HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

UC Flare Whenever I'm Sick??

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 3/7/2010 11:45 PM (GMT 0)
Does anybody else experience a UC flare when they get sick? Right now I have bronchitis and whenever I get sick I can always expect UC symptoms on day 2 of being sick. Once I start to feel better, the symptoms go away. I need to know if this is normal, and if it is, does anybody have a good way of preventing it before it starts?

I don't have a gastro doctor right now, I'm so sick of doctors I just don't want to see anybody. I don't want any more medicines, I'm tired of explaining myself. I'm tired of being treated like a crack head when I complain about my joint pain, severe back pain, and ask for Vicodin when it's the only thing preventing me from crapping myself in the cereal isle with my 18 month old daughter. Or in the tanning bed. Or while riding my horse.

Sorry...never talked to anybody with UC before, first time posting...

Currently not taking any medications other than Vicodin for pain (two 500mg a day), and it's also the only thing I found that actually makes me able to control my symptoms. Supposed to be on Asacol but they have me taking 12 (400mg) pills a day and I don't find it helps me enough to continue to use it. Also refuse steroid treatments. I'm 23.
Posted 3/8/2010 12:01 AM (GMT 0)
     It sounds as though you are addicted to the pain killer.  Taking that over a prolonged period of time will lead to liver damage.
Posted 3/8/2010 12:11 AM (GMT 0)
I appreciate your input but I'm not addicted. I don't take daily unless I'm having UC symptoms and I stopped taking it with no problems after a year of off and on use while I was pregnant for nine months, and breast feeding for 12 months. While I was pregnant I had no UC symptoms so it wasn't really a problem, and I very minimal symptoms while breastfeeding but have been more frequent for the past 6 months. I've also spoken with my primary care physician and she let me know that unless I'm taking more than 8 500mg a day, my liver will be fine. I suffered a reverse curvature of the spine from a car accident involving a semi truck and still have severe back pain from something as little as going for a walk, and have suffered some extremely embarrassing situations because of my Ulcerative Colitis. I've found something that will constipate me enough to get through my day when I'm having symptoms, while caring for an 18 month old and I'm not going to apologize for it. If at some point I do get addicted, I'd rather be addicted then spend the rest of my life in fear, shame, pain and embarrassment. I'm sure I'll die of Colon Cancer before Liver Failure from 1000mg of Vicodin.
Posted 3/8/2010 12:25 AM (GMT 0)
     I apologize.  When reading your post it sounded like you took the Vicodin daily.  I take it too when I am in pain with the UC.  My GI doctor will not prescribe it but my family doctor does.  It does help enormously with the pain.  When I was discharged from the hospital in 08 and the pain radiated from my rectum into the vaginal area and down into my legs, I used to walk the floor in pain.   My family doctor said I shouldn't have to suffer so much and prescribed the Hydrocodone.  I take it sparingly though. 

     To answer your initial question....I am in a constant flare but haven't had any other illnesses like bronchitis.  My main problem is the rectal inflamation.  Years ago I did suffer UC symptoms after a cold though.  Hope you are feeling better soon.

Posted 3/8/2010 6:48 AM (GMT 0)
That's okay, I probably should have elaborated better.

I've never experienced the pain you're describing, but I'm sorry you had to go through that! I hope you start feeling better too.
Posted 3/9/2010 11:22 PM (GMT 0)
Do you take antibiotics when you are sick? In some ways you are fortunate that your UC symptoms only occur when you are sick and disappear when you begin to get better. I wish that were true for me. For myself and from reading the posts of others on this forum, once UC symptoms begin, a flare may have started that may take weeks or months to end. I hope that some flares end spontaneously but from what I can tell flares end after taking meds or steroids with toxic side effects. I wish vicodin worked for me.

If you can get by without asacol then more power to you. Perhaps you can look into different kinds of diets or probiotics that can prevent UC before the symptoms start.

