Stomach Flu?? Or flare??

Hi Guys!

It's been a while since I posted, but I guess that might be a good thing?? Anyways, I was officially diagnosed with UC in December... darn it. I've been really good since then and doing my Canasa twice a week and taking Florastor everyday. Haven't had any problems with blood or mucus or urgency... I have a solid bm once or twice a day, I take my psyillium fiber every night.

Then a week ago, I started noticing that I'll go more on the days I have school. My usual proctitis symptoms are there: burning, urgency, mushy poop that goes from solid to mushy the more times I poop. But, there was no blood or mucus. So I wondered if it was just anxiety.

Then today, I woke up feeling fine, was a little constipated from the day before because I didn't have a BM, I went first thing. It was solid and perfect. Then I kept going within the next few hours and it would get looser and create more of a burning sensation and get THINNER. I've read articles about thinness not necessarily meaning inflammation or cancer since if it's already loose, it's not gonna hold it's normal shape anyways. The last one literally looked like a ribbon of sludge. (sorry for the TMI) and my lower stomach under my belly button was kind of hurting, but not as bad as it usually would with mushy poops.

I also noticed I felt colder than usual today with some chills. I don't have a thermometer so i cant tell if i have a legit fever or not. But I was also super lightheaded and dizzy today, but i also don't know if it was because maybe i'm getting the stomach flu or if it's a darn flare. But the poops were only in the morning! It was like this last time too but i guess i just attributed that to the pepto bismol since that always cloggs everything up

I emailed by GI and he said that since my symptoms weren't consistent throughout the time they started that i don't need to worry about a flare yet. Does this constant anxiety of going into a flare ever go away? I was doing FINE. I did my darn meds and I thought I was in a good place health wise. What do you guys think?

Honestly idk if I just haven't found the right doctor or what, but it's so hard explaining this stuff to my GI. Whenever I explain anything to him about my symptoms he just gives me vague answers. I guess thats understandable since he has so many patients, but I feel like he just has no idea how frustrating this is. If you're not gonna be sympathetic or care about your patients conditions, why be a doctor at all?

I think another thing that's really frustrating is how my symptoms are never really whats listed as a symptom. Like yeah I get urgency, mucus, and burning but I dont always have the blood or D. Even when I had c diff my systems were always off. Like I'd even be constipated but the only thing that was always there was that pain. Just a thought...

Post Edited (Poophappens) : 3/10/2016 12:04:30 AM (GMT-7)

Thanks for your response? When you start to flare, is it consistent though? Like you'll go more in the mornings every single day?? And how did your stomach flu develop into c diff? I haven't taken antibiotics for a year and that was for my c diff infection from a year ago

I know I'm starting a flare when I start getting the familiar gassy pains in my lower abdominal area... The kind that cause my mouth to water like I'm going to vomit. Then the diarrhea will start. I never had blood in my stools, but I have had lots of mucus.

Try to relax and not overthink it. If it is truly a flare, the symptoms will get worse instead of improving. Worry and stress tends to make things worse all around. Could be you just ate something that didn't agree with you.

Reading your profile of meds (thanks for adding that) I think you should be using mesalamine enemas not just Canasa suppositories. I was DX'd with UP 15 years ago and it became UC in under a year. I believe that if I had used the mesalamine enemas pro-actively my UP may not have become UC, but that's my opinion.

My GI RX'd the enemas I just didn't use them at that time. Now I'm a true believer because they really work.
Get an RX from your GI and try them for a week or 2, every night. See if your symptoms settle down. If you can keep your UP from becoming UC you will be much happier.

Constipation can be a manifestation of inflammation. Less inflammation=less constipation.

PS You said in your first post you have UC but in your Profile tag you said "ulcerative proctitis".

Thanks for the advice guys. I wrote to the doctor today. And after my first c diff infection I was diagnosed with proctitis. But the doctor couldn't say if it was just damage from the c diff or if it was ulcerative proctitis. (Weird I know) does anyone have any intake on dried purplish blood? I made another post about this but it doesn't seem to common from my google searches. Oh and I take psyllium fiber every night!