Pathogenkiller: can you enlighten me on this?

Is there any relationship between UC and upper respiratory tract infections, even viral ones?

It seems that whenever i get one of those, esp the ones with heavy phlegm/postnasal drip i get colon upset/gassy/loose stools...just wondering what the heck the relationship is...?

Yes it seems whenever i get the postnasal drip things start acting up. Like discomfort in intestines, looser stools, feeling of incomplete evacuation or like rectum is uncomfortable. I usually get the postnasal drip after a viral flu/cold. The phlegm from the drip is usually yellow/light green but i don't take antibiotics because it clears up on its own after a while and also because i want to avoid antibiotics (indiscriminate killing of bacteria in colon). Also, GP has told me that it doesn't matter the colour, rather how long it lasts so if the phlegm lasts long or gets worse or has fever with it then likely bacterial.

But still maybe it could be bacterial but then it clears up on its own after a while...? but my main concern is why is it upsetting my colon? Oh and i had pretty baaad postnasal drip just before my first flare too...which is why i wanna know the connection...and how to cut it :/

hmm interesting fruitgirl, was your yellow/greenish too or was it clear/white?
How's baby girl btw? hope you two are enjoying each other :))

When I had the bacterial bronchitis the crap I was coughing up was brownish and tasted really foul. But the diagnosis was more based on what my doc heard when he listened to my chest -- he heard a sticky/rattly sort of noise in one portion of my lungs. I'd also been sick for over a month by that point.

When it was "just" post nasal drip, it was mostly clear, except for first thing in the morning.

Baby girl is good, thanks! I started back to work a couple of weeks ago and she's doing pretty good in daycare. She has her occasional fussy days and naps like crap most days, but she does that at home, too! She's a good nighttime sleeper, so it's really a wash. The only "problem" is that I can only pump about 60-75% of what she eats during the day at daycare, so she's getting some formula, but in the grand scheme of things, that's not a big deal! With my son, I'd gotten sick enough that I lost my supply by the time he was 8 weeks old!

A couple easy things to try..

www.amazon.com/Seagate-Olive-Leaf-Nasal-Spray/dp/B00028PZ1E

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000M4W2E6/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00028PZ1E&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=14K1EF46CJ9Z9JXR6QYT

Xylitol gargles

Blis k12 oral lozenges.

Olive leaf extract.

If you are in remission, it doesnt mean you dont have inflammation and leaky gut still. both are breaks in the endothelial barrier that can be exploited.

Conquer UC said...
So how do i get rid of the remaining inflammation and/or leaky gut?

Million dollar question.

So, you got UC a month after you had your baby.. was it a hard pregnancy? do you react to anything besides gluten? Did you take abx for group b strep, have a c section or have any other abx at that time?

@ Pathogenkiller:
Before i got prego i had a sensitive gut for maybe about 4 years, since the final year of high schooling really. It started to act sensitive around the same time studying became more stressful. Also, we had just emigrated to Australia about 1.5 years ago so maybe i was reacting to the different grains esp wheat. I noticed that whenever i was stressed it would act up but not always, sometimes it was completely out of the blue. I started to find then that i needed to go twice in the morning to feel fully empty. When that happened i had a good day. Also, not eating more than 2 sl/d of bread helped alot too.
My pregnancy went well, except for diarrhoea in the first 3 weeks (go figure, with some mild bleeding but i thought -maybe - it was hemmies).
No antibiotics during pregnancy except for keflex at 8 weeks for UTI. Natural birth with episiotomy. Right after delivery i had PUPPS rash (happens in a small percentage in pregnant women). And i got sick with a cold which left me with a postnasal drip. I remember feeling achey and very fatigued, sick fatigued. And my bowels started to act weird like i found myself needing to go 3-4 times instead of my usual 2. Then i started to get some fowl smelling (sulphur) gas. Add to that the stress of a fight with my husband and the next day bam im getting terrible labour-like cramps and the diarrhoea begins.

