HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Hospital Stays

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 2/25/2008 2:11 AM (GMT 0)
I have been lucky enough to not have to go spend time in the hospital for UC yet. Although with my last flare up I should have because I was seriously bad... and my GI was urging me to go... said I had no choice... but I couldn't afford it.. no insurance at the time.

     Well... a few weeks ago I had a horrible stomach virus that had me so dehydrated, tired and everything coming out of my behind was total blood. So I was losing blood... couldn't keep even one sip of water down etcetc

I was begging my hubby to take me to the ER .. thankfull he didn't because it stopped the next day, but he asked me what I thought they could even do for me to help me.

     My question is...   when in a severe flare up... and you need to go the hospital...  what CAN they do for you? I'm thinking rehydrate with IV..  prednisone? I don't know...   I really just want to be able to answer my husband next time lol

Posted 2/25/2008 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
The hospitalization is done for several reasons, to reduce inflammation, to maintain hydration, and to get bed rest, and to reduce the stress on the colon.  I was only hospitalized once and my GI tries to avoid hospitalizations as he thinks patients do better at home.  However, there comes a time when the illness overwhelms the GI and the safest place for the patient is in the hospital.  I cannot tell you what that line is but that I crossed it.

Sue

Posted 2/25/2008 2:48 AM (GMT 0)
Depending on how long your flare has lasted, you can dehydrate and if it's serious enough, you could pass out. If your potassium gets too low, you can have a heart attack. If you've lost too much blood, you could need a transfusion, not to mention the electrolytes get too low and you need supplements to keep them in a normal range. Don't ever risk your life by keeping yourself from going to the ER, if you have to go GO! Please!

They will usually put you on an IV to rehydrate and would give you oral prednisone, unless they decide to keep you and would put you on IV steroids and possibly TPN. You don't want to wait too long to get a flare under control as you could possibly lose your colon and have higher hospital costs in the end!
Posted 2/25/2008 4:22 AM (GMT 0)
I went to the ER a few weeks ago for what sounds like the exact same flu. I went b/c I couldn't hold anything down. I got a rehydration IV and anti-naseau meds to stop the vomitting. I felt much better when I went home. I was there a total of 3 hours probably. However, I have great insurance. For that brief visit and no major tests (they did run urine and blood) they billed my insurance over $1000. I definatly could have recovered at home if I HAD to but I felt much better quicker getting the meds I needed and getting rehydrated.
Posted 2/25/2008 9:07 PM (GMT 0)
When you lose too much blood you need to get to a hospital.I have passed out twice due to blood loss and it wasn't pretty.Luckily tghe second time i was in hospital.More than likely the hospital will start with iv steroids when they do admit you.Now i try to stay in the house until i start losing a lot of blood, pain gets too much or i get the cold sweats and dizzy feeling.uuugh not a nice feeling
Don't take any chances, make sure your husband realises how serious this disease is too.
Posted 2/26/2008 1:35 AM (GMT 0)
For me, within minutes of having the IV hooked up the fluids feel soooo goood!  The IV steroids work so much faster and of course they can give you good pain and nausia medication.  I put off going the first time because I didnt think they could do anything, the next time it got near that bad, I went.  I got better faster too.

Posted 2/26/2008 3:41 AM (GMT 0)
Kara,

Do you have insurance now? If not then you should really investigate finding some health insurance; either through an employer or through the State..... having health insurance is very important because we (UC'ers) can be very expensive to treat. My last hospital stays was $53,000 plus all my meds and follow up visits I'm probably well over 60k for this last flare and that's what my insurance company has paid out after all of their discounts and write-offs. I don't even want to imagine what the hospital would have charged me if I didn't have insurance.

To answer your husband's question it probably is best to ask your GI that question because he/she is the one treating you....it also depends on how well you respond to meds. My body doesn't respond to steroids so my shortest hospital stay has been 12 days and the other one was 22 days.

I hope that you are feeling better.

--Keith
Posted 2/26/2008 11:06 PM (GMT 0)
The reason I wasn't on insurance at that point in time was I had JUST got back from my honeymoon.. and once I was legally married.... I couldn't be on my parent's insurance anymore...which until that point I was. So thankfully my husband works for a great company and he got me on his insurance in like a day after they wanted me to go the ER... he told them it was urgent. We ended up just goin to the GI though and he gave me pred and it stopped it in its tracks. I swear I had no idea if I'd make it to the dr but I was so tired I didn't care.
Posted 2/27/2008 1:30 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Sweet - the life event that got you on your husband insurance was the marriage and there is a chance you will be retroactively covered to the date of your wedding. So... look into getting that GI visit covered! Yay for insurance!
Posted 2/27/2008 1:40 AM (GMT 0)
fitz im already married... and already on his insurance. our visits have been covered... i just wasnt able to go to the ER after our honeymoon in october when i flared up horribly...   instead had to wait until he got me on his insurance to go the GI
Posted 2/28/2008 4:33 AM (GMT 0)
Well let's see...this is my second night in a hospital bed, and my second hospitalization for UC in 15 years (however both in the last 18 months). How did I get here and what are they doing for me? Well, I had been flaring for the past few weeks but had been maintaining my 3 colazal pills 3 times a day and was set to visit my GI next week. This past Sunday it got to be too much and I came down with a mild fever that I wasn't sure if it was because I was flaring or also fighting a cold. After three days of just resting my fever got much worse, I was suffering from the sweats and chills and by the third day all energy was gone. When I saw my GI, he thought it was best I cam to the hospital to get the rest, fluids, antibiotics, and steroids the others described above. I've also had a catscan of my abdomen last night and sigmoidoscopy this morning. The hospital is the best place to get lots of answers and results quicker than trying to take the oral meds at home. I can tell you that just after 24 hours and lord only knows how many pints of saline, and antibiotics I've had I feel 90% better (I still have my cold/sore throat)! My fever is gone which was most likely attributed to the inflammation and dehyrdation and not my cold (flu has been ruled out), as well as my heart rate has slowed back down too.

All I can say, is I had fought trying to avoid the hospital too, but you have to listen to your body. If you are flaring and start getting fevers and are too weak to walk around than chances are you might need some help in the hospital.

I get to go home tomorrow morning! Woo hoo!
Posted 2/29/2008 6:54 PM (GMT 0)
hi sweet - i was just diagnosed in july 2007 and i've already been hospitalized once (in December). from my experience, it was the best thing ever because it put me into remission in just 3 days, but i can't say this would happen for everyone. i had been in a pretty bad flare since finding out i was pregnant in september and nothing seemed to help. my GI put me on prednisone (40mg/day), but it didn't do a thing. he upped me to 50mg/day and still nothing. then he put me on a liquid diet combined with the prednisone. i was just so dehydrated and losing so much blood i decided that i better go to the hospital. they gave me IV fluids and steroids for 2 days and i was out on the third. i've been tapering the prednisone every since and i'm now down to 10mg/day and back to taking salofalk pills 8X daily and a nightly salofalk enema. but i've been flare free for 9 weeks and counting! so in my experience, the hospital worked wonders...next time i'll go sooner!

best of luck!
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply