Crohn's Disease & Ulcerative Colitis Support Group

Crohn's disease is a systemic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) of unknown cause, that results in chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract. It can affect the entire gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, and can also cause complications outside of the gastrointestinal tract. There is no known medical or surgical cure for Crohn's disease, but there are many medical...

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Definition of a flair/flare up

Patswife
Patswife
I often read about the above on DS.
As I am the spouse, how would you describe it? Husband was up every single hour last night in the WR. Does a flare up last for hours, days or?
He has Crohns, for over 20 years. Never has pain or cramping. Thanks my friends. Wendy
deleted_user
deleted_user
well my flare lasted for 16 months straight, terrible cramping, diarrhea constant, burning pains, nauseated, weight loss, could barely eat, basically miserable!
Akie
Akie
My first flare (this is the one that I was offically dx with) lasted a few months and was quiet hellish, I hurt everywhere! I had remission for about 8 months; no issues at all! Second flare lasted about a month, remission lasted 2 months. Third flare was quick and I stayed in remission for 4 years after it.

All of my early flares were similar, quite intense, they would build for about a month and then bam!, mouth sores, joint pain, swollen whites of my eyes, swollen welts on my legs, gut pain, frequent BMs, etc.

Now, I've been in a slow burn flare for over a year now (which is new for me). It has been different from the rest in that my GI ditress is minimal but my joint pain has been awful. The fatigue has been unbearable at times also. Unfortunately, no weight loss to speak of this time around.

Right now, I think I'm doing OK, I just had a 6 week run of feeling great but I think I may have overdone it a little because now I've been in a tired state for the past month.
Oh that elusive thing called balance, sigh.

Good luck to you and your husband.
deleted_user
deleted_user
My b/f's flare ups are months in duration. When reading other people's descriptions in the past, my impression of a 'flare up' was something you experienced briefly after eating something that didn't agree but I'm starting to see that it's more common for flare ups to last a loooooong time.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Everybody's CD is different.

When Drs say flare they don't mean one day in the bathroom after you ate something that disagreed with you. Most patients don't either.

They mean that the disease has stopped respondng to whatever treatment the pt is using at the time, and has become more active again. If you have been lucky enough to be in what is called remission, on the international scale of symptoms, they try to get you back there --maybe raising the dose of your current med/s will do it, maybe changing meds, maybe change in diet, maybe a combination--etc etc.

Sometimes having eaten something that physically irritates the insides is what puts you in the loo all niight--- if that is all it is, then he hasn't got a flare & he needs to stay away from the offending item. For me, it is lettuce. It just rubs things the wrong way, so to speak!