Cramping Last Couple of Weeks

Overall my health is doing overall well. Recently I have noticed within the past couple of weeks I have had some cramping in my stomach (near the belly button). On October 19, 2024 I went out to dinner and had some burger sliders and a brownie sundae to celebrate passing a designation and had some loose bowel movements. What is odd is I felt the cramping the day of October 19 when I had my exam. I wasn't stressed about the exam or anything and was strange that my pain occurred at the same time. My sleep has been fairly decent, although maybe once a week I wake up in the middle night to take a hot shower and go back to bed. For me what usually keeps me up is looking at my cell phone (I think even though I wear protective blue light glasses) it can create issues with my sleep. A couple of days this week I had some exceptional sleep and slept for probably 9 hours. Even with the extended sleep I had some minor cramping but not super noticeable. What is interesting is I wrote a blog post almost 10 years to the day of cramping and a mini flare up here. 

As I write this I feel just a tinge in my stomach and really nothing really to complain too much about. My bowel movements are still solid and able to still eat well without any issues. After my bowel movements the cramping does go away. My weight this morning was 166 pounds (recently it got as high as 170 pounds). My nutritionist would like to see me get down to 162 pounds which is on the low end but I think is doable. 

My usual path will be to continue trying to get to sleep and not eat anything too heavy and should be fine. I am always grateful I am still in a good position and am grateful Humira is still working after 12+ years of being on it! My nephew who will be 3 soon is ready to go Trick-Or-Treating tomorrow night so we will have fun and I rarely eat candy on Halloween too. 

One Long Night, Weight Loss, and Flare

Last night was probably one of the roughest nights with Crohn's I had had in a long while. I was in and out of the bathroom almost a dozen different times. I actually went through a whole roll of toilet paper in one night. My bowel movements have all been close and I consistently have stomach cramping around my belly button. In the past couple of days if I recall when I last weighed myself on Wednesday I was 172 lbs. and now I am closer to 168 lbs. My appetite is also fairly low as I continue to have cramping in my stomach so I don't have the sensation of feeling hungry at all. Compared to flares I've had before they only last a couple of days and then they resolve themselves. This seems to be is there some type of infection or a major Crohn's flare. Last night my sleep also wasn't that great even though I went to bed around 10:00 PM I woke up at 2:00 AM, 6:00 AM, and then finally at 10:00 AM. I had more stomach pain when I woke up at 6 A.M. vs. 10 A.M. (the power of sleep!). To be proactive I had ordered some adult large Depends because I was worried about having some possible fecal incontinence overnight period look unfortunately they did not arrive yesterday as I had anticipated however they showed up this morning. I was lucky because last night I did not suffer from any type of fecal incontinence however I wore all layers of underwear and some sweat shorts. I don't have a fever poor am I stuffed up. I seriously wonder if this was all started when I had my allergy issues and then somehow that spiked my immune system to create some type of Crohn's flare. The only thing I remember was when I had Sudafed I had some stomach cramping however when I switched out the medication to Claritin and it seemed to do better in terms of my GI system. I haven't taken any antibiotics or other medications in the past couple of days. 

My overall energy levels are pretty low and I constantly feel fatigue and tired. Even getting up I feel a little lightheaded. My game plan for today since it's Saturday is to just rest, relax, and stay hydrated to the best of my ability. Also I will try to eat very light food OK then high stomach is quite upset. Although at the rate I'm going if I lose 1 LB per day in another week that will be underweight compared to where I should be.

I called my internist before even though it was the weekend and she mentioned to take electrolytes and stay hydrated. She will send my GI as message as well. This morning I have sent my GI a message as well to explain my symptoms as well. Hopefully between both of our messages I can see my GI earlier than the following Monday. I feel like I have seen this movie before and don't feel like I am at death's door just not feeling well. 

Allergies and Potential Crohn's Flare

The past week has been interesting health wise. First I had allergies for the past week were I was stuffed up and congested however never had a sore throat or fever at all. Previously three weeks before that I had some allergies as well but it lasted only for a couple of days. Within the past couple of days I am no longer stuffed up however have been really tired with fatigue. Yesterday was probably the worst day in terms of how tired I was (even though I slept 10 hours the night before-however I did wake up multiple times during the night. My last workout was Wednesday morning and I felt as if I was really dragging during the workout. 

