my poor boy has had a relapse

i was awoken this morning by the dreaded crying coming from my boy. I knew straight away he had a relapse of inflammatory bowel disease-he always used to cry when he had messed his bed as he becomes distressed
so far today it was just the bout this morning so im hoping that it will be just once but i know from previous times it has never lasted just a day.
i really am feeling so drained by this whole thing- he is such a happy dog normally(he was on steroids and antibiotics) but i stopped them as his life was becoming more about quantity than quality as they were making him lose weight-he had no energy and no will to live!
now i stopped them knowing the risk of him relapsing and up until today he had gone three whole weeks without an episode
hes even got his first agility comp on sat.
has anybody else have any advice about this condition...or just some moral support would be great!!! i now dread what the future holds

You have my complete sympathy, Selkie suffers from arthritic hips and inflamed joints I always know that whining yip that means 'I'm uncomfortable mum and can't get up". I dread it. I know we will be back to the vets and on painkillers again, but the painkillers take a bit of her spark away, she gets slower, more sleepy. But I know she's in less pain.

I cannot offer you specific advice, but you have my moral support and sympathy!

Theres a girl called Kaz on bullies in need forum,she could give you advise for herbal remedies to help, sorry for your stress, hope he picks up soon xx

So sorry to hear this, honey. Hope you can sort out an alternative remedy soon.

Poor lad *hugs* x0x

Unfortunately I have no advice to offer, but being a fellow GSD owner and lover you have tons of moral support and healing thoughts for your lad coming your way from me.

I hope it is just a blip and he continues to have good health.

Poor lad, but I don't blame you for not wanting to keep him on abs and steroids.

Fingers crossed its just a blip.

Just a thought, but have you tried slippery elm?

"Slippery elm buffers damaged, inflamed, and irritated wall linings of the stomach and intestinal tract. "

I've been using it on one of my girls who often has irritated stomach/intestins (wrong food and/or stress usually cause it). It may just be co-incidence, but since using it she hasn't had any problems and has nice firm poos without any of the mucus she quite often had.

I know IBD is more serious, but might be worth a try?
(I'm not aware that slippery elm has any negative effects but you could always check whether your vet would be concerned with you trying it)

I also give mine probiotics. Again, I have no idea whether they are doing any good or not, but on the basis that she has done so well since I started, I thought I might as well continue. (hope that I haven't jinxed her now!)

Good luck, I hope you can find something to help.

Hope

no advice to offer but sending my positive thoughts and well wishes for him xxxxx

Aw I'm really sorry to hear this.
HUGS to you both.
Is it possible to treat it with periodic use of steroids/ABs, rather than constant?
x

again no advice to offer,

just some hugs for you and your lad x

well he was on a three month course-the vet said this was the best course of action-it will be possible to put him on shorter courses of steroids but to be honest i really dont want to as the side effects were worse than the actual condition! and he also had higher than usual amounts of liver damage from the steroids(thankfully the liver heals itself and shouldnt be a problem) they also made him anaemic which he now has vit b12 injections monthly for.
he hasnt had anymore diarroeah thankfully-but i came down to a 'new' type of vomit this morning-it was quite strange-almost like chewed up newspaper-half digested?? quite odd-but it def wasnt newspaper!!!