Antibiotics and Crohn's Disease?

by Dave
(Cincinnati, OH, USA)

I've had Crohn's for nearly 30 years. I am fortunate that my disease goes into remission sometimes for extremely long time periods. 7 years has been my longest remission. During these times of remission I generally protest taking any meds for Crohn's.

In the last several years I have noticed what I believe to be a pattern. My Crohn's flair ups seem to happen either when I am majorly stressed out or after a run of antibiotics prescribed for some problem unrelated to Crohn's (for instance I've had a couple of bouts of pneumonia in my day).

I have been doing a lot of reading about the believed connections between gut flora imbalance and various immune system disorders.

Might I be on to something by thinking that there is a connection between being prescribed a strong, broad spectrum antibiotic and several weeks later starting to feel the onset of a Crohns relapse?

In the last year I have basically rejected all medications for Crohn's and have instead adapted a microbe rich diet including lots of raw, fermented foods such as kimche, kombucha, sourkraut, lactofermented pickles, etc. Also after a run of antibiotic I take a strong over-the-counter probiotic with many strains of microbes. I was actually able to pull myself out of my most recent Crohn's flair up.

Has anyone else experience this phenomina?