Cold Weather, Sleep, and Relaxation = Remission Plus

I recently took a road trip to Dallas, Texas over the past weekend. Work has been a little rough lately so I am glad I could take a little break (I like to work but a break every now and then doesn't hurt). I felt on Friday a tad minor flare up as I woke up early to leave for my trip. After the drive I was pretty tired however after a hot shower felt pretty good. During the trip I tested a theory I had about cold weather and Crohn's. So I rolled down my window while traveling in cold weather (under 34 degrees). I had very minor pain but realized that I felt better the longer my hand was outside. This is an interesting phenomenon. It is pretty similar to putting yourself in cold water which I did here. I don't know what the scientific underpinnings of this phenomenon but it sure is interesting.

I got pretty goods night rest last Thursday night. On Friday night I slept pretty well but still felt a little bit tired (my sleep cycle has a debt to it). I have noticed sleep does make a difference in terms of how I feel. This has been seen in some of the here and here. I wish more studies could be done like these types of things since as someone with Crohn's disease know when they feel better or worse. Knowledge from patients is important since we have some idea of what works and what doesn't work. As more people develop Crohn's and we share this knowledge we will continue to have a better understanding and refine why people get Crohn's and hopefully find a cure.

Today (Monday) I woke up for work and felt a little tired. I felt like I was just walking through the steps this morning when I woke up. Tomorrow I don't have work due to an ice day so I plan to catch up on some rest. When I don't get my sleep I also seem to crave snack food. My weight is getting up to about 166 (I am 5'11). I feel a little heavier and plan to slowly wean this down some. On the positive side I would rather have a few extra pounds then be a very skin (a few extra pounds gives me cushion in case of a flare up).

Minor Fissure Bowel Movements Back To Normal/Unisom and Crohn's

So in my last post I mentioned that I had a solid bowel movement. Well that seems to have cleared up however I started having minor blood near my rear area. The last time I had a fissure I couldn't even walk and had heating pads/took hot baths/used the car warmer feature to try to heal my rear. Sunday night I usually have Mexican food (I usually have cheese enchiladas and re-fried beans) however perhaps this may have caused some issues. I think the better explanation is I did take some over the counter Unisom which is suppose to help sleep however I think it ended up making me worse and discontinued using it. There was some blood on Monday (not a whole lot). By Tuesday it was almost nil and today was perfectly normal. I am not sure of the effects that Unisom has for Crohn's but it can't be good.

Everything seems to be back to normal. This Friday I take my shot and next week I have a trip planned for some relaxation (which I would be willing to bet will chill me out some).

Humira Dosage Didn't Hold In Long Enough, Sleep, and Feeling Pretty Good

So my health has been doing pretty good. This past week I have been eating salads at work for lunch to try to be a tad healthier but always find myself hungry. This evening around 10 PM I had a semi-loose stool. However I forgot to take my Asacol this morning (I had to go into work for a few hours this afternoon). Also a few weeks ago on my Humira shot I didn't hold it in long enough and some of the medicine leaked out which is never good and sometimes take a while before you notice the results. The only other thing I have noticed is I probably need a little more sleep. At night I do have a little bit of cramping and get use a cold-pad from Walgreens that seems to help out but it doesn't seem cold enough and just cover the sides of my stomach. When I get a bag of ice and place it over my stomach it feels pretty good however you can't leave it on too long or else you end up with a  Last night I got a decent amount of sleep (8.5 hours most likely) and my mind seemed pretty active. Normally I get to bed around midnight (after watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and wake up around 8. For some reason my body isn't always asleep. I remember the one time I slept for about 10 hours and felt like I was cured of anything I ever had. My work schedule has been busy with projects (more stress than usual). In order to relive this stress I plan to take a road trip in a couple of weeks for the weekend which usually does wonders in terms of relaxation and stress. I plan to see my GI doctor in April for a usual checkup (it is actually good when I don't have to see him since it means I am in remission).

I am glad I am not where I was last year with c difficile and a fecal transplant. I am always happy and grateful to be in remission but as even I know Crohn's is a lifelong illness that will be with me for the rest of my life (unless there is a cure). The only thing to do is take it one day at a time and live everyday to the best I can.