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Proctitis and Stress

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 4/6/2015 2:17 PM (GMT 0)
I'm now on my third flare up. First was "WTHeck is this?" Second was "hmmm.... this seems familiar. THird started a few weeks ago. In the lead up to the third flare-up, I was feeling stressed and engaging in some obsessive negative thinking. Then the symptoms hit me and I thought "oh no, not again." And of course, the sudden urge to go, the pain, and the fear of it getting worse (not to mention the $700 drug that I needed to knock down the first two) only add to the stress.

I know from what I read that they say stress doesn't cause it. But is this reality? Is it coincidence that one followed the other? Has anyone seen treatment of stress help knock it out or keep it at bay for longer?
Posted 4/6/2015 2:24 PM (GMT 0)
Stress cannot cause flares in my opinion, however, it can aggregate your gastrointestinal system. How long have you had uc, how close together are those flares, what uc medications are you on?
Posted 4/6/2015 2:30 PM (GMT 0)
In my opinion, I believe stress causes the flares. And I believe once in the flare, food aggrevates it.
Posted 4/6/2015 2:36 PM (GMT 0)
stress may be associated with some symptoms, but has not been found to predict development of IBD. So it is unlikely stress gave you IBD, but it could help bring on flares and/or make flares less comfortable.

While we want relief from the symptoms, it is the underlying inflammation that is related to cancer risk.

There is also a relation between gut microbes and mental health/mood. It is possible that in the early flare, before symptoms were noticeable, that the gut microbes were suffering and caused more negative thinking and less helpful reactions to overstress.

My advice would be to treat both. Stress is bad independent of UC. UC shoudl be treated with maintence meds/plan even between flares - it sounds like you stopped meds after flares.
Posted 4/6/2015 2:41 PM (GMT 0)
I'm on no medication right now beyond some OTC antihistimines. Just called the doc to see if I can get Canasa (which has knocked me back to normal both times) without going in to see him.
Posted 4/6/2015 2:42 PM (GMT 0)
Stress can trigger a flare. Stress is a negative and the cause of many health problems, although it does not cause UC. I had a doctor once who told me to give up my stressful job to treat my UC. Yeah right.

Sue
Posted 4/6/2015 2:47 PM (GMT 0)
Uc requires a maintenance medication for life, like your canasa. If you're not takin a regular uc medication, then that is much, much more likely to cause a uc flare up than stress would.
Posted 4/6/2015 5:21 PM (GMT 0)
You need to stay on the meds that work, even while in remission. Often times flares get harder and harder to treat so the best game plan is to do what you have to do in order to never have another flare. It's far better to take the safer meds forever, even while in remission, than to flare over and over again, eventually having to take harsher and harsher meds every time. I believe stress was a factor in me coming down with UC but I don't think that is the only factor and can't do it all by itself, although it can certainly trigger future flares all by itself.
Posted 4/6/2015 8:32 PM (GMT 0)
I also believe that stress can be a factor in causing UC, but needs to be part of a "perfect storm" of factors that combine to unleash the beast. We all won the lottery that no-one wants to win.

Its crazy how quickly things can go backwards. My flare intensified 10x over the weekend. In this case its not stress but bad food choices.
Posted 4/6/2015 10:15 PM (GMT 0)
I have never flared because of stress. I was minding my own business when my colon became disagreeable. My flares have been a progression of the disease. I do have problems if I work the night shift so I don't do those anymore.

I just noticed you are not taking any UC meds. That is a mistake and you should consider staying on a maintenance med.
Posted 4/8/2015 5:08 PM (GMT 0)
Are there medications that aren't $700 a month for maintenance. I have an appointment tomorrow.
Posted 4/8/2015 5:16 PM (GMT 0)
Please check the resources thread at the top of the page for a list of medications and then see if you can find out how much they will cost you. All insurance policies are different. There are also prescription assistance cards you can get which helps bring copays down. I believe they are also listed in the resources thread.
Posted 4/8/2015 5:20 PM (GMT 0)
Generic, oral meslamine equivalent medications in the US are: balsalazide (generic of colazol) and Sulfasalazine.

Check the patient assistance programs for the brand named medications in the resources thread at the top of this forum. I used the lialda patient assistance program and it dropped my copay down to $25.00 a month.

Some here have ordered medications from Canada when insurance prices are too high (many topics on it use the forum search), as they have more generic meslamine options than usa, and way cheaper.
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