*Peeps around the corner* Hi, I'm the new kid.

(Please forgive the weird sense of humor. It's my coping mechanism.) I was browsing around on good old Google looking for information and I happened upon this forum. I was Diagnosed with UC at age 12. I spent 2 weeks ignoring the ever increasing amounts of blood until a good friend was over at my house and saw the state of thing said that I was going to the emergency room and she was coming with me. She stayed all night into the next morning in the ER with me where among other things she asked the Dr. if he was indeed a real Dr. and "not just a hobo who walked wearing a Doctor's coat?" while holding a 4 inch heel as a "weapon" to make me laugh during my exam. He took a sample for the hema-cult card and then asked if it was alright to get an X-ray. I merely replied that "I just had a stranger's finger up my why would mind an X-ray?" I later had my first colonoscopy and was diagnosed. If it hadn't been for a silly girl who sees shoes as weapons I would have waited until things were much worse and would have faced it with dread instead of humor. I had a great pediatric gastro. who left and was replaced by a different pediatric gastro. who couldn't give 2 craps about any patients over age 8. I honestly have no idea of the exact amount of colonoscopies between then and finally moving to an adult doctor. It all eventually runs together. At the pre-op I had with him before aging out of my mom's insurance that year I still remember him saying "we are going to check for polyps" he laughed a little and said "but you are 19 so you probably won't have any." I only remember it so well because the next thing I remember him saying was "so we removed some polyps," lol. I aged out of insurance that year and he stocked up samples for me as best he could for Colazal, but when I needed to be placed on 9 pills a day he couldn't do that (which is understandable.) I couldn't afford the medication or any procedures so I stopped going because it was really just $123.00 a trip to write prescriptions for drugs I can't afford. I have had one bad flare a year since oddly enough it's usually around August. I finally made it past August this year! I also got medicaid and had a much needed colonoscopy and endoscopy! Everything looked well in the bottom half only about 4 inches inflamed. Endoscopy revealed a small hiatal hernia. My UC flares are usually stress related and everything was all well and good until about a month ago when me nerves shot so did the remission and I am active again. The good news is I have a follow up soon so I can actually get some help. Any of you who have had bad flares and no insurance probably know about the emergency room shuffle. The bleeding and the pain get so bad you cant' stand it anymore so you go to the emergency room. They throw Prednisone and pain killers at you and try to make you feel bad for not being able to afford your UC medication and send you out the door. God I hope that's over for good. Sorry for the weird and long-winded back-story! Also since I found this instead of my answer do any of you ever sit down thinking you have to poo and the only thing that comes out is a lump of something resembling bloody brain-matter? It's not like the sticky mucous-y puss stuff that stinks. It's more solid and doesn't smell as bad. Any one have an idea of what I mean and if so... what is it?

I've had grey poops when I was flaring. I definitely understand the "what the heck is that?!" feeling!

Thanks for the replies guys. Sorry you are losing your insurance, Beeswax. The insurance situation is a pretty crappy one for people who actually need it. People with good enough jobs to buy the meds have insurance and the people who don't have the big wig jobs can't get insurance! My husband is in that spot. Sorry for the delayed reply all I have been insanely busy trying to figure out where we are moving. I'm pretty sure that is why I'm having such a crappy flare. If I get stressed my butt ends up being a blood faucet. I will definitely be checking out the resources page. I hope I can just make it until the 31st and then I have the follow up and hopefully I can get a prescription. I have been getting the run around with medicaid. I was on adult-child disability for mental illness and that ended when I got married So now it is SSI which automatically qualifies you for medicaid. They were putting me on medicare when I had the disability, but since I don't have it I am supposed to be able to switch to a better plan. Medicaid says their records say I still have it and medicare and social security say nope you sure don't. They won't communicate that to one another so it's like GRRRR! If I can get it switched to Unison I would be so much better off. All the others have a 4 prescription cap per month and I am already on more than that for everything else. I am so tired of the whole thing. I don't know about any of you all, but for me there are points where I just wish they would remove my colon already. I had fight with an ER doc over it before. She was trying to make me feel guilty for not getting meds I couldn't afford and pulled that "well you don't want it to get worse do you?" business. I told her frankly right then I sure did. I hoped it got so bad they had to take the dang thing out and I could be done with it. I've never seen a doctor shut up so quickly. So UGH, you've had poop where to actual poop was gray? I haven't done that one yet. It was like chunky stuff not poop. I would be confused too! I've only heard of gray/chalky poop being Hepatitis. Now I know flares might cause it too. Thanks, UGH.

I was also going to suggest the prescription help that the drug companies offer.

PLEASE go to a safety net ("free") clinic or health center instead of the emergency room. They will do a better job of making sure you get help to get your medicines, and arrange for free appointments with specialists and tests when you need them.
ERs are not intended to treat chronic (ongoing) illness, they are meant to deal with emergencies, so you might be feeling their resentment for your using them that way.

I hope you can get all the red tape figured out! The safety net clinics have people who can help with that too. They are used to it!

@Peety All very true. I just didn't know what else to do. I try not to see doctors at all, lol. If I can get away with only seeing my psychiatrist you better bet I will. Between UC and everything else the last place I want to be is within 100ft of a doctor's office/ER. My local clinic type place (I guess that's what it is. It's income based) was supposed to write me referrals to their GI clinic, but has failed to do so like 5 times. Thankfully I'm covered right now. I will have to look around and see if I can find one of the clinics around here though. I don't really know what I am looking for. Is it like the health department or something else? I always had really good insurance growing up so I never had to deal with clinics or all the red tape. Thanks very much for the advice.