UC anxiety? and/or change of life? or inner ear problems?...What a combo...Suggestions?

Not sure what has been going on lately but it is annoying me. I'm not sure if this part of living with UC. I guess I should give a bit of an update. October 2008 flare-up with a vengeance, UC tapered off during summer of 2009. Lost about 30 pounds. Had a colonoscopy in July 2009 and it was OK. Slowly gained weight during fall and I was doing well until Christmas 2009, caught stomach flu, and started nipping a bit during holidays as well. Now since January 2010, UC is happening but not as bad in 2008. I find it is sensitive to amount of coffee and even a 1/2 to 1/4 cup of beer. And it's sensitive to foods as well. I'm on Asacol 4 pills/day (2 in AM and 2 in PM). I tried upping to 6 pills/day but had a very dizzy reaction to it. So I'm not sure if this as because of the 6/day or something else. Now just staying on 4 pills/day.

I'm not losing that much blood when I go to the bathroom, it's about 6 tablespoons/day if even that so I don't think it has too much to do with being anemic.

What I'm experiencing is a bit of anxiety once in a while and some slight dizziness. Has this happened to anyone? I've noticed on some signature/info area, that some are on lexapro or prozac. Does this help?

I went to hospital once for the dizziness with some heart palpitations and because it settled down after one hour they just sent me home with no real testing other than blood sugar test. My plan is get everything checked out. And just another note too, and I'm not embarrassed to write this but I think I'm going through perimenopause as I have not had my monthly since early January 2010. And yes, I'm not PG, had that checked.

With regard to colonoscopies, does anyone else have to get this done yearly? The doctor says to have another done this summer again and every year from now on.

And my left ear aches on occasion. The doctor said there is nothing going on there too. So needless to say, all this is very annoying!
Thanks for listening to my complaining!

I have Chronic Epstein- barr Mono. When it starts to get active, my gland on the left side of my throat swells plus my left ear starts hurting. If I don't treat it, I start to get dizzy. I take Famvir to keep it under control. You might want to get a blood test for Epstein- Barr

Sorry for all you're going through.

I have colonoscopies yearly.

Thanks, guys! I do have an appointment middle of March.10 and have a list of blood work to be completed before then. The NP I saw (takes forever to see a regular doctor) said she saw a bit of water in my ears, so I hope maybe that's all it may be but also getting checked also. If dizziness continues though, she said they'll start checking heart,etc. So we shall see then!

I forgot to add to my signature, that I do have a prescription for entocort enemas 0.02 mg/ml, (chemical name budesonide) before bed but I haven't used it since the fall of 2009. The first couple of nights were OK but the third day after I had such abdominal cramps, they felt worse than menstrual cramps! I had a hard time walking a couple of times when the cramping started. So I didn't really get to see what it could do. Has anyone had this problem before with this stuff? Is it perhaps the same as Rowasa but under a different name? Just wondering if I should try starting this again?

Of course, I think we all know what the side effects of Asacol are and maybe that's what it was? 4 weeks ago, for two days in a row, I did add 1 more asacol per day to 3 in the morning and two in the evening making it 5 in a day. Then that's when I had a major dizziness spell at work that scared me because I thought I was going to fall off my chair and had to hang onto my desk for a few minutes. Everything went white, my heart was beating like crazy and my hands went super clammy! I must've lasted about 15 seconds but wow, I never had anything like that before. So I thought maybe it was the asacol and went back down to 4 (400 mg) per day. Then that's when the dizziness started off and on.

My colonoscopy is scheduled for mid-April, so I'm trying to hopefully settle things down between now and then. I'm trying soy milk, which is lactose free, dairy free with vitamin d, calcium and zinc in it. Also trying udo's oil 3-6-9, 1 tbs per day. Oh and trying...liquid vitamins taking it kosher style with in water. Sure hope one of these days they find a cure for this disease!

     I went through an early menopause.....common in the women in my family.  Yes, I remember the anxiety and heart palpitations.  Didn't realize they were related to menopause at the time, but after menopause the palpitations ceased.  They even misdiagosed me as having mitral valve prolapse and I had to take massive doses of erythromycin whenever I went to the dentist...and I can just bet that led to this disease.  My periods ceased completely by the time I was 44 yrs old.  I didn't get UC until  I was 52.

Your asacol intake sounds low to me, maybe you should be doing an enima too?

Im on 9x 400mg tabs a day 4 AM 5 at PM