Colitis or Ulcerative Colitis?

Hey all! I am new to this site and really hoping to find some help. I started experiencing abdominal cramps and a bit of bleeding about 3 months ago. The day after Thanksgiving it became much worse(30 + trips to the bathroom) and I ended up going to the ER. My white blood cell count was high so they did a CT scan. The doctor said my colon was inflamed so she believed that I had colitis, gave me 2 different antibiotics and said I should feel better in a week(ha). Almost 2 months later, nothing has gotten better. I've dropped 20 lbs in the past month alone and I'm lucky to go a day in between symptoms(bleeding constantly, stomach pain, nausea, fatigue). I saw my regular doctor at the end of December, who did nothing but put me on more antibiotics and Zofran. She told me it's just taking awhile for my system to get back to normal.

So my question is, should I listen to my regular doctor or try to get in with a specialist? I'm so tired of feeling badly, I don't even leave my house most days. Any advice or help is very appreciated, I'm at my breaking point with this mess.

When I went to my regular doctor he told me I had celiac disease....literally after 5 minutes of speaking to me. No tests, assessments NOTHING.

Ask for a referral to GI specialist

Get a referral to a gastroenterologist-specialist. They'll order a stool test and colonoscopy. That's the way to go!

Colitis is any inflammation of the colon. It can be caused by infection, IBD (UC or Crohn's) or any number of other conditions. Ulcerative colitis (which some docs continue to refer to as simply "colitis" because they're lazy or uneducated) is believed to be an autoimmune disease. It is curable only by surgical removal of the colon, but there are a host of medications that can help ease or get rid of the symptoms.

Primary care doctors are not likely to know much at all about ulcerative colitis, unless they have personally known someone with the condition. Part of our continuing burden is to help educate them about our condition. I've even had newly-minted GI's who needed education.

UC is unlikely to be helped by antibiotics. In fact, they usually make things worse, and we tend to avoid them like the plague. Seeing a GI is definitely the right thing to do. Good luck.

Oh gosh, I hate when PCP doctors try to treat things that they have no business treating. Once I had one who was an OBGYN, a dermatologist and a PCP. It was insane. Please insist on a referral.

All the antibiotics could have actually made you worse. I don't want to worry you, but antibiotics kill off the good flora in our gut. You can try taking some probiotics to get things back in balance but I've never had much luck with them myself. You need a scope with biopsies to find out what is going on. If it were infectious, you probably would have responded to something by now, unless they are giving you the complete wrong thing since it doesn't sound like they have done the proper tests... there are a few antibiotics given frequently for GI ailments, Flagyl, Cipro and Xifaxan. None ever made me worse. What made me worse was kefelex, duricif and clindmyacin.