Just been diagnosed

How's it going guys, I'm 22 years old and my life has just been put on a hault due to being diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis on jan 7th.. I've had symptoms for about a month prior to the colonoscopy though.. On jan 7th I was prescribed prednisone 20mg (twice a day) as well as asacol 400mg (twice by mouth 3 times daily) .. I have been taking these medicines religiously but have had no result in hitting remission or even feeling overall better, it's been 3 weeks of these medications and within the past 2 months I've lost about 30lbs, I have yet to put back on any weight even though I am eating with an increased appetite from prednisone.. My synptoms are stomach discomfort pretty much all day, no energy, fast heartbeat, constant gas moving in my intestines, frequent bathroom usages, sometimes with no movement or if any movement at all it is diahreaha, it seems the only way I can have a bowel movement is by rubbing my stomach and pushing the gas through a pathway of my intestines, I also do not sleep much at night from having to constantly get up and use the bathroom.. My questions are, after three weeks of being on these medications, should I be still dealing with these synptoms? Should I be taking the prednisone seperate like it says or is it more effective taking them both at the same time during the day.. Also I take asacol and prednisone at the same time, does this matter? Will this dilute ones effect? And as far as diet, everything seems to bother me, no matter what i eat, any recommended foods that are less aggressive during a flare? Sorry for the questions.. I just feel hopeless at this point and any feedback would be appreciated..

Sucks. My heart goes out to you. I'm not as qualified as most of the posters here, but I will tell you that you've come to the right place. You will get better.

Welcome to HW.

Do you know the extent of your UC? I would highly recommend a rectal med in conjunction with your oral meds. Most UC cases start at the rectum and move upward in a continuous fashion, which is where the rectal meds come in to play. Usually the rectum is the last to heal and the most difficult to treat because oral meds sometimes don't reach that far. Sometimes even pred doesn't work sufficiently for some. You should ask your doc to start you on either Rowasa, Cortifoam or Colocorts.

Diet...hmm that's a tricky one because we all respond differently. But first, you should try eliminating dairy and caffeine from your diet. These things can aggravate an already angry colon. Also stay away for fried, greasy and spicy foods. Try to stick to a low residue, bland diet until you start to feel better and than you can slowly introduce these foods back into your diet. I find that my comfort foods during a flare are the "white" foods...chicken, rice, potatoes etc. but it also helps if you keep a food diary. Record everything you eat, even if its a piece of gum and record any symptoms you may have. But keep in mind persistalisis is different than a food reaction. And most foods take 24-72 hours to go thru the digestive track. With persistalisis, this is where no matter what you put in your mouth it triggers the digestive to start in overdrive, no matter what you consume it may be triggered due to the fact that things are already riled up in there.

Thank you for the fast responses.. My doctor wants to up my prednisone to 60mg.. I have the prescription but yet to fill it out in worries of the bad side affects, but tomorrow I think I'm going to do so.. Right now I am kind of just eating whatever.. Pasta, bread, stew, canned soup.. My doctor didn't recommend a diet but at this point it doesn't seem like avoiding certain things are benefiting me.. It's hard to pinpoint what effects me (are these stomach pains from that glass of v8, or from that toast I had earlier) its hard to determine.. I am also taking probiotics, one a day for about a week now, should I stop the usage of this or could this possibly benefit me after a few weeks..?

Which probiotic are you taking? Are you overweight by much? 40mgs of prednisone should be sufficient if it is going to work, unless you are much larger than average. Most people take it all at once in the morning but it really doesn't matter and taking it the same time as Asacol shouldn't matter either. You may have to up it to 60mgs for a while but prednisone doesn't always work. Neither does Asacol always work. Maybe you should give up lactose for a while and see what happens. Many UC'rs can get lactose intolerant. I'm assuming you have been checked for C-Diff? Sorry you have to go through this.

The probiotics are good for you, don't stop. The weight loss isn't great - but has it slowed down at all? Are you able to stay hydrated and get through the day? Is your biggest issue right now the multiple bms at night? I understand why you'd hesitate to increase your pred dose, but if 40 mg/day isn't doing it, I can see why your DR would want to increase. How is your blood work? You might want to ask your DR to do another full panel to see what your inflammatory markers are, and your iron, before deciding to increase the pred.

You should only have to do the steroids this first time. It is a good drug to get into remission quickly, and then you will fine-tune your remission with meds and probably dietary changes. I think there's too much going on right now for you to focus much on diet, but if eliminating milk helps you feel better then by all means do that.

Thanks again for the feedback guys.. Yeah my weight has kinda been sitting steady at 135, but I'm clearly not gaining any weight as these days are going by.. My biggest issues arnt so much the frequent bathroom usages, or lack of sleep (although very inconvenient) but more the overall feeling of illness.. Just rundown, stomach discomfort, uneasy feeling overall.. Just to take a shower and get changed takes a huge amount of effort.. I feel most at ease when I lay down in a dark room, no noise, just this iPhone in which I do research all day on.. I do my best to stay hydrated, I feel only water I can consume without more discomfort so I have been mainly just drinking that..

Im sorry to hear what you are going through. What you describe sounds like dehydration/electrolyte imbalance from the diarrhoea (if you have or had lots of diarrhoea recently). What would really help you is taking some vitamins. i read there are sublingual (spray vitamins) they sell online. Vitamist is the brand i think; this is if you cannot tolerate oral ones.
Also, you need to get some nutrition into you. Try making chicken broth (boil a whole chicken with the skin on, and add some carrot, onion, bay leaf and marjoram herb and a dash or turmeric, plus salt) and just try drinking it instead of water -atleast that way you are getting some fat/protein.

Also, try the paleo diet (or primal diet) which is basically low carb (only carbs allowed are pumpkin and sweet potato) however you are llowed to have as much fat as you like on this diet. It has to be the fat either from grass fed butter or nuts or avocado. I'd avoid nuts at this stage if i were you. You do NOT have to be on this diet for ever, just until you feel better. If you really crave carbs try some basmati rice. but avoid anything gluten or corn or dairy.

Hope you feel better soon. And keep track of your weight when on paleo. If you lose lots then add rice.

Thank you for your responses.. I go for blood work on feb 3rd to check for iron deficiency and all of that, I'm just in so much discomfort and have this feeling of illness that lerks with me all day, I've tried bananas and Gatorade, maybe I need to check out vitamins then.. I can take oral, Any suggestions? I'm also thinking about those ensure drinks.. How do you feel about those?

Also like some have suggested, try cutting gluten and dairy for a week. I cut gluten, dairy and grains (yes, rice even though I'm Asian!) and the tiredness and brain fog seriously disappeared. I felt much like you do now.. Couldn't even get up or speak right and having trouble with recalling events and memories. Make sure you're hydrated (water, ripe banana to help retain or coconut water), little bit of sea salt. See if someone can help you with chicken broth and broiled salmon (keep it light.) I couldn't have eggs for a month because I would get nauseated or tons of gas. Check out sad lifestyle and pecanbread.com. Both were lifesavers for me!

I like Deva daily vegan multivitamins with greens. iherb.com often has good deals, but check around on prices. I used to get my probiotics from that site as well but didn't really see any benefit so stopped taking them. Kat is right, if this disease teaches you anything, it is definitely patience. Hang in there.

Thanks for the support.. Is chicken noodle soup gonna give me the same benefits of a chx broth? I have cans of that here at home but should I be avoiding them or crack them open?