New digestive attacks unrelated to my ulcerative proctitis.

Hello All, I have viewed this forum for a long time, but this is my first time posting.

I want to give a quick summary about my current diagnosis and then go into what I've recently been experiencing.

I was diagnosed with ulcerative proctitis in the Fall of 2011. I tend to flare every year from Fall to Spring then go into remission through Spring and Summer. When flaring, my usual symptoms are bloody stool (sometimes very little, other times a lot), more mucus, more gas, and urgency(when I have to go, I HAVE TO GO). All in all, it isn't too bad and has not impeded on my life too much. I take the suppository Canasa once daily, although my GI doctor wants me to try twice daily next time I flare (he says any amount of blood is bad and should be stopped.

Anyway, since January of this year I've been having new "attacks" that appear unrelated to my proctitis. The first lasted all of January in which all I had was loose stool, nothing too bad. The 2nd hit mid February and lasted about 4 days. I had very loose stool and some cramping. The third, and worst so far, came mid March and put my out of commission for almost a week. I had very watery stool, horrible cramps at night, gas, and more stomach acid. I didn't eat much and was mostly bed ridden. The worst of it lasted 3 days, but it took and entire week to recuperate. I am just now recovering from my fourth attack. It had similar symptoms to the third attack, but not as severe, except for the cramping. The cramping didn't last as long this time, but it hurt so much one night that I almost when to the hospital. (My anxiety might have exaggerated it a tad though).

Now, before the fourth attack I went to my doctor about all of this because I thought I figured it out and I wanted his opinion. The first 3 attacks all happened a couple days after eating something with sorbitol. He agreed that it could be causing all my symptoms and told me to avoid it, which I have been doing; except I had the fourth attack anyway.

Now, I realize maybe I missed something, but I can't think of anything I've eaten that could have contained sorbitol. I did eat at a frozen yogurt place a few days before and had an icee but I doubt they would contain sorbitol.

I also want to add that while these attacks are at their worst, I have very little or no blood in my stool. It is only after I start feeling better that I have blood, which last about 2 or 3 days then goes away. It's almost as if the attack are triggering my proctitis.

This has me a tad worried, as I'm afraid my colitis has advanced or maybe I also IBS or something else on the side that could be causing the attacks. I also leave for the Dominican Republic in a month and, if these attacks aren't food related, I'm afraid I might have one just before or on the trip. (Since the attacks seem to be occurring a month a part).

Sorry for the wall of text, but any advice or if any of you have experience something similar would be a huge help. Thank you!

Trying to find a correlation and thereby find a remedy can drive a UC person crazy. Been there and done that. "Was it this that I ate?" or "Was it that?". It may be time to have another colonoscopy and see if you should be taking an oral Rx.

Having said that (and think you should consider doing it) if it were me I'd be taking a strong probiotic alternating with a supplement like turmeric or grape seed extract or possibly oil of oregano ( called WOO). It could be you have got a bit of a bad bug lowering your good gut bacteria. I have gotten good results using all of those at various times.

It can take some trial and error to find the probiotic your gut likes but VSL#3 is the gold standard. Available without prescription, start with one packet and see how it goes. The natural antibiotics (turmeric, grape seed, WOO) should be taken hours apart from the probiotic so you're not killing the good guys.

I started out with UP but it progressed to left-sided but no further. You won't know until a c-scope if things have gotten more inflamed.

@garylouisville, I take the canasa during remission and I started taking a vitamin D supplement this winter, but it didn't seem to do much.

@iamagardener2, I had to take a round of antibiotics for a sinus infection just before the 2nd attack, I actually stopped them 2 days early because of the 2nd attack. (My mom is a pharmacists and said it was fine to do so). Maybe they killed off all my good bacteria and bad bacteria took their place? I have been taking a probiotic off and on, as my mom suggested. I keep forgetting about it though and probably haven't taken it in a month.

@iPoop, I agree something is not working. My old doctor did not seem concerned if it was only a little blood and no other serious symptoms; hence why I recently got a new doctor. He wants me to try Canasa twice a day when I flare. If that doesn't help, then he will do signmoidoscopy and then talk about new meds. My last sigmoidoscopy was approx. 2 years ago.

Zarch,

All good advice here - just wanted to add that those synthetic sugars can really cause significant issues for some people. I do okay with sorbitol I think, at least the amount that's in the sugarless gum I like, but I had a protein bar about a week ago with another fake sugar (Mannitol, maybe?) and it turned me inside out. I'm still reeling from it - I will definitely not make that mistake again. Hope you continue to feel better - I am a big fan of doubling up on the Canasa when the going gets tough.