Crohn’s Disease Tips to Minimize Pain and Discomfort
Worldwide, the number of people who have Crohn’s disease is on the rise. The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation states that an estimated 1.6 million people in America may be living with Crohn’s disease right now.
Of course, this is no comfort if you are one of them. Crohn’s symptoms can lay dormant for periods but then flare-up. When you are in the middle of a Crohn’s flare-up, it can feel like your whole world revolves around your gut pain.
Five Ways to Minimize Pain & Discomfort If You have Crohn’s Disease
Here are five medically proven ways to minimize pain and discomfort from Crohn’s disease.
1. Eat smaller meals.
Eating smaller meals takes less time and energy to digest your food and places less stress on your gastrointestinal system.
This is perhaps one of the most intuitive ways to minimize pain and discomfort from Crohn’s disease.
When you transition to eating smaller meals, your stomach does not get as full and does not take up as much space on your abdomen. It takes less time and energy to digest your food and places less stress on your gastrointestinal system.
2. Go beltless.
Just having to bend and twist when you are dealing with abdominal pain, bloating, cramping, and discomfort is bad enough.
Belts can aggravate an already tender abdomen and make your symptoms feel even worse than they already are.
Finding belt alternatives can give you more room to breathe – literally! But going beltless can also present some wardrobe challenges.
Belt alternatives like BeltBro offer a creative way to make sure your clothes fit well while avoiding stomach and gut constriction. BeltBro is designed to be worn to one side, so you don’t experience a decreased range of motion in your abdominal area.
3. Use an app to track your symptoms.
Several different apps can help to track your Crohn’s symptoms.
It can often be hard to determine what causes flare-ups, and the medical community has much more to learn about what causes Crohn’s and how to treat it.
But there is one fact doctors have been able to verify: the sooner you can recognize a flare-up, the sooner you can get treatment, and the less severe your symptoms are likely to be.
This is why Harvard Medical School strongly advocates for the use of apps to track your Crohn’s health symptoms.
Several different apps can help to track your Crohn’s symptoms. The app most doctors recommend is the symptoms tracker from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.
4. Adjust your diet.
Most of the people living with Crohn’s are not happy about this one, and yet adjusting your diet can help to minimize symptoms.
Caffeine, alcohol, dairy, greasy or fried foods, and gas-producing foods like beans can all aggravate your gut and cause flare-ups.
5. Manage stress.
There are many helpful apps and tools to support you in easing stress.
One of the most important ways to minimize pain and discomfort from Crohn’s disease is to manage stress.
While researchers still have a long way to go to understand how and why Crohn’s develops fully, there is a confirmed link between symptoms and stress levels.
There are many helpful apps and tools to support you in easing stress. Learning yoga, meditation, tai chi, mindfulness, and deep breathing are all linked to lower stress levels.
By eating smaller meals, tracking symptoms, using belt alternatives, changing your diet, and easing stress, you can find ways to live a full life with Crohn’s.
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