....mentally I become very disinterested in anything, I struggle to show any enthusiasm for anything except bed and tv, and I start becoming quite emotional over small things and suffer from a very very low mood, oh and also I can be a little snappy with people. Sorry, the list has gone on a bit! I know some of the symptoms come and go with crohns anyway, but during a flare up, it's like crohns symptoms exaggerated! Wow....looking at our lists of flare up symptoms, we really are super heroes aren't we??

Okay. Anyway. I find my flares don't last too long if I can nip them in the bud, so perhaps a few weeks if I can get plenty of rest and really work on looking after myself. However this isn't always possible because sometimes I might be stressed about something I have no control over or just can't get the rest I need, so then my flare up will last for months and will just keep going and going until I talk to my specialist who will either increase my humira dose or give me a quick course of steroids, however they don't do that last one often. It usually takes me a few weeks either way to get over my flare.

I hope that's been somewhat useful for you and I hope you're keeping well.