Pooped my pants on my way to work!!! Never happened before😪

I’m so confused. 6-8 weeks ago I started with urgency and mucous. Sometimes only mucous. SAw my GI and he ordered tests and told me to double my Lialda to 4.8 grams a day and to do night enemas. He said to do this based on symptoms. Then I had stool and blood work. Blood work was fine and stool showed calprotectin at 250. He felt that because my blood work was fine that I’m not really in a flare so he told me to go back to my regular 2.4 gram dosage of Lialda and to taper the enemas off. So I did this and within a week the soft Diarrhea that I was having [1-3 x a day] increased to 3-4-5 x day and was straight water. It stayed like that for a few days and then I decided to go back on the 4.8 grams of Lialda and back to the mesalamine enemas. Now I am going 1-3x a day and now I notice I go more after dairy but I still have urgency, some cramping and it is almost all water diarrhea.

I’m kind of thinking that maybe I had an infection and possibly post infectious IBS lactose intolerance and then maybe I am in a flare- I don’t see my doctor for another week and am just frustrated from not knowing what direction this is going.
Diagnosed with mild proctitis (1st 16 cm). April 2012
Month long bouts of diarrhea for about 5 years now.
Suspected c-diff 2009. Flagyl then vanco / florastor.

Current: 2 Lialda, protonix 40mg,
8-2012on hydrocortisone enemas 2x day
Lialda 4.8 grams
Pred 40 mg then taper by 5 mg every 3 days
Protonix 1 day

Yes I think you’re right and my doctor is wrong. Because I always start out with just 1 or 2 bums a day during a flare he seems to think I should be going 10x a day.

I've had about three really close calls on my way home from work (it's a 45 minute drive) - During flares, I've learned to kind of "time" my eating/drinking, so I'll at least be home when this nonsense happens. Or I'll switch to liquid for a few days to give my guts a rest (I don't know why, but Slimfast seems to work best for me, even though I've spent dollar after dollar on expensive nutritional shakes which ended up tasting like garb and making me achy).

Can you call your doctor and at least get some over the phone advice, or speak to one of their nurses?

Your are in a very delicate situation with all you're dealing with plus UC.

Your doc shouldn't ever make the decision based on stool tests regarding flare. And at the worst....he had you lower meds and get off the rectals.
My opinion, is it removes the subjective state of knowing one's body, knowledge and the ability of the UCer to use meds more effectively.

When was your last c-scope?

You have improved since starting the nightly mesalamine enemas. Are they the 4g dosage? If you have steroid enemas, use one in the morning.

Did your doc not give you a stool kit to test for infection or whatever?

I suggest you get on a good probiotic.....i strongly suggest the Genuine Health Advanced Gut Health 50 Billion at this point.
Or the Renew Life Ultimate Flora Critical Care.

What do yiu eat during the day generally? Some food changes can ease some of the stool consistency. Oatmeal can loosen stool...maybe don't have it for a bit. And if you are lactose intolerant, save having it in small amounts.

Do you have good support at home for you to delegate some of the work load?

Huge hug,
q

That breaks my heart to hear, Mybellyhurts.

Sometimes it can be a good idea to write things down (maybe some goals, or plans of action?) anything to help you manage a bit better. Lists and calendar-keeping an be therapeutic and actually help you look at things in a more simplified manner, which won't stress you out as bad. It may also prove useful to have a UC care-kit with you at all times, or perhaps just in your car (baby wipes, a pair of fresh underoos or pants, just in case).

Try not to pile everything up on yourself emotionally, and take it one day at a time. When you pile it up and begin listing off how awful you feel things are going, it'll end up making you feel worse. I know it's tough, and it's even tougher when you have an accident (for some reason it's a really emotional experience, and just feels like a clear indicator that you are not in control and are helpless).

But all of us go through it. Just try to make "You have UC, UC doesn't have you" your mantra. There's a lot of good eBooks on the subject of what to expect and how to potentially prepare yourself (or even your food). It helps to read about others with the same challenges.

As I keep telling people, when I get really bad urgency-flares, I switch to liquid for a little while to try and give my guts a rest. Despite all of the expensive meal replacement shakes I've tried, my body seems to react to Slimfast the best (LOL). Paid like 25$ for a six week supply. It's worth a shot.

Nothing worse than flaring and not being at home. Completely understandable. I continued to go to work every single day even though I was flaring SEVERELY (but didn't know I had UC) - I dropped 40lbs abruptly and began to look like a zombie.

Management had to pull me aside and have an intervention with HR to get me to go to the hospital. Sometimes you have to put yourself first and hope your workplace understands.