For the last three to four weeks I have apparently been working on a flare-up.
Yes, there was certainly more than my share of stress at work.
Yes, I was sleeping inconsistently and poorly (thank you, NBC, for showing the marquee Olympics events after 10 pm!). And yes, there were a few small telltale signs along the way which I gleefully ignored because the poor sleep and work-related stress were in fact large enough to be problematic all on their own.
A few flarby evenings of bloating, several days of feeling really glum and almost depressed (yes, flare-ups can enhance mood), a few nights of getting up in the middle of the night for extended trips to the restroom (and no, I'm not diabetic).
This past week, I remembered -- with some gentle proddiing from Sweetie -- that my flare-ups tend to sneak up on me and I don't often recognize them as such until they're in full flower. The reason for this, I believe, is that I am otherwise pretty damned healthy, SO healthy that sometimes my overall health can actually mask my symptoms until they come on really strong. If I had moderate-to-severe Crohn's it would actually be easier to tell when a flare-up was coming on because I would feel like shit more often, and sooner. But when my mild-to-moderate symptoms are under control and I'm not flaring, I look and act just like anyone else who rides 2,500 miles a year.
I know that many people with Crohn's have it badly enough that they can't get out of bed some days.
But I also have to remember that I have Crohn's too, and that it can sometimes do a number on me anyway, even if I am otherwise healthy.
So we are back to a much more regimented drug routine with some additional short-term drugs, bland foods, regular bedtimes and carefully portioned bike mileage for the time being, until this clears up. Thank goodness I have a ton of leftover Entocort samples from the last really big episode of three years ago. (Thank goodness my GI knows how tight money is and gives me buckets of free samples when they're available.) A couple of weeks on this stuff, along with the other steps, and I should be fine. If I'm not then I will call the GI for guidance and hope I don't have to pay two to three hundred bucks just to be seen. The downside is I may have to skip the metric century I was planning for early next month. But I can live with that.
Yes, there was certainly more than my share of stress at work.
Yes, I was sleeping inconsistently and poorly (thank you, NBC, for showing the marquee Olympics events after 10 pm!). And yes, there were a few small telltale signs along the way which I gleefully ignored because the poor sleep and work-related stress were in fact large enough to be problematic all on their own.
A few flarby evenings of bloating, several days of feeling really glum and almost depressed (yes, flare-ups can enhance mood), a few nights of getting up in the middle of the night for extended trips to the restroom (and no, I'm not diabetic).
This past week, I remembered -- with some gentle proddiing from Sweetie -- that my flare-ups tend to sneak up on me and I don't often recognize them as such until they're in full flower. The reason for this, I believe, is that I am otherwise pretty damned healthy, SO healthy that sometimes my overall health can actually mask my symptoms until they come on really strong. If I had moderate-to-severe Crohn's it would actually be easier to tell when a flare-up was coming on because I would feel like shit more often, and sooner. But when my mild-to-moderate symptoms are under control and I'm not flaring, I look and act just like anyone else who rides 2,500 miles a year.
I know that many people with Crohn's have it badly enough that they can't get out of bed some days.
But I also have to remember that I have Crohn's too, and that it can sometimes do a number on me anyway, even if I am otherwise healthy.
So we are back to a much more regimented drug routine with some additional short-term drugs, bland foods, regular bedtimes and carefully portioned bike mileage for the time being, until this clears up. Thank goodness I have a ton of leftover Entocort samples from the last really big episode of three years ago. (Thank goodness my GI knows how tight money is and gives me buckets of free samples when they're available.) A couple of weeks on this stuff, along with the other steps, and I should be fine. If I'm not then I will call the GI for guidance and hope I don't have to pay two to three hundred bucks just to be seen. The downside is I may have to skip the metric century I was planning for early next month. But I can live with that.