I got COVID 10/22. While recovering, had many intestinal issues. The worse was bloody stools. This went on for a couple of months. I made an appointment with a gastroenterologist. After a colonoscopy and endoscopy, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. I am 52 years old and never had intestinal issues. I was prescribed Lialda (mesalamine). The first week on it, I experienced flu-like symptoms and could barely get out of bed. My doctor assured me that mesalamine is well tolerated so I decided to try again after taking myself off of it for a week. Instead of taking a 3.6g dose, I decided to start with a 2.4g dose to see if I could tolerate it. After a couple of weeks, I increased the dose to 3.6g with no problems. Other things that I have learned along the way are as follows. At first, I could not eat/drink the following; dairy (except the hard cheeses like cheddar, provolone, and parmesan), anything tomato based, certain fruits (apples), and had to stay away from alcohol and sugar (candy, fruit juices, sweets, etc.). I started to get a little bit better but was still not great. I, like everyone, did some research and begin to think my gut biome was messed up (i.e. too many bad bacteria and not enough good bacteria). So, I started to do things that would correct this. I took a probiotic (adding good bacteria) and the things that I think helped the most were a multivitamin(helps the good bacteria flourish) and staying away from sugar (starving the bad bacteria). I also drink a minimum of 2.5L of water a day (flushing your system) and exercise 4 days a week. It has been almost a year and I am still taking the Lialda and multivitamin. I have gradually added back most of things I gave up but still limit my sugar. I am close to 90% back to normal with few intestinal issues these days. I am very thankful but it was a long road. During the journey, I had to adjust my expectations daily and was thankful for the smallest amount of progress. Lastly, when I was in the middle of it, the one thing that I found I could eat without many repercussions was peanut butter and banana on sourdough bread toast. I still have it every morning. Peanut butter is good for gut health. I hope everyone gets mostly back to where they were before this crap.