IBD flare up during pregnancy

[Florelia]

Hello, this is my first post here. I was wondering if anybody else had been going through the same thing?

I am 20 weeks pregnant and I have been suffering from hemorrhagic colitis for the past 5 weeks. The gastroenterologist diagnosed me with Irritable Bowel Disease 4 days ago. The abdominal pain is agonising and I am only allowed paracetamol as a pain killer + Pentasa for the inflammation. I am up all night and stuck in bed all day, in a state of complete exhaustion. I was sent at the hospital on New Year's day because I keep losing a huge amount of blood, liquid and nutrients. I have never felt so weak, I can barely help my husband with the daily chores. He is amazing but it is not fair for him.

I have no idea what is safe to eat so I follow a low residue diet to help with the diarrhea. I have lost 5 kilos and am lighter than at the start of the pregnancy.

I also feel like a bad teacher because I take my job very seriously and my poor colleagues had to cover for my classes for the past 2 weeks. I keep hoping every day will be better, yet I am still not fit to do the job.

Fortunately my little boy seems to be doing fine in utero and the medical staff are optimistic about the pregnancy.

I always suffered from IBS type of symptoms but never investigated those before the pregnancy. This is my first IBD flare-up and here again, I feel guilty for not knowing and getting treatment beforehand.

Sorry for the long post! If you have any such experience it would help me a lot.

Have a good day! X

I feel for you OP, do you have any idea what your triggers may be? For me it's dairy, gluten, and soy. And my sensitivity gets so so so much worse in pregnancy. in normal circumstances elimination diets wouldn't be recommended in pregnancy but if your gut is that poorly it will be struggling to take in nutrients... Are you taking pregnancy vitamins? I'm not a medical professional just someone who has struggled similarly - if I were you I would switch out dairy and gluten for alternatives - oatly barrista is fortified with calcium and vitamins and is tasty, a good milk alternative. And there are loads of gluten-free options out there nowadays. At this point I'm sure you're feeling anything is worth a try! it's worth noting it can take up to 2 weeks to notice a difference in your symptoms and cutting back doesn't work it has to be a total removal of the triggers. Nowadays with the well fortified alternatives available - trying for two weeks may help and can't hurt. Good luck ❤️

OP - sorry you’re having such a difficult time, please dont feel guilty! You do sound unwell though - did the hospital make a close follow up plan for you when they sent you home? I am no expert with IBD at all but it sounds like perhaps you need to be back in hospital? At minimum you need a fairly urgent review, dietician advice, perhaps some blood tests for electrolyte levels. And better pain relief ideally. There are lots of medications that are safe for baby, including steroid medication, particularly in the second trimester. Have you seen an obstetrician? Sounds like ideally you would be looked after by a high risk team (obstetric physician or MFM, or a gastroenterologist with special interest in pregnancy).
I realise I have asked loads of questions and not really answered anything - I do hope you feel better soon though.

Hi OP,

Is it Inflammatory Bowel Disease and not Irritable Bowel? That would make sense. Irritable Bowel is tough to cope with but it is not a serious autoimmune disease like IBD. It is confusing though.

I have ulcerative colitis (UC). I have had it a long time but not while pregnant.

First off do not feel guilty. This is not your fault. It is not because of a bad diet etc. The cause is not yet known, but there are much better treatments.

When you have a flare up, yes, a low residue diet is better as it is easier to digest. Stick to proteins like eggs and chicken, soups, well-cooked vegetables, yogurt etc. no big salads etc. I eat white bread, peanut butter, bananas, and other easy to digest things. Although some people avoid gluten, dairy etc., they do not cause IBD. Some people keep a food diary to see what they can tolerate.

In remission I can eat everything. Only when my colon is inflamed do I have to be very careful or my symptoms like urgency get worse.

You need to work with your healthcare providers to get into remission or close. It must be tough to be pregnant with a flare up.

The Crohn's and Colitis Society in the UK has lots of info and resources. There is also a foundation or society in the US and Canada that have information.

The new medications are better and mean I can live a close to normal life now.

Hang in there. It will get better.

I agree you really need to work with your healthcare providers to get your symptoms under control. I am no expert at all but I do know there ate safe meds and lots of women have successful pregnancies with IBD.

One more tip. Over the years I have many times not sought medical attention early on, but instead just hoped it would get better or that I really wasn't flaring, it was something I ate etc. Especially now, make sure you don't wait.

I take it you mean "inflammatory bowel disease" not irritable bowel disease? As you have been prescribed pentasa you probably mean crohns or colitis?
It is early days for the pentasa to start working, so give it a bit more time. Have you considered a liquid only diet like Modulen? This gives you all calories and nutrients required daily, and is really good for giving your bowel a rest. I would speak to your consultant to see whether this is a possibility, it should be okay with you being pregnant.
If you have facebook look up crohns and colitis UK, you will get a lot of help on there, and also crohns and colitis themselves www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/
My son has had crohns for 12 years, food in itself doesn't make things worse, but when flaring certain foods can be a trigger. Safe foods for him are anything white, bread, pasta, rice etc. Gluten does not cause IBD.

Good luck with your pregnancy, your IBD will calm down once you are on the right meds.

Hi OP, I just wanted to say that my mother-in-law suffers with IBD and she had a really bad flare-up when she was pregnant with my DH's brother. She put on no weight the whole pregnancy and went home after giving birth in the same jeans she was wearing before getting pregnant! I know she was worried at the time about the effect on the baby. But he was born completely healthy, is now in his thirties and very successful career-wise! I hope this can give some reassurance.

@danigrace Thank you for your reply 💚 I am keeping a food diary to try and identify the triggers and I have swapped to soya and milk-free alternatives just in case. I also take antenatal vitamins.

@TenThousandSpoons0 Thank you for your message 💙 Admittedly I live in Scotland where the free health care system is struggling at the moment. I don't blame them but maybe they could have done more. I paid to see a specialist at the private clinic because the alternative was to wait an extra 5 weeks (on a 'priority' list) for a mere phone appointment. I was given no dietary advice or follow-up plan. My blood levels are getting checked regularly, though, and the pregnancy will be monitored more closely.

@LoveFall Sorry, typo mistake, I meant Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). I'm awaiting some results to find out whether it is Crohn's. Thank you for your compassion and precious advice 💚

@Londonnight That's excellent advice, thank you 💙 I'll ask about a liquid, elemental diet. Hopefully the Pentasa will make a difference soon! I typed the wrong thing but it's Inflammatory Bowel Disease indeed.

@RosettaR, thank you, that's really reassuring to hear 💚 I'm glad it all went fine for her in the end.