Why no choice? Are meds simply not working at all? Diet helps some people but it doesn't always make a difference for a many people. There are a whole spectrum of medications used to treat UC. Pred is used temporarily to get the inflammation under control. Then maintenance drugs are used to try to maintain control of the disease.

I'd recommend checking out the CCFA site for information on UC, treatment options, etc.
http://www.ccfa.org/what-are-crohns-and-colitis/

By the way, I'm not adverse to making dietary changes. I just think unless there are definite food triggers, I'd just keep her diet as normal as possible.

I think for young kids getting a good gut flora is key. Make sure she is getting good probiotics, can just be live yoghurt if she tolerates dairy. Have a celiac test done to make sure gluten is not a problem. You could also have a hydrogen breath test to see if fructose or lactose are a problem and make adjustments accordingly. As far as diets go, a good balanced diet when not in flare is important. If symptoms are troublesome a low residue diet is essential. If losing weight, you could supplement with a protein meal replacement drink. For long term diets many have found success with the specific carbohydrate diet and the fodmap diet is now being investigated as valuable for IBD (this will follow on from fructose and lactose intolerance testing). Diet should be used in conjuction with medication until many years of remission have been achieved.

Hope this is helpful. best wishes for getting the disease under good management. Josie.

Good point about the low residue diet. If she's in a flare, most docs recommend this diet to give the colon a rest until the disease is controlled. Is that the diet you put her on?

She should be able to eat a pretty balanced diet unless you know for sure that things bother her. Try keeping a food diary, if she can eat something and it doesn't bother her, let her have it. Most say that they can't handle sugar and diary bit I do fine with these things. It's all trial and error. Make sure she gets plenty of protein!!!
Good Luck!!

yes but you're not gonna like it. 20mg's of oxycontin every day will put her into remission. but her dose may have to increase after about a month to 20mgs twice a day. this medicine is very addictive but is 100% effective.

I'd be hard pressed to recommend narcotics at this point. I've been in long term remission without narcotics. I think you first start with the most benign drugs and move up as needed. You don't generally start with big guns first. And do we really want children on narcotics if there are other drugs that can be just as effective?

I guess if she was my little girl I would be keeping a food diary - and hopefully you'll soon discover if there are food triggers - keep her away from such triggers for a while - sometimes you can later introduce them but slowly... In my case I have had the best luck avoiding dairy - I discovered I can have some dairy as long as I have a couple mouthfuls of yogurt with it... If she doesn't show any food sensitivities you may be dealing with other trigger issues - Stress is at the top. Good luck to you and your little one!

I'm a mom with a 12-year old with Crohns for 1 year now. Her maintenance med is still Remicade infusions every 6wks. She has done a complete turn around since Thanksgiving all in part to certain food eliminations and her taking her lactaid's (2 usually) with any dairy and when we're not even sure what's in something to be safe. After a horrific bleeding episode around Halloween that did get resolved with hydrocortisone enemas for a week, 2k mg's daily of antibiotics for a month, and a careful eye on diet, she has been in remission and literally "normal" with no diarrhea, no tummy pains. I removed all the possible foods that we read about from skin on apples, grapes, citrus, citrus juices, tomato based, spicy, raw carrots. She only uses almond milk now and lactaid's with anything questionable or with dairy. We have slowly introduced one thing at a time in small amounts to see if there is any reaction such as a little ketchup on a hamburger, a little bbq sauce with chicken, and she's eating salads with no diarrhea or problems. We order pizza, she gets an alfredo based one with only her fav black olives. I really think diet plays a bigger part in these bowel diseases than people give it credit for.

I would recomend keeping a food & symptom diary. You may also want to check out the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) It has made a huge difference in my life! Best wishes :)