Crohn's Disease Support Group

My 7 year old has been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, and is currently on prednisone and pentasa. Her appetite has of course become uncontrollable. She is always hungry. I have bought little dum dum lolly pops for her for those times when she just wants more food, and I know she has had more than enough, to keep her mouth busy and get her mind off it. (She ate too much food one day and her tummy hurt so bad that night, and she felt like throwing up, so now I try not to let it get that far). She is so upset at me tonight because I wouldn't let her have more dinner, when she had already had as much as I had. I let her have a lolly pop instead, but she is very angry with me. I'm willing to take the brunt of her anger, because I know she just can't help it right now...but am I doing the right thing by not allowing her to eat after I know she's had more than enough for her body, before it makes her sick? When you are on prednisone and want to eat all the time, what do you do?

And just so it is known, I do give snacks throughout the day, and she gets one every night as well. I don't mind her snacking on things, I just worry when she just tries to eat so much in one sitting because she is so little.

Remember always eat very little food but various times during the day when having crohn's. One thing that helps is buying those baby bottled foods the fruit flavored ones if you want wich i think are the best and that should be good.Also one more thing...Ensure milk shakes are also very good drinking those once or twice a day, they are actually proven to be kind of like a medicine to crohn's. It has all the vitamins you need and it's definitely a filler and that should be good.

Good luck

Post edited by: Zildjan, at: 04/07/2010 02:57 PM

Aww..I hope she finds some relief with that soon. prednisone made me super hungry and I just swelled up so fast. How long does she have to be on it? Will she taper down? Hopefully, it isn't a permanent thing. I must admit, though I really hate it, but the Ensure like Zildjan said and Boost Plus is an excellent source of nutrient and when i had that in the hospital, it would make me full, because it was so thick and shake like. I think the more she tapers off steroids, the appetite will decrease too.

Best wishes to that and do let us know the updates.

I will look for Ensure or Boost Plus, or the baby bottled foods that were mentioned. I have been making shakes almost every night to go with snacks. I usually put some fruit in it, soy milk (calcium fortified), a little ice (she doesn't like too much), and some spiru-tien. I was using some ice cream in them instead of the ice, but wasn't sure if the dairy was bothering her or not. I hadn't really thought about making(or buying)shakes to give her in these moments that she is really hungry. I may try that today and see if it helps her. She is already weaning off the prednisone. She started out with 40 mg a day, and taking away 5 mg every week. Sunday we get to take away another 5, and she will be down to 25mg I believe. Hopefully it will let up some soon. It hasn't really as of now...

Hi,

Be carefull with milk, I can't speak for everyone, but for myself, milk and ice cream make me VERY sick. Maybe popsicles? I eat those alot when I am sick.

Best of luck!

She does okay with the soy. We've actually been struggling with her symptoms for almost a year and a half before we got her diagnosis, so I am fairly confident the soy milk is okay with her. Regular cows milk products on the other hand, I believe those do bug her. I do make some gatoraide popsicles for her, she does have them sometimes. I have to be careful with things like that though, because red dyes bother her throat, and just about every popsicle has red dye. It makes her throat burn, and causes major emotional issues with her (even prior to her being on any of these meds she is on).

try lactaid milk

I have thought about giving that a try...

Read this entry and I found it kind of amusing. I still live at home with my mom and when I was on steroids she got me little snacks to eat throughout the day, and always made me drink an ensure. And when I would whine that I wanted more, she wouldn't give in. Initially, I was mad. I felt like she was controlling what I ate and not me! But, I know that she's doing it for me, so that I won't have flare ups. I just got out of the hospital a week ago and now my appetite is GONE and my mom is forcing me to eat. You seem to be doing well though, five smaller meals throughout the day instead of 3 big meals. I need to get back on my snack & ensure diet. When I was eating eggs for breakfast, ensure for midday snack, sandwich (chips sometimes) for lunch, vanilla/chocolate pudding or orange/strawberry jello for evening snack, and whatever was at the dinner table, I merely ate what I needed to feel satisfied. You might want to try a scheduled foods? That's what I try.