3 month flare-up

[Guest guest]

Our 8yo ds has severe UC, and has been on SCD since just before

Halloween. We've seen great improvement, and were able to avoid

surgery which was being urged upon us by his doctor after 2

transfusions in Sept and Nov. Over the past 3 months he's continued

to improve, went from 10-15 movements/day to 2/day, but has always had

some b and m in his stools. We've been tapering him on prednisolone

(down to 10.5mg/day), and he's also on 1500 mg of azulfidine/day. He

also takes Culturelle, which we know is not allowed, but we've had

terrible problems changing probiotics and feel for now we need to stay

with this, which seems to help. His last bloodwork in late December

came back normal, with a rbc of 12.7 (after a low of 7.4), which was a

huge relief.

This week, he got a scratchy throat and then a really runny nose, his

first illness (other than UC) since the summer. His movements became

more frequent, with much more b than we've seen in a while. He also

reported pain for the 1st time in months. My dh and I are very

anxious because of how sick he was before he started the diet, where

the last big flare became really terrible over the course of just a

few days.

Here's what he's eating: plain roast chicken, chicken baked with

olive oil, lemon juice, fresh cilantro; cod and salmon prepared in

olive oil and lemon juice with dried dill or oregano; cooked carrots

and thin green beans. The only change in his diet over the past week

is that we stopped giving him commercial organic baby pear or pears

and raspberries, and introduced homemade pear/raspberry sauce (with

seeds removed).

He's never had milk products, so our doctor recommends we don't try

yogurt until he's off the pred. He's anaphylactic to peanuts and tree

nuts, so those will always be out. He also has tested positive to

eggs in the past so we avoid those too. As I write this I'm sauteeing

onions and spinach and he's begging for some, so he tasted little of

that today with his chicken (but didn't like it much).

I've been reading on this list about die-off -- could this be it? If

so, how long might it last? Is there anything else we can do to help

him through this?

Thanks in advance --

(celiac) mom to 8yo ds with UC since 4/05, SCD since 11/06