There are many situations that do not require urgent attention...if your symptoms are flaring for 1-2 days, we may not act immediately. It is not uncommon for us to wait to act until the symptoms have been occurring for 3 or more days.
These May Be Symptoms of a Flare:
- Worsening abdominal pain that is out of range of your typical experience
- Increasing blood in your bowel movements that is worse than your typical experience
- Increasing number of bowel movements per day
- Bowel movements that have increasing frequency and/or urgency.
- Decreased appetite, feeling full fast
- Pain and/or bowel movements that wake you up at night
- Nausea and/or vomiting
- Fever (greater than 101.0), especially if it is not associated with an obvious viral illness
- Joint pains
- Sores in your mouth
When Should You Call the Office?
There are some situations that are more URGENT and you should call the office without delay:
- Worsening abdominal pain with abdominal bloating/swelling and vomiting.
- Worsening abdominal pain with high fever (101.0).
- Abdominal pain that makes it difficult to move around.
- Worsening diarrhea that keeps you in the bathroom.
- Worsening diarrhea that wakes you up at night.
- Perianal discomfort that makes it difficult to move around/sit down.
When You Call Our Office, We May Ask the Following Questions:
- When did the symptoms begin?
- Abdominal pain: location, duration, character, things that make the pain worse, things that make the pain better, radiation of pain.
- Bowel movements: How many per day, consistency (watery, pasty, formed), blood (mixed in the stool, dripping in the toilet, turning the toilet water red, only upon wiping?). Are there bowel movements in the middle of the night?
- Other symptoms: vomiting (how frequent, what comes up?), fever (how high?), abdominal fullness/distention, rash.
- Interruption from school and/or other activities?
- How many missed doses of medications in the past week?
- Considerations for other stressors (school, friends, family, disease).
