Treatment For Colitis Timeline

Hi Everyone,
I am wondering if you can share with me how long does it take for you guys suffering from UC to get a colonscopy and treatment/medication when you first went to the doctor with your symptoms.
Cheers and Thanks!

My doctors have always started treating me before the scope. My first GI treated me for hemorrhoids but the suppositories helped because I had a small bit of inflammation in my rectum. After that I had a sigmoidoscopy and was diagnosed with proctitis. I didn't flare up until about a year later and I had moved and had to see another GI. The second GI gave me Asacol before she had a chance to do a scope. It helped quickly.

Does 1 1//2 months of not getting treatment for colitis sounds odd to you guys?(the GI wanted the colitis to develop)and somehow i believe along the line of waiting,the colitis developed into Pancolitis.

Thank u guys for the reply..
Archiestyles-you are lucky you received treatment right away.

Notsosicklygirl-I have always had this idea that Asacol should be given after the scope,thank u for letting me know that:)

Journey2health-Sounds like my husband's case with the misdiagnosing part.My husband has pancolitis as well and he is in the military.Misdiagnosed with Gastroenteritis(infection,)had to wait for a month and a half before the GI decided to give him a colonscopy and predisone.He got better within 4 days.How long have you been in remission for?What were you misdiagnosed with?

Post Edited (navywife83) : 4/16/2011 6:44:02 AM (GMT-6)

Canadagal-thank you for taking the time out to reply.Did you have any stomach cramps at all while you bleed?I couldn't imagine what you guys go through but i feel so sympathetic towards each and everyone of you UC sufferers and i hope that you guysare able to get into remission and stay that way.

You said it Canadagal-"waiting to the colitis to develop",It is pretty messed up which is why i am here wondering what is the standard timeline for the treatment of UC.

Post Edited (navywife83) : 4/16/2011 10:15:58 AM (GMT-6)

Navywife, no, the first time around I had had what I thought was a 48 hour stomach flu. Then about a month later the blood started. if anything I was (and always had been) more on the constipated side of things. Only became a daily pooper (sorry!) once on meds. No cramping, or diarhea. Might have been some mucus with the blood at times but it was always blood streaked stools.

The second time i had problems it was a very fast progression. I notices mucus and blood and then within 2-3 days it was full blown flare ; Urgency, frequency, cramps, diarreha all of it. I called my GI right away and could only get an appointment in 2 weeks and they wouldn't tell me anything over the phone (to up my meds or such.. ) SInce it was the first time i had these more classic symptoms I didn't really know what to do. Next time I flare I will up my meds myself if I need to wait to see my GI.


When was you husband diagnosed? ( or is he still waiting for a formal diagnosis?) Is he only being treated with prednisone or is he also on a 5ASA (mesalmine) drug. Sometime to get the proper diagnoses can be timely and tricky but once confirmed he really needs to be treated and probably be on maintenance drug long term. You and your husband can find lots of information on here.

Spring2011-are you in remission yet?I truly hope so.It seems that your GI did the right thing procedure by giving you a colonscopy and treatment as he/she was supposed to.Thank u for finding the time to reply to me.

Canadagal and Imagardener2-This is the story..it is going to be a lengthy one so please bear with me.

On Sept 21st 2009,my husband rushed himself to the ER because he started bleeding diarrhea and was retained overnight for a CT Scan the next day and he was also given a sigmoidscope.A month prior to this,he experienced stomach pain which he told the doctor about.They sent him off on his way and said "ooh dont worry about it,it is just AN INFECTION called GASTROENTERITIS and it will clear up within 4 days to a week"he had 5 different doctors who were checking on him, convincing my husband that he will be fine.

A week later,had a follow up with his GI and she told him,that she is still leaning towards it being infection but she needed sometime for it to develop before giving him a colonscopy.

Following week,he rushed to the ER this time because he wasn't able to keep his food down,bleeding diarrhea,stomach cramps.He was given antibiotics and was sent off.

A week or so later had another follow up with his GI and this time,my husband begged her to give him something because the pain was so intense.She gave him Imodium(it specifically says,DO NOT TAKE IF THERE IS BLOOD IN STOOL).Upon entrusting his GI,he took the Imodium which literally caused his stool to get stuck in his colon and ended up causing him constipation and extreme bloatness.

Again a week later,my husband had to rushed himself to the ER.This time his pain was extremely intense that he could not even take down any water nor food and had lost 20-30 something lbs by that time.After giving him IV since he was dehydrated,the ER DR told him there is nothing they can do about it since this matter is in the hands of the GI.He was sent off to the door,again.

Had another follow up with the GI,and she told my husband to stop taking the Immodium and to give her more time for the colitis to develop.He continues having severe cramps that were so intense that his eyes literally tear up.He continued bleeding diarrhea and stomach cramps until his colonscopy.

A FEW WEEKS  LATER(1 1/2 MONTHS BY THIS TIME)-on November 6,2009-my husband was finally given a colonscopy and the inflammation was so severe that they could not complete the colonscopy and gave him predisone.By this time,he had lost 40lbs .She sent him off and told him to go back to work on Monday since he had his colonscopy on Friday.The Predisone started working in 2 days and he was better within 4 days.He lost 40 lbs during the 1 1/2 months and was slowly gaining all his weight back.No symptoms from then now.

