Ulcerative Colitis/2013 and Chron's/2014

I am posting this information for my wife.

My wife is Japanese, 78 years old and has Scleroderma.

She was diagnosed May 2013 with Ulcerative Colitis after a colonoscopy. She was put on Asacol. She developed side effects and was switched to Apriso.

This past April she had a severe attack that which included being nauseous, cold sweat, bloating, severe cramping and had trouble moving her bowels. This lasted almost 7 or 8 hours until she finally was able to have a bowel movement.

After that episode the gastro doctor decided she needed another colonoscopy, which was done April of this year. The results came back showing Chron's disease (I believe in her lower bowel section.) The Colitis seemed to be on her left side.

She had no further problems, until today - 08/06/14. She was unable to have a bowel movement so she took one dose of Miralax. After lunch she threw up and now is still having a problem having a bowel movement. She seems to be going through the same scenario as she did in April.

She saw her rheumatologist on June 3, 2014. We explained to him my wife's symptoms since she last saw him (she sees him once a year.) He felt the nausea, bloating and pain was caused by, and these are his words, "a small bowel bacterial overgrowth, which is a common complication of scleroderma and which could recur."

His suggestion was to have a ready supply of antibiotic to restart immediately if the symptoms recur. He recommended rotating between at least two antibiotics and to use Diflucan whenever she is on an antibiotic.

Our gastro didn't agree and does not want to put my wife on an anitbiotics.

After this current episode, I think I'm going to try to get the two doctors to talk to each other - they're not in the same town. Don't know if that would help but I think it's worth a shot.

This morning, after a long night, my wife is over most of the attack but now she has bleeding from the rectum.

Yesterday, 08/08/14, we talked to her gastro doc on the phone. The doctor, put my wife on Augmenten 875-125 mg tab 1 tablet every 12 hours for 10 days and also Methylprednisolone 4 mg tablet 3 tabs in the a.m. and 2 tabs in the p.m. for four days.

This morning, 08/09/14, she feels quite a bit better and doesn't seem to be bleeding that much.

I guess the reason I've been posting here was to get some feedback from people who have had similar problems to what my wife has been experiencing and try to understand what could be done, if anything, in the future if an attack like this happens again.

We had just come back from a trip to California on Sunday and this happened the following Wednesday. I don't know what we would have done if this had happened while away from home.

If anyone out there has some input, suggestions - anything, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Robert

Yes, she did. But only after I talked to her on the phone and reminded her what happened about 4 months ago. That was when my wife was given an antibiotic and she felt better the very next day. In particular the pain in her lower abdomen subsided substantially.

The reasons the GI didn't agree with the rheumatologist about the cycle of different antibiotics was, if I'm right, because she felt they could lose their effectiveness and might cause a yeast infection in her esophagus (my wife has a history of that particular problem - again, may be related to her Scleroderma.)

I had another thought which may or may not be related. As I mentioned earlier we were in California until this past Sunday. While we were there we visited a couple of continuous care facilities and are seriously thinking of moving there from New York State. We've been considering this for about 8 or 9 months.

I'm wondering if stress could trigger something like the attack my wife experienced. Also, I have IBS, and Tuesday after we got back I had a rip-snorter of an irritable bowel attack (but nowhere near as bad as my wife's) mine lasted about an hour.

Coincidence? I don't know.

Thanks for the response.

Robert

If an attack like that goes on for a long time and doesn't resolve on its own I would start to worry about an obstruction and go to an ER. Also I have been told to go on a clear liquid diet with those symptoms.