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Desperately need advice about (almost constant) stomach pain!!!

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 12/11/2011 3:35 PM (GMT 0)
Currently I am still going through a mild to moderate flare up. For the most part, my main symptom is severe stomach pain. This is definitely after I eat, but continues throughout the entire night. I sleep completely upright, because laying down causes the pain to be worse and does me no good in an relief. I may have the pain during the day off and on, but at night it is horrible.

If anyone has any type of advice or what has worked for them, I am all ears(eyes).

Thank you in advance!

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Diagnosed with UC in 2009 with hospitalization.
Malsalamine for a year and a half
Prednisone for a month
Next flare 08/2011-current hospitalized twice
Malsalamine 08/2011 through 11/2011
Prednisone IV in hospital and currently 8weeks taper
Posted 12/11/2011 5:06 PM (GMT 0)
I have never experienced this with my flares. I believe if you are in that much pain you should contact your doctor as soon as possible. Surely someone is on call on a Sunday. You should not have to deal with this.
Posted 12/11/2011 5:29 PM (GMT 0)
Could you have gastritis? I'm on a pred taper and the stomach pain is terrible at late afternoon/night. Is one of the side effects of pred. I get gastritis every single time I'm on it and start to taper.
Posted 12/11/2011 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
Last year, I also had lots of stomach pain.This was after a month long flare. All the other symptoms stopped except for extreme stomach pain.  I put a heating pad on it and tried to lay flat. My dr. tested me for c-diff and even though I tested negative, he treated me with Flagyl. The pain went away after a few days. Call your Dr. and see if you can get tested. I had been on 2 types of antibiotics in the previous month, so that is what caused  the c-diff. Have you been on any antibiotics lately?
Posted 12/11/2011 5:40 PM (GMT 0)
could be gastritis or severe reflux.

Have you tried any acid reducers to see if that helps?

ARe you on mesalamine enemsa as well?

Antispasmodics can help too..I use dicyclomine.

q
Posted 12/11/2011 6:44 PM (GMT 0)
I looked up the gastritis, could be that. I have an appointment tomorrow with my regular doctor as well as a GI appointment on Tuesday. So hopefully they will give me more answers as well. I was recently hospitalized and they also treated me with flagyl, the tests were negative. I am currently only on the prednisone. Will discuss going back on the Malsalamine this Tuesday with my GI doctor. I do take an acid reducer, but only in the mornings. That's how the doctors prescribed it....

Pink1: what is it that helps with the pain for you?
Posted 12/11/2011 7:51 PM (GMT 0)
Slippery Elm is great for stomach pain. Cheap and easy to find. Good luck at the Dr.
Posted 12/11/2011 8:15 PM (GMT 0)
Has your doctor spoken to you about immunosuppressive drugs like 6mp or Imuran?  Obviously the meds you are on are not effective enough.  When tapering off of prednisone my doc always had another new option for my body to fall back on.  The pred is basically a symptom masker and helps get the inflammation down until plan B (or C or D etc.) kicks in.  I swore by imuran for over 13 years that I had this disease.  That drug served me like no other; the 5asas did nothing for me really. 
Posted 12/11/2011 8:17 PM (GMT 0)
LIBRAX
Sulfasalazine
MEBEVERINE

Immediate pain relief - thats easy - Vicodin is king. It also completely removes both UC and working memory. No free lunch.
Posted 12/11/2011 9:57 PM (GMT 0)
In order to relieve stomach pain after eating I would chew DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice) capsules about 20-30 minutes before eating food. Chew well before swallowing because in order to be effective it must interact with saliva. I came upon this solution because I thought my pain originated from ulcers. It turns out that I had UC and this worked during my last flare.

It also helped not to eat for 3 hours before bedtime so I would not awaken in the middle of the night with stomach pain. Take DGL 20 minutes before bedtime. And do not use the 'tasty' DGL that contains sorbitol and fuctose. I find that these flavorings aggravate my stomach. I use Nature's Plus which is in capsules and probably not meant to be chewed, but at least it is pure.

Later I found out that the Chinese are researching DGL licorice as a cure of ulcerative colitis.
Posted 12/12/2011 10:08 PM (GMT 0)
where is the pain in your abdomen? is it more in the stomach area (upper left part of abdomen) or is it more located in your colon?? i'd expect stomach pain from crohn's but not so much from colitis. i had HORRIBLE colon pain and was never able to sleep until i started remicade. if the pain is in your stomach though, maybe you should take digestive enzymes.
Posted 12/13/2011 12:59 PM (GMT 0)
Lani17,

Are you sure the location of the pain is your stomach?

Pain that severe sounds like it might be pancreatitis?

I hope you get this checked out quickly by your doctor.

Posted 12/13/2011 9:53 PM (GMT 0)
I was discharged from the hospital December 10 after a flare up. Severe pain requires a call to the doctor. My treatment is Asacol EC which has begun to help.
Posted 12/14/2011 1:15 AM (GMT 0)
The only thing that helped me was hydrocodone. If your doctor won't prescribe you any, maybe you could try just a plain old tylenol because acetominophen (that's probably not spelled right but oh well) is the active ingredient in Hydrocodone.
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