March 2010,my husband made an appointment to rule out his colitis as instructed by his GI.He could easily get away with it and not ever go back to the GI Clinic but he followed instructions and went back for the 2nd colonscopy to rule out the colitis.This time,the GI gave him a colonscopy and took out tissue samples for a biopsy test.
Result came back a few days later and it shows that my husband has full blown pancolitis.

A year and a half later now,they decided to kick him out of the military.How on earth did an infection turn out to a full blown pancolitis?i dont understand.The GI could have treated him in that 1 1/2 months instead the GI sent him to the door time and time again,telling him to give more time for the colitis to develop.And after a week since he first went in,they should know that it is no longer just an infection and should start treating him.

Now,my husband and i started a fire with the GI Clinic since we wrote in complain letters to both the hospital credential authorities and i personally wrote to the head of the GI clinic.
I had so many unanswered questions and my husband and i will be facing 2 GIs along with one of the hospital authority figure on the 2nd of May.I know for a fact that they have a million excuses and reasons in the book why they made my husband wait for 1 1/2 month before they decided to give him a colonscopy and give him medication for his treatment.And i am terribly frightened.What grounds can a girl with only a degree in education stand on against 2 people with medical degree and who have every excuses and reasons in the book and who could end up making me look like a laughing stock even though my husband and i strongly believe that the care he received during his flare up was below standard.Wish us luck.

Post Edited (navywife83) : 4/20/2011 8:11:18 AM (GMT-6)

Archiestyles-It wasn't a great start at all.She seemed to still be under instructions from her superiors and it seems like every decision she made,she had to consult her superior first.

Since my husband is an active duty sailor,he has to go through navy medical.If we had known this would happened,we would request to switch GI since the GI had proved herself to be pretty incompetent.

My husband has been in remission for 1 1/2 yr now since he got on Predisone and got better within 4 days from November 2009 onwards .He is now on a maintenance of Asacol.You are right,the relationship with the Dr is equally important and somehow we were assigned to with someone who ended screwing my husband out of his military career.

Post Edited (navywife83) : 4/19/2011 1:48:01 AM (GMT-6)

Bleeding, weight loss, loss of appetite are all indications not to "wait and see".
You are correct, a civilian doctor would have sent him for a colonoscopy as soon as possible.
One of the dangers of prescribing Immodium without a diagnosis is he could have developed "toxic megacolon" and died. Death is rare for people with IBD but this is one thing we have to watch out for. An informed GI should have known this.

Imagardner2-I dont know what else to do neither does my husband.He found out a couple of weeks ago that he made selection for board of chiefs which means a year or 2 down the road,he could possibly make chief,after 10 years of being in the navy and working as hard as he did since 17 when he first joined,all of his dreams are shattered all and i strongly believed that if he been given peoper medication instead of following instructions and having to wait for a month and a half,all of these could possibly be avoided.Imagine having 5 doctors telling you"Oh dont worry it is just an infection it is going to clear up to"u have full blown pan colitis now we are going to kick you out" 1 1/2 months later.We kept going back,it is not as if we didn't but she refuse to treat my husband.

The worst part of this matter is that there were no apology nor did the GI have an ounce of decency to say"im sorry we misdiagnosde you and we have 5 different doctors assuring you,we are going to look into giving you a better treatment."like i said my husband is just another number to them so everything is expected to be swept under the rug as if it never happened..the misdiagnosis,the waiting for 1 1/2 months,the prescription of Imodium she shouldnt have given to my husband which causes his condition to worsen even to the point where he cant even hold down water.


I dont know how my husband and i are going to walk through on the 2nd Of May facing 2 GIs other than the few questions we have for them.This could work with us or against us and the doctor might end up writing a negative summary of my husband's condition to the Medical Board Evaluation board he is facing at the moment.Oh did i also forgot to mention that right after my husband's 3 months Asacol prescription expired,she got mad at my husband for not getting his refill updated nor noticing her about it.As though it is part of my husband's common sense to know things that were not instructed to him because just like Predisone that he was tapering down,he thought he will be done once he finished the 3 bottles of Asacol prescribed to him.How on earth do you even have common sense about such things if no one gave you proper instructions to began with.She threatened to write him up in my husband's medical summary which could get him into deeper trouble with the Navy.My god!But thank god she didn't.

I will bring all of these matter up to them because my i am about to hit the bloody roof just thinking about her stupidity in the matter.I know it sounds as though i am really condemning the GI but only lord knows how incompetent she is.I have never in my entire life seen a doctor as incompetent as her.And because of her negligence,she is going to screw my husband out of his career.What if he doesnt flare up again?10 years of his navy career will be gone,basically flushed down the toilet for no apparent reason other than due to technicality.

Post Edited (navywife83) : 4/19/2011 11:17:39 AM (GMT-6)

*lookingforanswers* said...
17. No duplicate posts. To delete accidental duplicate posts, login first, then open the message you want to delete, then select the Delete Post button (VIEW IMAGE) on the top right hand corner of the message box.

Please read the forum rules....

Hi do you mind pointing out to me exactly which one is the duplicate post so i can delete it since i am not sure which post you are pointing at.Thanks.

 

Post Edited (navywife83) : 4/19/2011 12:14:51 PM (GMT-6)

Oh i see,thanks MOMUC19 for clearing that up because i am pretty new on here myself and was figuring out which post to delete.

Post Edited (navywife83) : 4/20/2011 12:09:32 PM (GMT-6)