Caring for Crohn's & UC

Hurricane (or any storm) prep for IBD

November 1, 2012 at 5:53 pm Rebecca K. Leave a comment

If you’re like me, the past few days have been a haze of bad weather and destruction. Living on the eastern seaboard, in the past year we’ve had three major storms- two hurricanes and one blizzard. Each storm knocked us out of commission for days with no power and damage.

We were lucky- we neither lost power nor had any damage. But others weren’t as lucky. My heart goes out to all those who had their homes wrecked and ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.

That brings me to today’s short post- preparing for a storm with IBD in mind.

I spent Saturday and Sunday running around trying to get non-perishables and other essentials in case the power went out. Getting supplies normally is easy- some bread, batteries, flashlights, etc. But I also had to think about what we would do if the power went out.

We needed to have non-perishables that wouldn’t cause Dan’s Crohn’s to act up. So when I went to the store, not only did I get bread and water but I also stocked up on peanut butter (smooth not chunky), tuna fish, some potato chips, and cereal- all bland foods that wouldn’t go bad or make Dan’s stomach explode. I also made sure we were stocked up on toilet paper in case we weren’t able to leave the house for awhile.

One thing I didn’t do which I should have done is fill our bathtub with water.  It sounds a little crazy to do that but its essential if you lose power and have IBD. Without power, your toilet will not flush. However, if you fill up the tub with water, you can pour the water into the toilet, which forces it to flush and saves you from having a raunchy smelling house.

All in all, prepping for a storm isn’t much different if you have IBD. It just requires you to think a little bit more about what is a good or bad idea for the stomach while stuck inside with possibly no power.

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Entry filed under: General. Tags: crohn's disease, Crohn's Sucks, hurricane sandy, ibd, uc, ulcerative colitis.