Is this another flare?

I've had left-sided colitis for three years now, and whenever I've got a flare there's always constipation, bleeding and mucus. But something odd has been going on for the past few days. I don't know if I'm flaring because my UC has spread, or if it's just some kind of food poisoning.

I'm getting a strong urge to go every hour or so. When I go, I just get loose stools with no mucus, blood or gas. All of this started happening suddenly and has been going on for about 4-5 days now. Any ideas as to what it could be? I really hope it's just food poisoning or something.

Oral + rectal 5-ASA, but the rectals don't seem to be helping much with the D. I did have some slight bleeding two weeks ago, but I got on rectals straight away and managed to stop the bleeding.

But now there's no blood or mucus, only D, which is why I'm confused.

Could be a stomach bug, but I'm not sure. I'm not taking any probiotics at the moment.

My UC is left sided and doesn't go past the sigmoid. Usually when I have a flare, I get constipation along with false urges to go. If I'm flaring right now, then this is the first time I've gotten D caused by UC.

I've been on 4g/day of oral 5-ASA (Salofalk) every day since I was diagnosed.

I just hope my UC hasn't spread. :(

Post Edited (Max89) : 9/24/2012 1:25:44 PM (GMT-6)

When I saw the blood, I got on nightly enemas for two weeks until the bleeding stopped. After that, I was doing them every third night when suddenly I started getting diarrhea. Anyway, I just saw some blood with diarrhea a few minutes ago, so now I know it's a flare.

Can left-sided UC also cause diarrhea or does this new symptom mean my UC is spreading? I'm just really worried this time because I've never had diarrhea due to UC before.

Post Edited (Max89) : 9/24/2012 10:48:12 PM (GMT-6)

I've had mild left sided UC ever since I was diagnosed 10 years ago.  When I would flare it was often, but not always, accompanied by D.  And my flaring usually followed me not taking my meds religiously (rectal 5asa and oral asacol).

A few months ago, after a round of antibiotics, I started to have symptoms that you describe.  I let it go on for a few weeks.  After a colonoscopy, the dr told me that my left side had become severely inflamed and my right side was now mildly inflamed.  Not what I expected or wanted.  I think that my UC was active before the antibiotics, but the antibiotics disturbed whatever fine balance I had going on.

My advice is to call your GI dr.  I hope that your symptoms will subside on their own but if it is a flare, you should try to catch it early on.  It may also be time to discuss with you dr whether or not your current treatment plan is working for you (something that I did not do enough of).

 

Yeah, I made the mistake of stopping the enemas right after the bleeding stopped.

I got some more yesterday and will be using them nightly for a month. There's still bleeding, but the diarrhea stopped after my first dose and I'm feeling better today.

I personally wouldn't give yourself a time frame on how long you'll be on them nightly. I think you should stay on them nightly until you have had ZERO symptoms for 2-3 weeks. Then taper to every other night for 2-3 weeks, and assuming all is stable, to twice weekly, and stay there.