What Causes Crohn's Disease

When I was in the thick of it, Crohn’s flare ups used to feel like they came out of nowhere. One week I’d be fine, the next I was stuck near the bathroom with symptoms like cramps, urgency, and zero energy. I’d read articles listing “common triggers” but they were always so generic it felt like guesswork.

It wasn’t until I started tracking everything and testing things out over time that I began to uncover what was really behind my flare ups and what helped me avoid them.

This post walks through both the general causes of Crohn’s flare ups and what I personally experienced while figuring out how to calm inflammation and work toward remission. If you’re looking for a clear breakdown with real experience behind it, this is for you.

A Crohn's Disease flare up is when Crohn’s symptoms return or intensify after a period of remission. For me, that usually meant a wave of symptoms all hitting at once. Urgent trips to the bathroom, loose stools, mucus, blood, fatigue, and that horrible burning sensation in my gut that made me dread eating anything.

Some flares hit like a freight train. Others creep up slowly. Either way, they signal that something’s triggered inflammation again. Understanding what sets them off made all the difference in learning how to stop reacting and start treating them.

Everyone’s body is different, but after 10+ years of trial and error, I started seeing the same triggers pop up for me and they match a lot of what’s in the research too. Here’s a breakdown of the common causes and how they showed up in my own life.

Diet was one of the biggest surprises. I’d been told by some doctors that “food doesn’t cause flare ups,” but in my experience, it absolutely did.

Some of the worst offenders for me:

What helped me was cutting back to a super simple anti-inflammatory diet. Mostly just meat, cooked veggies, bone broth, and healthy fats. I cover the whole framework in my Safe & Not Safe Foods List and also walk through it in my book How I Stopped Flare-Ups & Achieved Remission. Once I made those changes, my symptoms started stabilizing within weeks.

Stress was a major trigger for me. I didn’t realize how much my gut and nervous system were connected until I was tracking flare patterns. During high-stress weeks including work pressure, travel, or even poor sleep, I’d start to feel bloated, crampy, and fatigued again.

What helped: daily walks, deep breathing, journaling, spending more time outside, and building a low-stress morning routine. I also learned to stop checking emails or scrolling social media first thing in the morning. That made a big difference.

Back when I was experimenting with what did and didn’t work, I tried stopping mesalamine without tapering or talking to anyone. That led to one of the worst flare ups I ever had.

Even over-the-counter stuff like ibuprofen seemed to mess with my gut. Now, I always double-check ingredients and check in with my doctor before making changes.

I’ve had flare ups triggered by simple colds and stomach bugs. Once, after getting food poisoning from undercooked chicken, I spent the next two weeks dealing with mucus, bleeding, and constant bathroom trips.

That’s when I started carrying supplements like ginger, oregano oil, and a stash of my go-to gut supplements anytime I traveled. You’ll find all of that in the GutMellow Supplement Guide, along with the exact routine I follow when symptoms show up.

I quit drinking completely during my recovery phase. Every time I had even one beer, I’d wake up bloated and running to the bathroom the next day. Same with wine. Alcohol messed with my sleep, inflamed my gut, and always triggered symptoms.

And I’ve read enough studies and testimonials to know that smoking is a flare risk for most people with Crohn’s.

While I don’t deal with hormonal fluctuations the same way some folks do, I’ve heard from many people that periods, pregnancy, or menopause affect their gut big time. I noticed flare ups around periods of high stress or burnout, probably when cortisol was spiking.

Keeping routines stable and supporting my adrenals with good sleep and magnesium helped reduce that rollercoaster feeling.

Sleep has a huge impact on my gut. Back when I was sleeping five hours a night and chugging coffee to stay awake, I was in a constant state of low-grade flare. I didn’t make the connection at first.

Now, I treat sleep like medicine. I aim for 8–9 hours every night, use blackout curtains, and keep my phone out of the bedroom. If I slip on sleep for a few days, symptoms start creeping back in.

Travel always used to throw me off. New foods, weird water, inconsistent schedules was a recipe for flare ups.

I started bringing a travel stash: jerky, nuts, herbal tea, ginger capsules, and a bone broth powder I could mix into hot water. Just having that safety net helped a lot. More of that is in the Travel-Friendly Food List in the Grocery Guide.

Every time I had to take antibiotics, my gut felt off for weeks after. I later learned that antibiotics wipe out good bacteria and mess with the microbiome, which plays a major role in inflammation.

I started rebuilding my gut after antibiotics with bone broth, ginger, and high-quality fats like olive oil and beef tallow. I personally never found probiotics helpful (in fact, they made me worse), so I focused more on food-based healing.

Carrageenan, xanthan gum, “natural flavors”, they’re everywhere, and I think they can trigger a flare up.

Even healthy-looking packaged snacks would sometimes contain stuff that threw off my digestion. Now I read every label, stick to single-ingredient foods as much as possible, and cook 90% of what I eat.

The full list of what I avoid is in the Safe & Not Safe Foods PDF.

Once I started tracking meals, symptoms, and sleep every day, I finally saw patterns. I used a simple notebook and wrote down what I ate, how I felt, bathroom habits, and stress levels.

I also stopped chasing random supplements or trendy diets and focused on what actually helped me feel better. That took months of trial and error, but it’s all now bundled inside GutMellow if you want to see what worked for me.

It took me over 10 years to really understand what was triggering my Crohn’s flare ups. I tried everything including diet experiments, supplements, and symptom tracking, and it all eventually helped me build a plan that worked.

I don’t claim to have all the answers, and I know what worked for me might not work for everyone. But if you’re looking for a real-world approach from someone who’s been through it, I hope this gives you a starting point.

If you want to see the exact steps I use, I put it all together in the GutMellow Remission Roadmap Bundle. It includes my eBook, diet plans, food lists, supplement guide, and more.

And if you haven’t already read it, my full story is in How I Stopped Flare-Ups & Achieved Remission. That’s where I share everything in detail—what I tried, what failed, what worked, and what helped me finally feel like myself again.

After years of trial and error, I finally found a combination of strategies that worked for me. I went from constant flare-ups to long-term remission, without biologics or surgery. I created GutMellow to share my experience and help others navigate their own healing journey.

The GutMellow Remission Roadmap includes everything I wish I had when I was first diagnosed. It’s a comprehensive resource that outlines the exact steps I took to regain control of my gut health, including:

This blog is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. While I am sharing my personal experience, every individual’s health journey is unique. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet, supplements, medications, or lifestyle. Healing is a personal journey, and what worked for me may not work for everyone.