Gas and cramps upon waking every morning

The ONLY things I've found to help with mine are...fennel seed tea and a liquid, Belladonna with phenobarbital alkaloids. I've tried all of the 'over the counter' anti-gas drugs I could find. I've used prescription drugs also for gas, but the tea is the only thing that seems to help me to a noticeable degree. It does work best if you grind the seeds...wife uses her smoothie maker. LOL Good luck

AM gas and cramping is my earliest flare symptom, so if it were me I would assume I’m not quite where I needed to be. YMMV as with all aspects of this disease.

In my all too brief flirtation with remission I was 100% normal—no symptoms, no limitations. That would be your goal as far a UC symptoms. If you were previously prone to gas and cramping then those things may not be alleviated even with remission.

Also of note, increased gas was a sign that as I was on the final stages of healing from my flare. It did settle to normal levels as I continued to heal. 20-10 mgs is kinda the danger-zone for pred tapers, where once you get outside of that range the majority of us flare if we're going to. If you get down to 5 to 7.5mgs for a week without regression then that's where you can usually breath a big sigh of relief (you can see the clear sailing ahead and worry a lot less about the path ahead).

If your regimen doesn't include rectal meds...request them. I suggest enemas rather than supps.

It's a process of healing. I suggest you limit gas producing foods and use only one sachet of vsl per day for comfort sake. Maybe divide it into 2 dosages and see if that helps.

Are you passing gas? Or is it feeling trapped? More bloated? Because if you aren't having that, it's probably more spasming. Maybe another antispasmodic such as dicyclomine would be a better choice.

Retention enemas......😁

q

@iPoop when you say flare when tapering is this considered diarreah? For me a flare would be anyway, I’m hoping it doesnt happen, Im starting 5mg tomorrow. This is also so strange because for years Ive always been a bit constipated. Going maybe once every couple of days. I had never had a diarreah flare up until a few months ago and a month ago (2nd flare only 1 month after finishing 1st Pred. taper).

@DBwithUC
Yeah it seems best to try one thing at a time otherwise its probably making it harder to pinpoint which one is actually working. I kind of went all in with diet and probiotics plus trying to stay on the lowest med (Pentasa) as the doc did mention perhaps stepping it up to Imuran and my idea is to try and get there naturally before having to step up, at least to give it a shot.

@quincy
Thanks, I will ask about introducing the rectal meds if it can help not having to upgrade to immunosupressants. Willing to try for sure.
Currently just taking the one sachet of VSL per day as it is pretty expensive...
Regarding the gas, the problem is that it’s trapped. I wish I could let it out because it feels like I need to yet it doesnt always arrive.. some I can let free, but feels like 80% stays in!

@MarkwithIBD
I wasnt aware actually, I should have read the ingredients... I just read so many positive reviews on it that I went straight for it and perhaps I’m nulling the conplete effect of the SCD diet with this, not sure... it seems like I may need to pick one for now..

Thank you.
1Wish

Post Edited (1Wish) : 12/5/2018 4:16:36 PM (GMT-7)

I would say increase the VSL#3, I wouldn’t think 1 is enough to do anything. I have about 10 per day when I’m flaring and only drop back to 1 a day to maintain remission. I know it’s a bit expensive that way, but I can manage my IC with pretty much only that so I save on other medications. Lactic acid bacteria produce all sorts of anti-inflammatory substances, but the annoying thing is that they only work transiently, while passing through your GI tract. So you need to keep passing them through while you are sick.

A flare while tapering would be one or more of the standard flare signs: blood, return of urgency, increased number of bms, and/or less formed stool. Again not just a single day (as we all have random bad days), but a sustained series of days with that problem.

I'd try the enemas for 3-4 weeks, get a c diff stool test, and see where you're at in a few weeks. Harder to retain the enemas makes me think of rectal inflammation.

That's fine, just space the enemas and suppositories a bit apart. Like take enemas before bed, and suppositories in the morning.

Thanks @iPoop.

@Celeriac
How do you warm them up? Bottle just says shake for 30 seconds.


What happens to all the liquid during the night? In the morning when I wake up should liquid come out or would it have been absorbed?

Just wondering if this extra liquid would maybe not allow formed solid stools which is the aim?

1Wish

I stick the bottle under my armpit for 5-10 minutes before I use it.

Most of the liquid will be absorbed. Depending on your poop situation, it tends to either show up on solid poop as a lovely beige swirl, or it’ll just come out with the liquid poop. It does not prevent poop from solidifying.

The enema will not have an effect on your test.