Crohns and Colitis Exchange

I have not found any foods that are super about helping with a flare up...More like a bunch to stay away from. I started the Apriso about 3 months ago and by its self it did not do much. Right now I am taking it and Gastrocrom(is used to treat the symptoms of mastocytosis. It helps to relieve stomach problems like diarrhea, pain, nausea, and vomiting. It also helps relieve flushing, headache, and itching) and Hyoscyamine for the spasms. The combo of the three have been a tremendous help. Knock on wood nothing in three week! Regular bowel movements!!! Still some pain, but no diarrhea.
Good luck on the Aprso. On the company's web site there is a coupon for $50 off per month for a year. It covers my copay and is a huge help since I have been spending a lot money at the pharmacy since all of this started. Every penny you save is huge cause stomach meds are far from cheep.
A few things to stay away from are fiber and caffine...if you can.

thanks for the input. my doctors put me on prednizone for 6 weeks. but they are hard to swallow. and between fighting a cold for almost 2 weeks at the same time its getting really tiring.

It's hard to fight colds and infections on prednisone.

I have moderately severe ulcerative colitis. I've had it since I was born. I'm a million years old now and survived miserable prognoses--According to one doctor, I was supposed to be dead 13 years ago.

For 2006, 2007, 2008, and all of 2009, I had diarrhea, until just before Thanksgiving of 2009 when I started taking a probiotic formula (that I swear by) called: Lee Swanson Signature Line Ultimate Probiotic Formula that worked for me the way prednisone worked for me but without the nasty side effects. It has 66 billion organisms in it.

I wish someone knew about probiotics millions of years ago when I was young--I could have been spared a whole lot of suffering. At least I know now.

Also, I gave up milk, cream, ice cream, butter, coffee, soda, and quite a bit of other stuff.

I drink fortified almond milk, rice milk, hemp milk, soy milk, etc, in order to get calcium and vitamin D3. I also take calcium supplements (and a bunch of other supplement).

So, since Thanksgiving 2009, I've had normal stools.

One doctor prescribed AlignGI. It didn't do anything but cost me money. It doesn't have enough probiotics in it for me.

Anyway, lately, I've eaten black plums, black cherries, peaches, freckled yellow bananas, yellow apples etc.

The other day I made hummus with lemon juice, garlic, onions, and had raw cucumbers, raw grape tomatoes, whole grain corn chips and more that I can't remember.

What I avoid now is large quantities of fiber. I eat portion size amounts of fruit and fiber found in foods, not supplements.

Anyway, have you tried probiotics?

I like Boost or instant breakfast to provide the nutrition I need while having a flare up or the start of one. Diet can be tricky-definitely avoid the raw veggies, particularly leafy greens, seeds, nuts and popcorn.

Yogurt or soy yogurt helps some people. Then there is the traditional bananas, rice, applesauce, toast.

There is a book called "breaking the vicious cycle" by Elaine Gottschall. It's for chrohn's,colitis and intestinal health. I have chrohn's and have been on this diet for 2 weeks now. It's been a miracle for me and so many others. I thank god someone referred it to me!!!!!! It's changing my life already! Good luck and keep me posted if you try her diet . I just signed up with a group that supports eachother on this diet. I'd love to hear from you if you decide to try her diet. If you want to look into it more, look up scd diet. The book explain it all, so I advise reading the book carefully.
Sincerely,
Susan, susanluce26@msn.com

I was going to say the same thing Susan said about "Breaking the Vicious Cycle." By Elaine Gottschall. I'm on the SCD diet, and while it will seem strange to someone that starch and sugar can cause so much pain and misery, the science behind it is sound. Dr. Leonard Weinstock of Washington University in St. Louis has tested and treated people with bacterial bowel infections and found that the bacteria is the key to fighting UC, Crohn's disease, IBS, IBD, etc. Although he uses drugs, and the infection flares back up stronger than ever. This diet is the way to really prevent bacterial overgrowth.

I'm on Pecanbread, the yahoo group that discusses and supports people on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and have heard hundreds of stories about this diet saving the lives of people. I have no ties to the Gottschall family or the publisher of this book, by the way, or any other fiduciary interest in pushing this diet. It just works.

My colitis cleared up with probiotics, not with the meds prescribed for me. Fortunately, for another reason completely, I also managed to stop using an anti-depressant that I had been told ought to have helped fend off colitis.

I found out after the fact that the SSRI increased the severity if not the actually caused me ulcerative colitis.
The probiotics I take are jarro-Dophilus in the a.m., and Culturelle before dinner.

I agree with most everything the others have said. Not a lot of foods which will quiet down the flare ups but there are plenty to avoid. It's valuable to keep a food diary which has your symptoms in it as well so you can make correlations between what you eat and how it affects you. Everyone is a bit different as far as their particular triggers. Mine are dairy items and especially spicy and/or fatty foods along with caffeine and acidic items. I wouldn't say that some other foods quiet my flares as much as they don't exacerbate the problem. During my flare ups I often simplify down to chicken, rice, bananas and bread (but for some people fruit or wheat gluten can be triggers).

