How much blood?

When you are in a flare, how much blood do you see?

I am just curious. I seem to get weak quick from the blood loss, and my family and friends are always surprised at how fast it happens. I assume it is like this for most of us though? Are there any of you who flare withOUT bleeding?

That's how I decide I'm in a flare--if I see blood, I'm flaring, and if I don't, I'm in "remission" (though my remissions have always included diarrhea).

I am currently flaring and probably seeing up to 1/2 tsp blood with every BM, no matter the size of the BM. Hate it.

I can flare with or without bleeding but if I am in a bad flare I always bleed. It is one of my worst problems and it is so hard to stop it once it starts... I usually don't get weak from it which amazes me because I bleed quite a bit. In a bad flare I also often see the toliet water turn red and pass blood clots mixed with mucus.

I would think if you aren't bleeding then you don't have ulcers then it isn't exactly ulcerative colitis, but i'm not sure about that.

I bleed a lot during flares. I have been able to control the bleeding somewhat with diet. When I got UC I would bleed a crap ton (no pun intended. I got that phrase from my coworker who doesn't have UC.lol) I guess since I was new to UC and my body was close to normal that I didn't really feel any effects of the blood loss or the iron deficiency anemia. I would still play basketball at least once a week for hours at a time. And Prednisone was the only thing that conrolled and stopped my bleeding.

After finding out I cannot use prednisone anymore I focused even more on diet. I still bleed when I flare but I can controll it without any prescriptions. I just can't get it to completely stop without any prescriptions yet. Like about 2 months ago I ate without any diet restrictions and sure enough I started bleeding a lot. I was eating ice cream, sweets and junk foods and my body responded by bleeding heavily every trip to the restroom. but in about a week of that horrible episode the bleeding almost completely gone away.

Supa, I see you take a lot of things for your UC have you tried to adjust your diet even for a short period to see if there are any changes? I figured out that if I eat only vegetables and some lean meats that my body can heal itself easier. I know its boring and hard especially if you travel a lot like I do but it's worth a try.

Got2believe, I have tried some minor dietary adjustments, but nothing major. The Humira had previously worked so well that it wasn't necessary! But now I think it might be. That is tough since I have very little energy for cooking, and my hubby isn't around a lot (he has a roundtrip commute of 2.5 hours daily), so all of the food prep and everything is up to me. So I end up eating things that are easy (like frozen soup-my mom and dad make it and bring it to me, mostly). Before this flare, I was eating salads with chicken and things like that, but I can't stomach those things now.

So far, the adjustments I have made and supplements I take have had no real impact for me, but like I said, I haven't tried any strict diets. With things as they are though, I think that is probably the next step for me.

Thank you for the input!

Bleeding was my last symtom to appear (and I was up to 15+ bm's a day before I saw any) and my first to disappear as I went into remission. I was weak before it started though, from all of the bathroom trips and lost sleep.

I usually start with weakness, mucus, gas and then bleeding. I'm pretty sure I'm flaring now because I've been a tired, gassy mess for 2 days and now I see mucus mixed with blod and VERY loose stools. I guess its back to the rosewa enemas. Hope to have it under control for Valentine's Day. Flaring is NOT sexy!!

Callalily, I wasn't trying to say anything about your diagnosis just pointing out the fact that the name ulcerative colitis implies ulcers. i'm not disputing there is also colitis (without the ulcerative preceding) or how your UC sypmtoms affected your life or the degree of anybody's UC. I knew i probably shouldn't have put that comment, but i'm a curious mind. I'm just saying that I'm skeptical about almost everything about UC and if my GI didn't have any pics of ulcers i would definately be skeptical about a UC diagnosis. Shoot, I have red patches and ulcers and I still sometimes feel so good I think i don't. I've never been to the hospital but have definately had symptoms that are no fun.

Supa, try to find the energy to at least put into cooking. I am a single parent, have bad arthritis in my back, neck and hips, suffer from my UC symptoms daily, feel drained all the time but I still steam veggies and george forman grill meat almost everyday. Changing my lifestyle and eating habits have been one of the hardest things I have ever done but I am proud of it. I am almost certain if I could eat healthy and not cheat that I could achieve remission but I am not suffering too badly now so I cheat a lot. One thing i think hurts me is that I have to eat at certain times of the day. Since your home try to listen to your body and it will tell you when it is hungry.

During my first bad flare I bled A LOT. Most of the time it was just all blood, no poo. This went on for months. My red count was actually up. That didn't weaken me too much, til I got the flu on top of it.

My first sign was blood - and then I bled almost every single day for 3.5 years until my total colectomy/ileostomy just over 3 weeks ago! Same horror shows described - filling the toilet - clots - loss of control, often only blood came out - VERY low ferratin and iron and haemoglobin blood levels.

Now I am FREE :)

oh yeah...wanted to add that I look at the fact that I am able to be home w/my kids as a major blessing right now.
If I were working out of the house, my life would be AAAWFUL! Use this time (even though you have to still care for the kids)
to your advantage & try looking at it that way. Once I did that & really changed my mindset, It was very helpful to my recovery.
Someday again we may not be so lucky