Post Edited (BabeintheWoods) : 3/9/2010 4:34:23 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 3/9/2010 11:38 PM (GMT 0)
After reading a lot of people's posts on here and what they've been going through, I do feel fortunate that things have been pretty easy lately. When I was first diagnosed I had to go through a couple of hospitalizations, bleeding out, and had a non stop 2 year flare but since my daughter things have been relatively easy in comparison.

I'd like to think things won't get worse but I know it's just a matter of time. cry

I'd love to find a G.I. that actually knows about diet and UC or can refer me to a dietitian. I've had a couple of GI doctors tell me that diet won't help or change Ulcerative Colitis, which is why I don't have a GI doctor right now. Haven't found one that I clicked with yet!
Posted 3/9/2010 11:58 PM (GMT 0)
Have you tried other meds to control the diarrhea like lomotil? It's tough, that's for sure and there is a difference in taking meds for pain control and abusing meds to get high. It's a shame that because of people who abuse pills, people who are honestly in pain can't get pain medications. It makes me upset. Like you said, some docs will treat you like an addict if you ask for pain pills. Last summer when I had a cracked molar, my (former) dentist gave me a lecture about taking loritab for pain! Hello!! I needed a root canal and was in horrible pain, so much that I had to also take advil with it. My GI doc told me not to take it but I had to. I think the dentist thought I was making it up.
Posted 3/10/2010 2:26 AM (GMT 0)
Are you on a probiotic at the moment? If not, maybe you should try them because probiotics can keep your intestine in a healthier state and when you get sick, by upping the probiotics during an illness can help. It makes sense that you would flare while getting sick. My belief is that when you get sick with a virus it ramps up your immune system which in turn attacks your colon more aggressively.
Posted 3/10/2010 3:27 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Boody ( don't say that everyday! :-)

I posted the opposite question a couple weeks ago. I got really, really sick and saw the closest thing to solid poo that I'd seen in weeks. A work of art.

A couple people agreed that they get better when sick, but most, like you get worse. I now think in my case, what helped me was that I was really resting (something life makes hard for me to usually do) and I was eating small liquid meals. Basically giving my dear colon a chance to rest some. Are you allowing yourself that or are you (like I typically do) still pushing your limits even though sick?

Well, hope you feel better (lungs and colon) soon!
Posted 3/10/2010 7:14 PM (GMT 0)

Somebody said...
Last summer when I had a cracked molar, my (former) dentist gave me a lecture about taking loritab for pain! Hello!! I needed a root canal and was in horrible pain, so much that I had to also take advil with it. My GI doc told me not to take it but I had to. I think the dentist thought I was making it up.

I'm glad to hear that it's your 'former' dentist!! I wish there was some way Doctors could actually get a reading on how bad the pain really is.

Somebody said...
Are you allowing yourself that or are you (like I typically do) still pushing your limits even though sick?

I wish I had the option not to push my limits. cry My daughter is on the go all the time. My fiance took time off Monday to help me out which was AWESOME, I actually got a chance to sleep. But you might be right about the rest thing...when I was pregnant all I DID was sleep and I had all solids pretty much my entire pregnancy. (Considering another baby just based on that...lol). tongue

Somebody said...
Are you on a probiotic at the moment? If not, maybe you should try them because probiotics can keep your intestine in a healthier state and when you get sick, by upping the probiotics during an illness can help. It makes sense that you would flare while getting sick. My belief is that when you get sick with a virus it ramps up your immune system which in turn attacks your colon more aggressively.

That's what I had assumed was going on with my Immune System. Such a pain in the ass. Literally. I haven't tried probiotics, do you have any suggestions on a good probiotic to get? None of the GI doctors I've seen have suggested probiotics before.
Posted 3/10/2010 7:18 PM (GMT 0)
I have no suggestions about probiotics because we all have ones that we like. It's trial and error. I went thru 3 of them before I found the one that I like which is Pro-bio that I order online. But you can go to any store and find one. I think someone said that it's best to get one that has at least 3 billion bacteria count to beneficial.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply