Uncomfortable pain in left upper abdominal area.

Good afternoon all. I was looking for some advice :). I am just coming out of my worst flare up ever that ended me up in the ER. I was put on 40 mg of prednisone and was tapered down successfully and now prednisone free....thank God. That is nasty stuff and I never want to be on it again.
Anyway since this was my 2nd bad flare this year my gastro doc has me seeing him every six weeks so he can stay on top of any possible new flare up symptoms. I mentioned to him last visit that I was having a (hard to describe) dull, pressure or fullness pain in my upper left side abdomen. He thought it was heartburn. I have had heartburn and this isn't heartburn. It comes on after I eat, no matter the size of the meal or what I eat. It feels as though something is pressing up under my rib cage. Any suggestions on what this might be?

Yes, I was on Canasa suppositories before and during my first flare this year in January. They didn't do much if anything so the GI doc agreed that they weren't helping with anything and to not use them.

My UC with the last colonoscopy which was in 09 showed just lower portion was affected. GI thinks there is a possibility of it having spread, but with the flares recently he wanted to wait to do another colonoscopy, until I had a longer time of remission.

I have tried Zantac and Prilosec with no difference what so ever.

My flare up started two weeks before I had to go in to the ER. It was abdominal pain (cramping), gas, lots of diarrhea with blood and mucus. I was eating very bland diet, lots of probiotics. I was NOT on Apriso at the time. Before the ER visit I wasn't on any daily medications besides probiotics. The day of the ER visit my stomach cramping was horrible and trips to the bathroom was only blood and water as bowel movements. In the ER they gave me morphine and started the prednisone. I felt pretty good after the morphine :). They also gave me a few hydrocodone to take home and I used two to keep the cramps away. In the days after ER I was horribly constipated. I had lots of natural stuff to try and clear up the constipation, after 4 days of daily doses of Miralax (okayed by GI doc) I had some relief. Now that I have tapered off prednisone. I have been pretty regular with bm's. I have had two episodes of blood and mucus, which is a great improvement for me. This pain is my only constant after meals.

Thanks for the welcome.

It is likely caused by left-sided colon inflammation-- from descending colon or sigmoid or both. / Old Hat (30 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)