Curious on what you have to say...

Hey, so I have been have been in a flare for more than a year now. I got UC in 2011. Didn't have too many issues, but when I got married in November 2011- I start taking Birth Control and my symptoms went haywire. I have been on and off prednisone 4 different times. Tried several different medicines with not alot of luck. Now I'm on colazal due to the cost of what my insurance will cover. I think it might be working?? I just started it last Friday, May 8th.

Anyways, long story short I figured out the Birth Control had a lot to do with my symptoms and flaring up. I stopped taking it- started to see some relief (thought it was the medicine) so I tried another birth control (progesterone only, the doc thought that would work) Anyways symptoms went crazy, so I stopped that one. Before my symptoms had a chance to settle down I went ahead and got the Paragard IUD because it has no hormones. Well, I got that in June 2014. And here I am almost a year later still having so many problems. I would say worse than before. I might have just screwed up my body by taking the hormonal BC and now its not healing.

I have googled and searched high and low to see if Paragard had anything to do with it. Looks like the answer is no because its non hormonal. I am about to have this thing taken out though because I can't live like this anymore! The risk of getting pregnant sounds much better than my hell. Ha! Anyways, What do you think? Help and advice is so appreciated.
Thanks!

Noelle

Since it doesn't have any hormones, I don't see how that IUD could affect your UC. It's function is just to keep a fertilized egg from implanting in your uteris.

I have heard that just getting pregnant can trigger a flare so thers's that too. Colazal may not be strong enough (didn't work for me), but you haven't been on it very long. Are you currently using any rectal meds?

Your hormones play a good role in your body and so does stress. So stressing about it will make your colon freak out. And not heal. This is very important once you relax your muscles in mind your body isn't thinking it is under attack and will heal. It takes on average 6 months to heal your colon from what I learned. (If u are stress free)
I'm about to get on birth control so I am sure thus flare will feel pretty cruddy.

But hey they made male birth control so that is an idea. So you can maybe swap the tables and give your body a break.


I suggest self hypnosis or biofeedback.
Yoga (the easy ones for your colon)
A clean diet and low fodmap so it can digest better w/ beano.
Drink a lot of water and sleep a full 8 hours.

And check your foods for careegeenan(it is evil lol)

Maybe talk to your gi about it all, but from what u tell us it seems you are mega stressed and know what set u off the first time.

I shall pray you get better faster.

- rice bunny

Are your enemas brand name Rowasa? There are generics that you should be able to find much more affordable. Your GI's office might be able to get you samples, and all of the pharmaceutical companies offer discount cards for patients in need.

I don't know what I would recommend as far as the IUD. I would probably leave it in under the assumption that this is not the reason for your problems. From your description you have been chasing remission for quite some time, and it's going to take more than just colazal to get there. I think pregnancy would be a bad idea, and I don't think condoms are as reliable as you probably need, although you're not a newlywed anymore so maybe that's the best path? My DH and I used condoms for about a year and it was alright.

Rectal meds, in my opinion, are much more important than oral for getting the distal colon into remission. Those 4g enemas can treat the entire left side.

I'm sorry your insurance plan is not helpful. I hope in the next enrollment period you will consider a different plan. When you have a chronic illness you really need to consider prescription meds in your overall costs.

One thing I did in the beginning was add an omega 3 (I take flax seed oil). I would also suggest you get your vitamin D levels tested and plan on adding that to your daily meds. I take 2000 iu. Some people here are very deficient and needed prescription vitamin D.

Thank you Poppie. It's just what I needed to hear, honestly.
And Kazbern, yes this next time around we will pick something to cover Rx better. :(

Self hypnosis is like tricking your brain in ways to think positive thoughts when you would normally stress out like thinking of a puppy when you have a certain pain.

Biofeedback is a stress management type of thing. For example putting your hand on your abdomen and taking deep breaths before going to sleep for a long time will eventually be useful in the fact of when you get very stressed you can put your hand on your abdomen and naturally take deeper breaths.

They are pretty cool I am waiting for an appointment for biofeedback.
I learned this from my pyscology teacher and my sister has biofeedback for her fibromyalgia.

Colazal didn't work very well for me either...a few weeks after I tapered off pred my flare came back. As far as hormones, my period always made my flares much worse so I went on the Depo shot. I love it - no periods at all now! When I was on the pill it used to trigger migraines, but I haven't noticed any side effects from the Depo (other than a sore bum every 3 months from the shot lol)

Most pregnancies do not lead to remission. I have no idea why a doctor would say that.

Pregnancy follows the rule of one-third - people with autoimmune diseases have an equal likelihood of one of three responses in pregnancy: they get better, they get worse or they have no change.

I would bet that among people on this forum (who are self selected and probably have more complicated IBD than average) pregnancy has followed this pattern, but post-partum I would guess that almost everyone has had a flare.