Confussed, UC or not?

I am so confussed. My husband was told he had UC about 6 months ago. He has been on so many different meds and he is no better. He has been in a severe flare (I would call it severe) 3 months. He has lost 60 lbs. and goes to the bathroom an average of 20 times in 24 hours. He has had 4 infusions of Ramicade but it has not helped. Today he had another colonoscopy to see if something else besides UC is going on (I think the 3rd, maybe 4th colonoscopy in 9 months). The doctor said if nothing else is going on he wanted him to go for a surgery consult. When the doctor came out today he said suspicious of Pseudomembraneouc Colitis superimposed on ulcerative colitis or pseudomembraneous colitis alone. I asked him if he had UC and he did not give me a clear answer. He has him on Flagyl, Vancomycin, and Colazal and said to stop the Ramicade. He told me the same thing with the last colonoscopy, but called the next day and said the test results said no infection. I am expecting him to call tomorrow and tell me the same thing. I am so confussed and my husband is so sick. Do we need to be looking for another doctor or does this sound reasonable? Sorry this is so long, but I don't know what to do.

 

The best way to determine if he had pseudomembranous colitisc (caused by clostridium difficile bateria or c. diff.) would be to look because fecal tests can give false positives/false negatives. He would need the colonoscopy if the infection is past where a sigmoid scope can reach. The Flagyl antibiotic should get rid of the c. diff. infection in 10 days but he could still have c. diff. spores in his GI tract that could later give him the infection again. Having the UC flare in addition will complicate treatment but your best bet is to do some fact finding. Continue to find out as much as you can about how c. diff. infection is caused, diagnosed and treated. I’ve read about fecal enemas treating both UC and c. diff. infection

What is your husband eating and what other medications was he on?

Second opinion before surgery is always a good idea.

Yes Quency they did take some biopsies, but we haven't heard the results of them yet. He is still bleeding a good bit (bathroom trips mostly mucus and blood). The doctor said that only about 30 cm(?) of the colon is involved so that is good. Today he has a lot of pressure in his lower stomach. He said it is different than the pressure he has had before. I guess that is from the colonoscopy he had yesterday.
Burli, he is on no other medication now except the three the doctor gave him yesterday. He is eating usually egg and grits in the morning and nothing fried, cooked veg. , apple sauce, etc.

This is the only doctor we have seen. All of this just started about 9 months ago.