UC and any other illnesses

Hello. I am new to this site. I wanted to first ask a question and then tell my story. Here it is (beware this might be kind of long but stay with me :) ).
My question: is any one currently or have ever taking remacaid while trying to conceive? I am currently taking Remacaid and we are planning to Try for another in February. I do have a wonderful 8 yr old son. My hubby and I have been married for 9 yrs. he is 31 n I am 29 so we wanted to have our last child before it gets to late. Now here is my story.
I was diagnosed with UC 7 yrs ago a year after my son was born. For at least 6 yrs of my life I was in constant battle with UC. At the time I was taking Asacol and Cultrate (I am still taking Cultrate). I was in and out of the hospital every other month. At the time I was in college and a stay at home mom. I could not work because I kept getting sick. I felt illegitimate. I couldn't even take care of my son nor be the wife that I desired to b because UC, in my eyes, was taking over my life. The hospital, I felt, was my new home. Doctors even took a scan of my brain cause I guess they thought I was crazy or making up the pain that I was feeling. I allowed them to do the scan to prove my sanity. When doctors are to dumb to find out what is causing pain they either blame it on the illness you already have or blame it on u, ur sanity. I guess they thought I wanted to b in the hospital away from my family just to get their drugs. They where so wrong and when u read on you will see why.
Trips and more trips to the hospital was my life story. I even had a blood transfusion from losing so much blood. I would tell the doctors every time I went to the ER that my pain was more sever closer to my cycles but they wouldn't listen. I felt so depressed and was put on an antidepressant even though I didn't want to be. Well it didn't help I felt like killing myself. I thought to myself, why live in this world in pain? Why should I keep my hubby bound? So one day while in the bath tub I had a plan to kill my self. Through the grace and love of God my the. 2 yr old son came running into the restroom asking for juice. When I think about that day now I feel likei was being so selfish. Cause I had people in my life that loved me no matter what. My hubby and my mom was at every hospital visit. They encouraged me to stay strong through the mist of it all. So from that day I vowed to stay strong. And thank god I did. I prayed daily for god to show me why I'm suffering. I prayed to Godthathe would show me my reason for being. And so he did.
about a yr ago doctors decided that I needed surgery for UC. Thank God the surgeon would not operate on me cause the surgeon said UC doesn't cause the amount of pain I was in. I agreed with him. He stated that I needed to find a doc that would find out what was causing me to b in so much pain. So I did. I desired so badly to live a life without pain and pain pills. While in the hospital I found another doctor who stated that he couldn't help me cause he couldn't figure out why I was in so much pain ( I repected him for saying that cause most doctors would be to prideful). about two weeks later I found another primary doctor who listened to me. I told her my story and how I felt like my pain was female related. She then referred me to a gynocologist who also listened. She ran some test and found nothing. She stated that there was one other option left; a laparoscopy to see if I had endometriosis. I agreed to the surgery cause like I said I was terribly awaiting the day when I could live free of pain. A week later my prayers was answered. I had finally found the root of my pain and it was endometriosis. My gyno got most of the scare tissue out of my body and since then I have not been back to the ER for UC. I am currently on remacaid because my GI feels that I should be on it.
My final word for anybody suffering with an illness is to find out what your reason for being on this earth is. Find out why. I found out that most of the time we go through things either to prepare us for a tuffer battle or to be of help to someone else by sharing our/your story. Anybody suffering from terrible illnesses/diseases are inspirations of hope to someone else. I told myself that my story will not be kept to myself cause someone else needs to hear it.
Also, make sure there is no other illness inside of your body. It is also key to find a good doctor who is truly there for you and not the check. Remember when you feel like you reached your lowest there is someone who is suffering worse than you. Pray to god and remember he cares when you might not even care for your self. God is here for you and is listening.
I am happy to say that I did graduate from college with a 3.4 GPA. I am currently a 2nd grade teacher. I believe that what I we t through all them yrs was preparing me for my future. I say that because now I feel like I am fighting a tuffer battle. My principal is a dictator and she is very disrespectful to all the teachers at my school. She cares nothing for people because she is alone and bitter. She keeps us in staff met things till about 530pm cause she cares nothing about the families we have to go home to. I agreed to be an advocate for all the teachers up there. This is my first yr teaching and it by far a very stressful yr. I will speak out against her disrespectful ways. So if you r reading this please pray for me. I'm already suffering from UC and endo and do not need this additional stress. If god say the same I will not be there next yr cause I will be looking for another position at another school.
I pray peace and answers for you all.

brain scans are not to diagnose "crazy," if you don't know why the scan was done, that reflects poorly o nyou. ... and you know there is a big difference between saying "baffled" and "to (sic) dumb", docs are less likely to find things put of their area - especially when you have a disease in their area. But you did have UC ... right? , and you were bleeding from your butt. ... and UC pain/bleeding can increase around periods. Or was it endometriosis all along? I got lost in your story.

I am very glad you got the source of pain fixed.

do you think the 1st pregnancy triggered the UC? I hear so many young women say they were diagnosed when pregnant or within 6 months of having a child?

how much risk will endometriosis present in another pregnancy? I read about higher rates of preterm birth, and higher risk of pre-eclampsia.

sounds like you have some serious decisions. I did see this study www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21366638 that says no short term risk, but some reason for caution.

I think you should see if you can get off Remicade, perhaps using a 5-asa drug, and hold off on pregnancy until 1 year w/o a flare. It would really suck to be pregnant with possible complications form endometriosis and then having a UC flare on top of that. .... and on top of being a mom.

I hope others can offer more information

Do you know what kind of endo surgery you had? There are two kinds: one that removes the endo from the surface, allowing it to grow back; another removes the endo from the roots so that the chance of endo returning are minimal. There are only a few surgeons in the country who do the second kind.

I'm glad you've gotten relief from the endo. Even though I had the second kind of surgery, I'm still dealing with awful menstrual cycles.

Question for bookworm21:

Can you give me a name of the procedure for the endo. that you had? I know someone who has recently had the regular laparoscopy procedure, but it would be nice to know of other options that are available.
Thanks.

shuny02: I got diagnosed with UC a year and a half ago during the Fall semester of my Sophomore year in college. How did you manage college with UC? I finished my Fall semester and my Spring, but I had to drop this Fall semester because of it. How did you get professors to understand? I am having a lot of trouble with that. I've had several that tell me "you look fine to me," and not like me since I would miss a lot of classes. I generally keep up with the work and get good grades (I currently have a 3.6 GPA), but some of my professors will still call me a delinquent. I want to be a good student and enjoy college, but I am finding it very difficult. Any advice?