Why does this happen? Psychological?

[ibdoer]

So I'm in a bit of a flair. Not too major but still there. I am on a 20-day course of Xifaxan, 3 Apriso a day and mesalamine enema as needed.

There is a weird thing that happens to me and I can't explain it really (this has also happened in the past). Whether I am in a flair or not, whenever I have work my symptoms are much less or none. On the weekends, I wake up early a.m. with diarrhea.

Monday through Friday I wake at around 6:30am. If I am flaring, I may have some craps and maybe a bowel movement before I leave work or I have one once I get there. And then I may have another later on in the day.

But the weird thing is that on the weekends, I wake up at 6:30am and have diarrhea 3-4 times within 2 hours, and then I'm so worked up I can't go back to sleep.

I can't explain this phenomenon. Its like I am sicker when I actually have a day off, and seem to manage real well when I have work.

I'm glad my work has not been affected, but I have been dreading my weekends.

Any ideas?

 

[Crohn's Mom]

Maybe it's because your body knows it can relax since your off work ? I believe there is a brain/gut connection...who knows ?

I see that you said your on Apriso, 3 pills a day? May I ask why only 3 ? From my understanding Apriso has a one size fits all standard dosing....4 pills (0.375 mg) per day. That's it. At least, that's what I was informed of by the GI doctor. I know it's a relatively new drug, so maybe it's changing ?

take care

 

[Jessi]

Kind of unrelated, but along the same lines:

My epileptic husband is healthy all week, but has at least one seizure every weekend. It drives us crazy! I had the same kind of theory that Chrohn's Mom has about the body relaxing when off work, but I don't know for sure.

I'm sorry your weekends suck! I really do understand! Hang in there and be well.

 

[Entchen]

I'm with the other two on the brain-gut connection as a possible explanation.

 

[Misty-Eyed]

I used to have this thing where I'd always feel really sick if I got up before 9am and usually end up vomiting. No matter how many hours of sleep I got. If I got up after 9 then I was completely fine. People used to think it was some kind of excuse not to get up early but it was horrible. I'd of been paranoid that it was morning sickness if it hadn't of been physically impossible at the time and been going on for more than a year.

After a while it went away by itself as I've been feeling better in general with my crohns. I probably think that even though you're not flaring, your crohn's probably isn't 100% in remission and likes to act up when you know you can relax!

I think psychologically things can play up your crohns. If I had an interview or something my stomach would be sure to play up that day. So annoying.

 

[ibdoer]

Thanks for the replies. I don't know. It's just weird and it sucks. I used to be able to sleep till noon with no issues. I mean, it makes sense I would be getting up early on the weekends since I wake up early all week, but whats with the squirts primarily on my days off?

Something I need to monitor. And it seems I'm not the only one. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Grumbletum]

I think Crohn's Mom has something. A Saturday is almost always my worst day, after I've been working all week. I don't suffer from the big D much, but this is the day when I feel totally wiped and my stomach pains flare up. Annoying cos I want to catch up with stuff at home and maybe go out etc, but I've learned that if I overdo it, I'm gonna suffer. So often it's a recharge the batteries day.

 

[sunflower]

I find that also. I often don't have the D while I am at work. I know I have learned to hold it in to a certain extent (practice from holding so many enemas?) and that helps. But, I also think I WILL myself to ignore how I feel until Saturday or Sunday - whichever I have the least to do.

 

[Jessi]

Let's just WILL away this whole disease, ok? Let's make it not exist!

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I get something similar, my symptoms seem to all disappear the minute I walk into the doctor's office! There must be a brain-gut connection sending some signal to tell my guts to behave or the doctor might actually diagnose me. Ha ha. Seriously, I've never had to leave a doctor appointment to run to the bathroom, and it seems like the pain is a lot less when I'm in the exam room too. I don't know why!

 

[Goldfish]

I know what you mean Cat. And I too agree with Crohns mom to a certain extent. When I was doing exams this year, I did need the bathroom and had D but was able to go before and after and not during the exam. Before and after I had to rush but seemed fine when I was concentrating on the exam. I didn't know it was Crohns at the time though. During the summer hols a couple of weeks ago I had to run to the loo very fast but at the Doctors appointments, never once. I hope I can control it when I start college this Sept. I dont need problems as a new student in 1st year of Uni!

 

[sunflower]

Let's just WILL away this whole disease, ok? Let's make it not exist!

That sounds good to me!! LOL!!!!!!


And, I didn't mean it to sound like I can always muddle through. I was just trying to agree with the brain/gut thing in my own silly way.

 

[25times]

I'm kind of the opposite. Although I don't work much.
Whenever I have plans to do something fun, my stomach will start to act up. I can have a perfect week, then the day of the event, I wake up feeling like crap. Usually it's just alot of pain in my stomach and joints, which I ccan control with painkillers. But a few months ago, right after I had been diagnosed, I had to go to a wedding. I was so excited for it, so I couldn't sleep the night before. I ended up having the biggest bowel movement of my entire life that morning, and I thought I would be good to go after that. Nope. The nausea set in around 10am. The pain was almost unbearable. To this day, I can not figure out why the hell I didn't take any painkillers. I thought they would make more nauseas, but I know now that they would have made me feel great and I could have stayed longer than 8pm. I was so upset. I really, really hope this doesn't happen this week. My birthday is on Thursday then my party is on Saturday. I'm praying haha

 

[Jessi]

And, I didn't mean it to sound like I can always muddle through. I was just trying to agree with the brain/gut thing in my own silly way.

I didn't think you were being silly at all! I love ya! I love the idea too! You know that we humans use only a tiny fraction of our brains. If we could harness the power of WILL, maybe we COULD destroy what is hurting us. If only...