Monday, February 10, 2014

Diary of a Crohn’s Flare: February 2014



Week of 2/3/14
I got to work from home this week.  Finally, eating has stopped causing me so many issues.  I’ve been able to move around and eat most of the time without triggering discomfort.  I haven’t had to take pain medications in a couple of weeks now.

On a side note, one of my molars is dying and I need a root-canal.  Unfortunate timing of a major snow storm kept me from my oral surgeon and now I have to wait until Friday of the next week to get my root-canal.

I started having extremely bad night-sweats this week.  Three days in a row of clothing and bedding completely soaked (to the point I could wring sweat out of them).  After day two, I started using my own advice; I sleep on a towel with extra clothing by the side of the bed.  Although I only had 3 really bad night sweats during the week, I had some night sweating every day of the week.

My experience with Crohn’s suggests my inflammatory processes are still highly active.  Although my gut issues seems to be declining, eating still causes bloating even when it doesn’t cause pain.  I’ve had a lot more gas and more frequent bowel movements than normal (up from 4 / day to perhaps 8 / day).  I think at least part of this is due to the antibiotics for my tooth.

I need to call my GI doctor and report the night-sweats but haven’t had the time yet.  I suppose the night sweats could be due to a recurrence of the intestinal abscess.

In general, my eating is returning to normal and I’m regaining some of the 15 pounds I’ve lost since the beginning of December.

I started researching the Americans with Disabilities Act.  I think I’m going to file a notice with my employer that I have a disability.  I’m not sure what accommodations to request.  As a Crohn’s patient the following seems mandatory but I’m new to this and am not sure this is sufficient:

  • Frequent bathroom breaks (due to constant diarrhea)
  • Flexible hours on short notice (due to frequent severe pain)
  • Ability to work from home if people in the office begin to get sick (immuno-modulator)

Do any of you have other suggestions?  Is this something I should ask my doctor?

Week of 2/10/14
I spent all day yesterday cutting wood.  About 2-3 hours with a chainsaw cutting down trees and then cutting the wood into pieces that will fit into our wood stove (which we use for supplemental heat).  I spent another 30-60 minutes splitting wood too big for our wood stove with our maul.  That heavy work did NOT cause issues for me.  This is a HUGE improvement from just 1.5 weeks earlier.  I only feel a little sore from that.

I’m traveling for work this week again.  This morning and for at least several days, I’m actually feeling hungry and looking forward to eating.  Because I’m supposed to limit alcohol and caffeine during Crohn’s flares, I’ve started weaning myself off coffee L .  I’m down to about one 12 oz. cup of coffee / day now.

I have some mild pain in the region of my Crohn’s (this has been pretty common over the last several months).  I do not require pain medication for this pain.  In fact, my tooth hurts a lot more than most of my Crohn’s complaints for at least the last 10 days.

I haven’t failed to take a dose of medicine since I was diagnosed with the abscess even though I’ve had to take at least 4 doses of medication a day most of that time (and some of the time I was taking medications on an 1 every 8 hours schedule with another 1 every 6 hours.

I’ve been trying hard to take the supplements either I or the doctors think are beneficial.  For me this includes:
  • B12
  • D3
  • Saw Palmetto (for the prostate)
  • Multivitamin

But I don’t worry if I miss these.

If I have enough energy this week I plan to perform two runs of three miles or more.  Specifically, I plan to run 3 miles Monday or Tuesday and another 4 miles on Wednesday unless I’m feeling very unwell.  I’ll skip the weights for the first one.

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