Back Again...This Time, For Good? Need Some Advice

Hello, everyone. Looks like I'm back to this forum with a whole load of questions.

Long story short: I joined this board back in summer of 2016 when I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis...or wasn't. I had three GI doctors give me three different diagnoses. One guessed "hemmoroids," another said "antibiotic-caused colitis, non c-diff," and the third insisted (to the point of screaming in my face) that it was ulcerative colitis. I finally went to a fourth GI in a different city. By that time, my symptoms of occasional blood in stool and cramps had disappeared entirely, without medication, and the fourth GI told me "You're fine, enjoy life."

Fast forward to January 2018, when I get the worst stomach flu of my life, followed by a round of acute colitis that landed me in the hospital for three days. Even then, the worst symptom was nausea and vomiting--no blood or anything. In March, that's when the blood in the stool started showing up...but even then, very intermittent, about once a week. Nonetheless, my new GI doctor (Number Four in the other city) said to get a colonscopy, which we did today.

Here's the diagnosis: pancolitis with ulcerations. He's putting me on Flagyl and Pentasa--Flagyl for 10 days, Pentasa for the foreseeable future.

Granted, my symptoms are a bit worse than they were in summer 2016--more loose stools, more frequent BMs, more urgency, and now occasional bouts of nausea. But not really diarrhea, and the bleeding is so minor you have to look for it. I get the prescriptions and agree with them, but...why such mild symptoms for pancolitis, which supposedly is severe? Shouldn't my toilet, in the words of my doctor, look like a "murder scene"? Shouldn't I be going 8-10 times a day instead of 3-4?

Moreover, he's also ordered a CT arteriogram of mesenteric vessels (small intestine). Why I have no idea. The doctor was not available to talk to after the colonoscopy today (he was very busy and had four of us today on a colonoscopy conga line), and the nurses were more concerned about freeing up a bed in the recovery room than talking to me. I can understand that procedure if he can't find the bleeding or he's worried about ischemic colitis--though I haven't had those symptoms either, really--but you'd think someone would've taken time to explain.

I know this is bolt out of the blue from someone who hasn't been here in two years, but can anyone give me advice on what's going on? Why I supposedly have a severe condition but mild symptoms? Why I've been prescribed what looks to be a fairly invasive procedure with no explanation other than "be here next Wednesday"?

I am sorry you're back. I agree with ambling, it may be mild. I think getting a visual of your upper is smart, in this case especially, because it sounds like the symptoms are somewhat vague. UCers usually do not get nausea unless they are having a severe flare up, and your symptoms sound fairly mild. Severe for me, means going 20x a day with tons of bleeding. It sounds like the doctor is trying to ensure an accurate diagnosis. I would request to review the report. If the scope was today, the diagnosis is based on visual, not on pathology. The pathology will not be available for a few days to a week. I hope the treatment gets you back to 100% quickly. If there's rectal involvement, you should definitely get on rectal meds. The majority of members use them regularly - treat from both ends.

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the quick response. I thought I was some kind of mutant there!

I did manage to talk to my doc briefly today. (It's not easy because he lives 90 miles away.) He is basically trying to cover all avenues, and he doesn't have the biopsies back yet--and won't for probably at least a week. So he wants to hit everything--flagyl for any infections, pentasa against UC, and the angiogram in case it's ischemic, though he did say the latter is just a precaution.

When I had acute colitis back in January, the flagyl knocked that down quick, so I don't have an issue going back on it. It's also a low offender for c-diff, though I'll load up on probiotics just in case.

Thanks again! It always helps to hear from people who have been there.

try cutting back on sugar. I have ulcerative colitis and I use to have to use the toilet ten to twelve times a day and each time there was blood and I was taking the maximum medicating but now I only have to use the toilet one's or twice a day and there is no blood and I don't take any medicating. what was coursing me to bleed is sugar in my diet. the more I cut back on food with sugar in them the better I got. it took me quite a while to figure that out some times I wood stop bleeding wright away and some times it wood take me a few weeks to stop. I have going back to eating most foods but not the ones with sugar in them. I eat less then the dally value% of sugar and if I cut back on all sugar my UC problem wood go away. but when I cut back on sugar I lost weight fast and I had a hard time keeping a good body weight