After 22 years of IBS I finally have UP

Hello all,

I am new to the forum. I was diagnosed in May 2016 with mild UP (10 cm), after 2 months of blood in my stools. Before starting to bleed I had been suffering from chronic loose stools, diarrea, bloating, cramps and mucous since 1994. My dad had UC and I had a colonoscopy in 2001 that showed that I didn't have ulcers nor inflammation, so I was diagnosed back then with IBS and lactose intolerance.

Now after starting pentasa suppositories my bleeding stopped in 15 days and I also started important modifications in my diet, taking probiotics, etc, and these last months have been good so far (fingers crossed), almost no bloating, no cramps, still some urgency and soft stools but nothing compared to as it was before.

My doctor says that as I only started to bleed in 2016, all the years that I was having mucous and chronic diarrea it was impossible that it was already UC, as there was no blood in stools. What do you think? Does any of you have had a similar case to mine? Could I already have IBD but with such a mild inflammation that for some (lucky) reason I only started to develop ulcers now?

Sorry for the mistakes, English is not my mother tongue. By the way this forum is great, very helpful for the newbies, thank you!!

The past doesn't really matter at this point so I wouldn't be concerned about what has been going on the past 15 years. If your colonoscopy showed no UC, then it was very unlikely that you had it. The inflammation is key in diagnosing it and is visible in a scope.

I developed proctitis after years of IBS with constipation. My dad also has UC. My first symptom was bleeding and that was when I knew it was probably something more than IBS. I did have some hemmies that were the initial cause but then was later diagnosed with proctitis.

There weren't biopsies and I remember the doctor showed me the screen while doing the test (it was a sigmoidoscopy in fact) and telling me "you see, your colon looks perfect, it's not UC". I was so relieved that I didn't go back to the doctor until 2010 to rule out coeliac disease. I don't really worry about the past but I wonder that in the future if I go back to diarrea with mucous but no blood, how can I be sure that it isn't a UC flare? Until you don't see blood you don't consider that a flare? Now the only sympton that worries me if that I often get a burning sensation at the rectum area, but I told the doctor at my last visit and said that it could be from the suppositories, not to worry about...

I think it's possible you've had IBD but as the others have already said, it doesn't matter at this point and since biopsies weren't taken, you can't know. Blood isn't the hallmark for everyone. I get horrible, gut-wrenching, take your breath away cramps when I'm flaring along with diarrhea. If I were to wait until blood was visible in my stool, it would mean that I've allowed a flare to fester untreated.

Thank you all for your anwers. I guess that with time I will learn to distinguish between a flare and just some diarrea issues. But it's important to be aware that blood is not always present even if there is inflammation. Thank you!