Crohns disease causes unpredictable flare-ups that are often challenging to handle.

Sudden symptoms like diarrhea and abdominal pain can disrupt your daily life and can cause problems like dehydration.

The disease causes patches of inflammation.

Without treatment, the patches penetrate deep into the intestinal wall.

Then, the inflammation returns and you have a symptom flare-up.

Here are five ways to relieve a flare as quickly as possible:

1.

Call Your Healthcare Provider

Your healthcare provider will immediately assess if they should change your medication or dose.

Your flare-up may occur if you stop responding to the medications you currently take.

Your provider can change your prescription and restore intestinal health.

You may also need temporary corticosteroid to reduce the inflammation.

Change Your Diet

During flares, let your GI tract rest by reducing its digestive load.

Stay Hydrated

Having Crohn’s disease can increase your risk of becoming dehydrated.Additionally, diarrhea quickly leads to dehydration.

Beverages like milk, coconut water, over-the-counter oral rehydration solutions, and Pedialyte restore lost nutrients.

Techniques like meditation, yoga, and deep breathing ease stress for many people.

Talk therapy helps if your stress is especially high due to other life challenges.

How Long Does a Flare-Up Last?

There’s no way to predict how long your flare-up may last.

But having a Crohn’s flare doesn’t automatically mean that your Crohn’s disease is getting worse.

Your healthcare provider can sort through the potential concerns and provide treatment to restore remission.

This gives your healthcare provider a clear picture of your Crohn’s flares between office visits.

That means keeping regular appointments with your healthcare provider and diligently taking the medications that prevent inflammation.

Even if your symptoms are mild, missing a dose can lead to a flare.

Spicy foods, smoking, antibiotics, and stress are only a few examples of the possible triggers.

Make Dietary Adjustments

Dietary changes are essential during flare-ups.

However, you may need to make some permanent changes to keep Crohn’s in remission.

It’s crucial to avoid foods that trigger flares.

You may also need to follow a special diet for the long run.

Nearly half of Crohn’s patients will need surgery within 10 years of their diagnosis.

Surgery provides significant symptom relief, but there’s no way to predict how long it will last.

Unfortunately, surgery doesn’t cure Crohn’s disease because the inflammation can reappear.

Sometimes, the cause of the flare-up is unknown.

In severe cases, surgery may be an option to consider.

Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.Managing flares and IBD symptoms.

Harvard Health Publishing.Living with Crohns disease: recognizing and managing flares.

Crohns & Colitis UK.Dehydration.

Crohns & Colitis Foundation.Stress and IBD: breaking the vicious cycle.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.Treatment for Crohns disease.

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