What works quite well for me is to use probiotics. I've tried a number of them and the ones which work best for me are the Natren Healthy Trinity and their Bifido Factor. Some other probiotics actually made my flares worse, so if those don't work for you like they did for me, try a few other brands. I'm also on Asacol which is not a steroid and I don't get any side effects from that and haven't had a flare up in almost 3 years!

I'm assuming that you are in complete remission--Congratulations!
Do you still take the probiotics?
Do you still take the colitis medication?
Do you ever feel you need the anti depressant?

How did you decide which probiotics you would take at what time?

I'm congratulating every one who is in remission. Congratulations!

I have had UC for 30 years and have gone through the gamut of all the drugs as they became available. I would have an episode every year for three months and whatever the current medicine was,it did not seem to matter. After all these years I had the worst episode about two years ago and went on Remicade to which I had an extreme allergic reaction. After that I went on probiotics recommended to me by a doctor of integrative medicine. (Specifically for UC, VSL#3). It is only available online and it is costly. It put me in remission for 6 months and then the UC came back but not in the same intensity. I am now on a combination of VSL3 and Humira and I am now without an episode for 9 months and feel good.

As for food, I am skeptical of all of it. I could eat what I wanted except when an episode came . If there is one supplement you should take it is psillium fiber( found in Konsul and oatmeal ( not sure I spelled that correctly). It really works

I had a year from hell this past year with six hospitalizations and five months of trying to get rid of C-Diff (I think it was caused by knee surgery and Cleocin antibiotic)along with UC--lost 7 months of work and had pulmonary embolism/DVT's clots from the UC and bleeding. Allergic to Asacol and now Remicade with a severe attack and hospitalization and liver failure from Isoniazide to prevent TB from Remicade.. Anyway, if I can help anyone,with my story,I will.. I am now on Humira and VSL#3 DS and in remission VSL #3 Double Strength is available by RX and my insurance is paying some of it (the only way to get them to pay is if you get RX and must be DS) Recently, I saw a GI Dr Thomas in Hanover, Pa and he is testing me for food allergies..So far I am allergic to dairy (which I suspected) --I feel so grateful that I found a doctor who will test for allergies and looking forward to working with him--I have been to U of Penn and everyone there wanted me to have surgery and J pouch--I want to try all my other options first--I am very weak and trying to build myself up so I can enjoy my grandchildren--best wishes to everyone dealing with UC!!

I have had uc since 2007, it started like nothing and then went completely out of control. I have been hospitalized 3 times in the last year and the last time it was for 6 weeks. This disease is so horrible and very depressing! I am a mommy of 2 toddlers and I am trying to go through nursing school! I have been on Remicade since March along with protonix, forcolazol, and a lot of different vitamin supplements. I was doing okay for the first 2 months with the remicade although I seem to be having symptoms again although still no pain. I have diarrhea still everyday and have practically given up on food all together. I was able to maintain my weight when on prednisone although now being off of them I continue to lose weight because almost have no interest in food. Just wondering what everyone else eats??? everything gives me diarrhea and I feel like I'm just never going to figure this thing out!

I've had ulcerative colitis since I quit smoking in 2001. I went through asacol, prednisone- which I could not get off of until my insurance company finally accepted remicade as a reimbursable treatmwent for colitis and not just Crohn's.

I am currently in remission, but still on remicade once every two months. My blood is consistently monitored, and I am also on Lialda, which replaced Asacol and Colazal. I've also been able to get off the 6-MP. The main benefit of the remicade is that I'm off prednisone, which I despised. I find that stress, Chinese food, large portions, too much dairy can contribute to flares. Coffee in moderation is OK- I wouldn't give it up anyway. Pizza is a safe food, but huge helpings of pasta are not. Sometimes I can eat almost anything, and sometimes I can be very good but stress or the colitis itself will cause a flare.

Remicade is a very powerful drug, but much, much safer than prednisone, and i trust my doctor. I also have to take vitamin D supplements- the prednisone in particular had caused deficiency and reversable oseopenia. I also take Culturelle probiotics.-, 1 a day.

Relatively speaking, I am doing well, although I am aware every single day that I have colitis.

I highly recommend the remicade. I have tested negative for lactose intolerance and celiac disease- and also find most carbs- bread, pizza, bagels, safe foods. White rice, not so safe in large doses. Too much fiber or vegetables, less safe than pizza!

Something also interesting- my colitis tends to really calm down when I'm on vacation and near the ocean. I can handle a breakfast buffet and be fine. I'm retired (or in between jobs) right now, but something about being on vacation and away from it all has a healing effect on me. Especially the ocean.

At home though, summer heat and humidity is worse than a ton of fried foods. No ocean!