Newly diagnosed with uc

I've been having symptoms for a year now, after the birth of my son and was diagnosed with UC in may this year. I'm just in my 3rd flair and I'm not coping very well!! My family are good but they really don't understand how bad and embarrassed it makes me feel. I'm due back to work next week after maternity leave and I'm dreading it, which is making me feel worse! Is it always going to be like this? Just when I think things are getting better I flair again. I need to speak to other people suffering the same.
Thank you

Hi Sarah.

Ditto gary that if you let us know what meds/supplements you're currently on, and anything you've tried in the past, that will really help us make suggestions.

I had my first flare after my son was born in October 2008. I haven't had another flare since (and even had a baby in March of this year), so no, having UC doesn't mean you'll always be struggling with symptoms. Some people do have a lot more problems managing their UC than others -- I've definitely been lucky.

You can go into the my profile section and input information there. Do you know what caused you to stop flaring or why you started flaring again? You should be taking oral Asascol as well as rectals. Many get benefit from enemas as well. By just taking suppositories you are not reaching further up where the problem is also going on.

I would do whatever it was you did before to get you out of a flare and continue with it. Take the symprove, Boswellia, fish oil, Vit D every day, forever. Try that for now along with the suppositories. If that works keep it up forever. If not you can add in the oral Asacol when you visit your consultant in December. I'm really surprised they did not order that for you to begin with.

Hi Sarah74 I was also diagnosed a few months after the birth of my daughter last year. She was born in August '12 and I had been having symptoms since the beginning of my second trimester are being totally healthy. I was an ultra runner and had run a 30K the week I got pregnant so health-wise, I felt very good to take on a pregnancy. If only I knew then...
My GI put me on Asacol first and it did nothing over the holidays for me. In fact getting together with family was the worst. I made the mistake of eating the rich food and I couldn't get of the toilet while they were celebrating x-mas! It was horrible. It happened again at my In-laws. So embarrassing. Of course then everybody wants to know what's wrong! Ugh.
My GI put me on Prednisone and that stopped the flare but it started up again shortly after coming off. Then we tried Uceris. It worked and I was on it for 4-5 months and in the meantime I started a diet my spouses co-worker said his wife went on who had the same problem after giving birth. It's called SCD. She also started smoking and that has allowed her to achieve remission.
It was SCD that allowed me to get off of Uceris which my GI said was a temporary drug anyway.
Then I did Fecal Transfer with my spouse in Sept. and have been on only SCD diet since then.

I had to tell my family, I cannot eat what I used to and I'm not staying in the same house with all of the relatives because I need my own bathroom space and the chaos makes me have symptoms. Since they all knew I was stuck in the bathroom during the party, they have backed off a little about participating in family events. This is the place where people will understand during the holidays when everybody else is enjoying their food and drink, we're all here online complaining about how crappy we feel! haha.

Sarah,

Welcome to the forum.
Sorry you've been suffering so.
It isn't unusual for pregnancy hormonal cycles to set in motion bad flares or even UC for that matter.

UC is tough to deal with. Having a place like the forum to speak, ask questions is great for support too.

Some meds work for some and not for others.
For me, the traditional meds failed me and the mesalamines I became intolerant of.

And when the doc gave me a choice of surgery or remicade, I balked and had to find my own way.

He also told me diet has nothing to do with UC, but I found that it has a great deal to do with exacerbating its symptoms!

I found that by doing these things it helped control my symptoms by 75%:
1) adequate high intake of vitamin d3 ( need to get your levels checked first)
2) probiotics are key, are you on any?
3) slippery elm powder to coate the intestinal tract helped greatly
4) l-glutamine amino acid powder for long term colonic repair
5) food combining
6) diet modification as in gluten and dairy free, PALEO diet
7) rectal meds help lots of folks out

The Last 25% was taken care of by LDN, low dose naltrexone, which put me in remission.
If any of this interests you, there are things IMO that you can control, which will have a direct impact on your disease, the symptoms you experience and their severity.

I was able to control my UC into remission through various supplements, probiotics, diet modification, and LDN , low dose naltrexone.

For more info on the protocol which has put me into remission, please go to this link: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=1666318 , and look at the 11th post.

I hope you feel better and let us know how we can help you.