Last night I probably slept a little over 9 hours and when I woke up was still tired even though I had a good night's rest. My stomach was also cramping and I had to go to the bathroom maybe half a dozen times and all the bowel movements was liquid, however there wasn't much cramping. Also the past couple of days I haven't been super hungry either. Last night I did have some baked ziti and fried cheese which could have potentially contributed to the mini flare this morning. My stomach seemed a little angry and ever I had my bowel movements seemed relieved. I decided to skip my usual flat white this morning since I was worried the caffeine may accelerate the diarrhea. 

As I write this my cramping seems to have gone away however I am still fatigued and tired (however my energy levels have improved from yesterday). When I get home from work I look forward to resting. My game plan is to take a hot bath, get some good sleep tonight (since tomorrow is Saturday and I don't have to be anywhere), have a light dinner, and stay hydrated (usually with water and Pedialyte). 

On Monday I have an appointment with my doctor who will do some blood work. As a back up plan I have an appointment with my GI the following Monday just in case things don't improve (given his next appointments aren't until June). Personally I feel as if this is a minor setback and backed on history I generally bounce back.  

Another Round of Subtab, Zofran, Colonoscopy, and Day of Relaxation

Recently on February 9, 2024 I had my most recent colonoscopy. Overall the report was good and I had a 10 millimeter polyp in my descending colon however all other areas were normal. This makes sense given I rarely have had issues with my Crohn's since my last colonoscopy which I discussed here. 

Just like the last time I had my colonoscopy I decided to use Sutab bowel prep. Overall, I have been happy with the Sutab bowel prep given the other bowel preps leave an awful taste in your mouth that you literally never forget! 

I started taking the Sutab pills around 4:30 P.M. (even though I was instructed to take them at 6 P.M). Before I took the Subtab pills I took one Zofran pill for any anti nausea possibilities.  My view is "hey as long as it gets through the system right?". There are two rounds for Sutab (one the day before) and the other round is the day of the procedure. Each round has 12 pills that you take with 4 16 ounces of water. 

Around 8 P.M. is when I started to feel the salt water storm in my stomach and was in the bathroom off and on for about a dozen times between 8:30-10:30 P.M. Since I had the second round early in the morning I decided to wake up at 12:45 A.M. (again recommended time was 2 A.M.) however since my appointment was at 7:30 A.M. I was well within the 8 hour window Sutab recommends. Before I took my second round of Sutab pills I took two Zofran pills which really helped me out and felt good after that. I was up for probably an hour and at that point consuming more water was a little more of a challenge but still fairly easy compared to the alternative. Overnight I probably went through two rolls of toilet paper and for protection had 3 layers of Depends underwear to protect any leakage (it did a fairly good job in protecting me) I actually slept fairly well given all this and woke up around 5 A.M. to get ready, shower, and hop into the car. The interesting thing is at the beginning of the night my rear hurt a little but throughout the night it didn't hurt as much as it had in the past. Taking that hot shower in the morning before the colonoscopy always feels amazing. 

My procedure started around 9 A.M. and I was out by 10 A.M. After the colonoscopy I went to a local diner for a CLT (cheese, lettuce, and tomato) sandwich with some fries that had seasoning on them! I opted not to have dessert just given the amount of calories. After lunch I got a flat white coffee and felt pretty decent. Compared to my last procedure I felt as if I wasn't as tired and not sure if that is because I started the process earlier, in better physical shape (since I have been working with a personal trainer), or more accustomed to waking up earlier (since I have some personal training sessions at 7 A.M. during the week (so usually am up 6 A.M.). Also my last colonoscopy was at 10 A.M. so the hunger pains truly set in and messes with the body. I remember after the last colonoscopy I slept for a couple of hours and was still tired and was sleepy for the next couple of days. 

This past weekend was pretty relaxing and I didn't do too much. On the night after I had the colonoscopy 7 P.M. felt like midnight! Overall for the weekend I felt I slept really well. On Saturday (one day after my colonoscopy) I was able to work out without any issues. I did notice some lose bowel movements which for me is pretty rare. My weight got down to 168 pounds (mostly due to the bowel prep and just losing water weight). My appetite was in full force and I had a burger on Saturday afternoon and Tex-Mex on Sunday so I am sure I have gained all the water weight back.