brand new to colitis

Hey all. I'm 21 years old and was just diagnosed with colitis this week. I've been reading a bunch of your posts on here and I'm getting real nervous! I don't know what to expect, really. I've been reading that some of you have had surgeries due to UC and I am petrified that it will one day have to happen to me. Is it possible to live with UC your whole life and NOT have any type of surgery? Help!

Also remember that UC goes through periods of remission and flares. Some ppl are lucky and have very long remissions (years). If you find the right med combo for you it is quite possible you'll have years or even decades of normal living. The initial diagnosis of UC is always the hardest. I balled my eyes out for at least 2 weeks but was lucky my parents were there to comfort me day and night. I think only now am I finally starting to accept the illness. Welcome to HW!

Most people have mild controllable symptoms. Regulars on this board are not representative of U.C. sufferers, as most of us are flaring or having stubborn symptoms and are looking for ideas on what we can do to get better.

To be honest the more you get worried and stressed the worse it will get.
Reading on here is very helpful but at the same time can be detrimental as you can become obssessed and anixous and paranoid trust me.

You've been diagnosed but for all you know you could have a pretty hassel free colitis? very low amount of flare ups or if you do flare they are minor so don't get so down!

Colitis sucks don't get me wrong but everyones colitis is completely different. Unfortuntaly my colitis is terrible and im heading in that direction :( and im same age as you. But my auntie has colitis and has been flare free for over 30 years. A lot of the time you learn what you can and can't eat and you will be fine, takes a while to adjust.

But reality is it could go the other way theres no denieing that, but just keep your chin up.

JAiJAi,

I am not sure if I am a regular but I posted my story as I have reached remission. I am also not sure if having no control, going 20-30 times per day for well over a year would be considered "moderate" but I am now going once or not at all with no blood.

There is a lot of good information here from a lot of caring people trying to help by sharing their stories.

To me even 1 time per day of uncontrollable rectal spewing of blood is no pleasant experience.

Dig into this site. I have had success with LDN you can read my story on one of my posts. Others have had success with diet, fecal implant, antibiotics etc. There is no one glove fits all.

Try and read as much as you can and then start trying different approaches. Some have chosen to have surgery and successfully. This was at the bottom of my list. I came very close to deciding on this option before trying LDN. There are going to be tough days and tough decisions. Informed decisions are the best. I wish I had found this site sooner as it took me 1.5 years of greater than a moderate case of UC to get into remission.

MGBY

I have just been prescribed Lialda 4 pills daily for now, as well as the Mesalamine ( I think I spelled that right! ) enema twice daily! I have Librax as well for my symptoms as needed, but since I started the Lialda I haven't taken it. I was literally diagnosed this past Thursday after my colonoscopy. Apparently my inflammation was so bad, my GI couldn't get all the way through my intestines, so tomorrow I have to go for an xray of my small bowel to see if it is Chron's! It's all so confusing to me. All I know is that since taking this medicine and the enema, I haven't seen any blood in my stools. Granted it has only been 3 days, but still-- I would have blood every other day, if not every single day. So I'm crossing my fingers that it truly is working!

nope, no special diet! I do take Acidophilus once a day though!

I was having a lottttt of bloating and gas. Back in april, I had a three week bout of diahrrea, which the doctors decided was just a virus at the time because all of my blood work came back completely fine. Since then, I have had diahrrea maybe once a week, but all of my other stools have been formed, but with a little bit of blood and mucous. But for the most part, I felt absolutely fine. I was just dealing with it because I knew I had a fissure so I assumed the blood was from the fissure and the gas&bloating from my diet, as I was diagnosed with IBS two years ago. But about a month ago, when I had a bowel movement I saw a "different type" of blood. It honestly looked just like I blew a bloody snot out of my nose! So I knew something was up. And sure enough, inflammation. My doctor told me that if he didn't know me and just looked at my colonoscopy results, he would think I had diahrrea every day constantly, which is pretty odd since I have about 2-3 formed BMs a day. It's weird though, because I know a lot of people post topics about being in pain and such. I have no pain anywhere, so that is another reason I thought I was fine for a long time. But I'm glad everything is finally being revealed so I can take care of it :)

I'm 21! and just got back from my x-ray and when i tell you the technicians there were the *****iest people i have had to deal with in a while, i mean it. at the end when the radiologist had to take pictures, he failed to inform me that there would be something coming down and jabbing me in the stomach. I was like "ow!" and he was just like "oh sorry." and I completelyyy suck with medical stuff, I have never been through any of this before. So i started crying a little at the end, and i apologized and told the radiologist and the tech lady that i am just no good with this kind of stuff and they just looked at me. didn't even talk to me. usually I have doctors and nurses who talk to me, laugh with me, and get my mind off of everything and then i am good to go. no. not these people. they could care less. SO MAD. sorry for the rant :P

How do they determine Crohn's from an x-ray?

If they can't look at an x-ray to see if you have UC, how can they look at an x-ray to tell if you have Crohns? That's what I am not getting. Anyone else know? It is Monday......

UPDATE! Hey guys, I know some of you wanted to know how my x-ray went. Well, I guess they determine if it is Chron's or not by how narrow the Barium looks inside *shrug*. All I know is that I don't have Chron's! My small bowel is fine :) It is just my colon. Going for my follow up with my GI today before I leave on Sunday. Traveling across the country for three weeks! I'm hoping all goes well! I feel pretty good and seem to really be responding to the Lialda, so I am hopeful! Hope you all are having a good day and feeling wonderfulllllllll!

JaiJai,

Glad to hear of the positive results of the xray.

It's good that the pills are agreeing with you and making you feel good.

Enjoy your trip.