I took lots of Abx as a child and adolescent. It seemed, as my mum would say, that i always tended to develop secondary bacterial respiratory infections after viral flu/cold. And subsequently i was given abx. All the Abx i have taken were for either a chest infection, sinusitis, sore throat, pneumonia. All URTI. No other problems, or bowel problems at all. Infact, i remember that as a child i was always constipated. I was never a big eater either, i was a thin fussy eater and had a small appetite.
I remember once when i was 15 i had the most persistent chesty cough that would not clear up despite many courses of augmentin. Then i ended up getting this weird rash i think it was Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP).

Yeh sorry i've written my life medical history here, hahaha. Oh and the only other food i react to is dairy; A1 beta casein dairy only. It tends to make me constipated in a painful way/ tenesmus. But as far as bleeding goes: gluten, and mesalamine enemas make me bleed. I take oral mesalamine but i think the sulphur in the enemas makes me bleed. Interesting thing: once i tried a bifido bacteria only (probifia pearls) probiotic and started to get the same foul smelling gas and then got some mild bleeding so i immediately stopped it. But yeh i just thought it was strange; maybe i have an overgrowth of bifidobacteria? problem is lactobacteria (and even bifido) makes me constipated. So i cannot take a probiotic to counteract the problem, if that is the problem anyway. lol sorry for the ramble.

Post Edited (Conquer UC) : 6/13/2013 7:30:02 AM (GMT-6)

Well, for me it was! But it's really hard to make a fair comparison because neither the baby or I were healthy after delivery and my daughter and I both were. So yeah, I felt better more quickly after my daughter was born, but who knows how good I'd have felt after my son was born had we not had all the other problems that we did.

I didn't really have any all-over body aches after either kiddo was born.

And yeah, pain meds with c-sections are definitely better! After my son was born all I got was tylenol and ibuprofen! However, I had my daughter on a Tuesday and was completely off the dilaudid by Saturday -- I probably didn't really need it, but it was my first full day at home and I was afraid I'd overdo it and get really sore, so I took it. I wasn't even taking Tylenol any more by a week post-partum.

I had the scheduled c-section because I developed a perianal abscess/fistula during the summer of 2011. I had surgery to fix it, which did close the long fistula tract, but I still have a very short fistula that opens not even a centimeter from my anus. It's not a big deal at all because it's never sore and if I'm careful to clean well after a BM, it doesn't drain. At any rate, my colorectal surgeon said I should have the c-section, because if I had any tearing at all during a vaginal delivery, I could end up incontinent because of the damage from the fistula.

@ fruitgirl: thanks for the clarification. That must have been difficult with the fistula on top of the uc dx. Great to know that as a person you can step beyond these issues and have the courage to have another child. Atm i still feel a bit haunted by what i've been through and although i want another child im not sure if i wanna risk it at all. Is that selfish? Or is that a lack of faith? Or is that me not allowing myself to live life and take risks? I don't know. Did you feel that too? Or did feel absolutely at peace with having another baby?

@ pathogenkiller: i thought it was HSP since i had the signs -post URTI, concentrated in joint areas, itches alot etc- however i only had that once back when i was 15 as i mentioned.
The PUPPS was mostly in the abdomen (had very minor stretch marks there) and on stretch marks on the hips.
I had a baby boy.

Conquer UC said...

@ pathogenkiller: i thought it was HSP since i had the signs -post URTI, concentrated in joint areas, itches alot etc- however i only had that once back when i was 15 as i mentioned.
The PUPPS was mostly in the abdomen (had very minor stretch marks there) and on stretch marks on the hips.
I had a baby boy.

Strep causes a rash too and effects the joints.

You should consider getting an antistreptolysin o test
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-streptolysin_O

Have you ever had a metametrix stool test?

Bifidobacteria protect the intestines from bad bacteria. You could have an overgrowth, but Id bet it was WW2 inside because you have low bifido so the bad guys were trying to kill these good guys you introduced.