What other parents do when you see the signs of a flare coming on?

[erinranea]

My daughter was diagnosed 2 years ago. We did steriods first, Methotrexate for a year (it wasn't working anymore), and now finally remicade. I have found in the last 2 years that at the end of every summer when her allergies are bad, she will begin a flare. I am just curious what other parents do when they see that a flare is starting? We know she can't handle dairy, so we already avoid that daily and also pull back on fiber during this time too. Just wondered if there is anymore I can do to help shorten or avoid a full flare.

Thanks

 

[Tesscorm]

Hi Erinranea

I'm not sure what the answer is but I'd love to know it!

I have heard others mention that there seems to be a connection with allergies/hayfever but I don't recall any solutions.

If it's just symptoms, you can treat the symptoms 'mostly' as you would if she didn't have crohns

- eat rice if she has diarrhea
- add fibre (if she can tolerate it) if she has constipation (also, many parents use OTC meds for constipation as well)
- if she's feeling nauseated or is having a tough time with food in general, try a low residue/fibre diet, which is easier to digest. Also, I've read of others using the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) for a day or so, only because it is also easy to digest.
- another easy to digest option are nutritional shakes - Boost, Ensure, etc. Will provide her with some nutrition while allowing her to skip some meals (be sure if she's skipping meals over a day or so, she is receiving sufficient calories).

I know these are very 'generic' type tips and are really just addressing the symptoms , but other than the conventional flare treatments (steroids, increasing meds, etc.), I don't have any other surefire ideas.

:ghug:

 

[Maya142]

I think Tesscorm covered it -- there is not much you can really do. My daughter automatically wants bland food when she starts to flare. We do a lot of rice, potatoes etc.

She also tends to eat less but that's not necessarily a good thing!

Besides adding steroids, not sure there's anything you can do to stop the flare in its tracks.

 

[Mehita]

How old is she? Could it be anxiety related with school starting? My son has gotten better over the years, but the start of school always ups his anxiety which translates to stomach aches, nausea, fatigue, etc... similar to flare symptoms.

I hope she feels better soon!

 

[erinranea]

Thanks everyone. I just feel helpless and wish I could do something.

 

[Jmrogers4]

Is she taking stuff for seasonal allergies? We always had issues at the beginning of the school year/allergies etc. Thankfully since starting remicade that has not happened, we did start remicade in the middle of a school year so it had time to build up before the new year hit.
We always started taking allergy meds to coincide with the fall allergies and it did seem to help. He still gets allergies at this time of year but no longer takes any meds for them and allergy symptoms are pretty mild.
But my son tends to quit eating for the most part at signs of a flare so we do really bland mild food, ensure/pediasure shakes.

 

[erinranea]

My daughter has been on remicade for almost a year now. She started zertec about 2 months ago. The Dr. just prescribed Cyproheptadine, anyone else try this?

 

[my little penguin]

Zyrtec is an antihistamine for allergies
Cyproheptadine Is also known as periactin which is an old school antihistamine
Which sometimes increases appetite and helps some woth abdominal pain
It also can be used to prevent migraines

It's not recommended to take Zyrtec with periactin
It's like doubling up on antihistamines
Ds was not permitted to take both at the same time

Ds has severe allergies so those have to be kept under control or he will flare
He takes
Zyrtec
Singulair
Dymista
Patanol
Zantac ( h2 blocker)
On a daily basis for allergies
He also started allergy shots at age 4
And just stopped them at age 12