Had To Go -- Side of Road... :-/

I was driving my wife into work today, and out of nowhere I had crazy urgency. I'm pretty much in remission right now; I think having a milkshake last night wasn't good. We were on a freeway type road. I tried to feel it out and see if I could make it the five minutes I'd need until we got to her work -- and a bathroom. There was no way. I didn't really want to soil my pants... and the seat of my wife's new car. Those small clusters of trees and bushes never looked so appealing.

What would you have done in that situation? If I'm flaring I take precautions and have an idea what I'll need to do. This was out of nowhere.

--I haven't been on much because my wife and I are in the process of selling our home and moving.

You gotta do what you gotta do. I think you picked the better of the three options (woods, seat, chancing the five minutes).

I have to ask: did you have anything to wipe with besides foliage?

My mantra is anywhere but my pants, and I followed it well during my last yearlong flare up of uc. I've pooped in the bushes/trees along the side of the highway, and backroads on more occasions than I can count. Once parked in the grass as I was coming off a highway offramp, and pooped in a culvert, just barely out of sight. What's far worse is when you don't make it, not even to the side of the road before crap happens, I can count the times that happened on one hand...

Uc is a terrible disease that necessitates immediate action. You do what you gotta do. I hope your not flaring, as you're on no uc medications... I had severe/moderate inflammation when it happened.

side of road over car interior is no brainer - but the urgency is more an issue, imo

if this means that there is a return of inflammation during your period without meds, you will want to get on it asap.

if this is not IBD related, I have to wonder if you have a history of IBS

I think you made the best choice possible. Hope this is a 1 time event. When I was flaring in 2013, I kept a giant plastic storage container with a lid and wipes in the car. I took it out of the car just before Christmas this year. If it makes you feel any better, my DH had a similar experience last week, but we happened to be driving right past my work so I gave him my swipe card to get into the building. Thankfully the men's room is 30 steps from the entrance. He does not have IBD, but I am convinced he has IBS.

You know you have uc when ... you've lost track of all of the many places you've had emergency stops to poop beside the road in the woods/bushes (me lol), and use the spots you remember you have pooped as landmarks.

Look at it this way, shortly after earth day, we've made some trees and bushes very happy with the fertiliser we've *cough* contributed

Thoreau, what is your next step regarding meds? You know that your health is hanging by a thread and you cannot risk to go on like this. Selling house or not, you need to put your health first always.

Very familiar. Travel with wipe in my coat, and car. My thoughts are if I have to go I go. Life travels pretty quick at road speeds. People will glance but trust me no one is wondering if you are going or not. Take solace as this happens to us all during a flare.

All too familiar! I'm sure like many others, I know all the routes with available bathrooms every 5-10 minutes along the road. Some good precautions 1) Baby wipes in the car, a small bucket of sorts, trash bags...works best in an SUV with some space and tinted windows....kind of nice to know the option is there in the event a better option is not available.

Fun story- I was diagnosed as a young teenager and had a 9 month flare in which I was incredibly sick. At my junior prom, I mistakenly ate a few bites of the meal and all the processes began. I immediately had to run (literally, sprint across the room) to the bathroom and stay there until my sister came to pick me up. On the way back, I had to stop twice- once I ran into store. The second time we pulled into an abandoned gas on the corner of an intersection and I, all dolled up in my gown, proceeded to throw up. My poor date- left him abandoned at the table almost immediately!! Oh the stories this illness creates....

Sorry that happened and I hope it was a random occurrence. They really do shake you up- I was doing just fine before my accident a few weeks ago- I'm so mentally scarred from that I sit on an old sweatshirt to drive my car. Hahahaha.:)

Andrina said...
Thoreau, what is your next step regarding meds? You know that your health is hanging by a thread and you cannot risk to go on like this. Selling house or not, you need to put your health first always.

Well, Andrina... it's been a tough situation to know exactly what to do. Eating gluten-free has seemed to dramatically change the issues I was having with my gut. That could just be a fluke, but it seemed to correspond directly. Within weeks of having my last Remicade dose out of my system I was getting UC symptoms and pains. I had a doctor suggest gluten-free... and within a week of that diet the pains went away. I'm reaching the end of my sixth month past when I was due for Remicade and didn't get it anymore.

Med-wise, I absolutely need to figure out why I hurt so badly first, because if the anti-tnf's really were the culprit I honestly don't know how much more intensified chronic pain I could handle. My GP is in contact with me every 2-5 days right now as she sets things up at Mayo for me. We're lining up me seeing rheumatology, endocrinology, and neurology. She has a brother-in-law that works as a physician up there and he's helping make good recommendations.

I don't feel like I can even evaluate things UC-wise until I know more about the pain issue. It's a debilitating mystery, and even though it poses risk for me to be off meds for UC I have to do my best while I try to get to the bottom of things.

Mark -- It's likely been a while since that idea was addressed, but I know that I had a second local opinion by another GI to try to figure out the pains. We ran tests again to see if my body shows a higher likelihood of having UC or Crohns. It was clearly UC according to the test. I can't remember what exactly that test looked at.

These pains are just a mystery. I feel sick and/or poisoned with them. Given long enough past a skipped dose of pain medicines I become essentially paralyzed -- sitting on the couch without energy or enough well-being to do anything.

Some have posted on this site before that UC vs Crohns type distinctions really are just a way to help categorize what may be different degrees of reactions by our body to similar issues. I don't believe I have the Crohns symptoms in my small intestine because I've never had any darker stools that would indicate bleeding further in, nor have felt any pain that would be indicative of a stricture. But, when I was first diagnosed, the inflammation in my colon didn't start at my rectum... but rather a ways up from there in my left side. That initially made the doctors wonder, but that's the only sign I've ever seen of anything different.

I'm also wondering about things such as adrenal fatigue as a possible factor. Hoping Mayo helps me out.