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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 1/17/2023 7:31 PM (GMT 0)
Oh boy, that double diagnosis stinks.
My husband took lexapro for a while and was super sensitive about coming off of it. He was on it for a year or so, also at 5 mg. He had a lot of nausea and headaches coming off of it He switched to Wellbutrin a few months ago and is doing a whole lot better. he has IBS-D and I swear that his IBS symptoms have improved a ton since the switch over.
Posted 1/17/2023 11:19 PM (GMT 0)
You mentioned job-related anxiety, though. That could be the root of your recent physical problems. Maybe you need a major change there. Getting away from a toxic dept. head in the workplace definitely benefitted my health. / Old Hat (40+ yrs with left-sided UC; in remission taking Colazal)
Posted 1/18/2023 4:35 PM (GMT 0)
Not a fan of antidepressants at all. And doctors just throw them at people. It's ridiculous. Try daily meditation and mindfulness and exercise (running seems particularly good for depression and anxiety but any exercise helps) instead.
Posted 1/18/2023 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
Fruitgirl...what were the 3 areas found to have the LC?
q
Posted 1/18/2023 9:18 PM (GMT 0)
Yep, it's job-related - it's a pretty complex situation that would take forever to explain. Some of it has gotten better and some if it has not. I have good support from my supervisor, so that's good. And if it continues to be bad, there are other options I can pursue to deal with one person who is the cause of a lot of the stress. As for other things, I do exercise regularly already. I don't think it's causing the physical problems - the lexapro definitely helped me process and deal with the work stress in ways that didn't send me into a "fight or flight" type cycle.

Anyway, I got the OK to quit the lexapro and I see the PCP next week to check in on how I'm doing and discuss if I want to try any other meds. At this point, I'm probably not going to.

I saw my gastro this morning. She was pretty surprised by the diagnosis and had discussed it with a more senior doc before I got there. They both agreed to send the biopsies to a large university teaching hospital to confirm the diagnosis and get a bit more detailed info about them. They were taken from rectosigmoid, left, and right sides. She also said the lexapro wouldn't have actually caused the lymphocytic colitis, but would have triggered the flare. For now, we're not doing anything to treat it, because I'm not having any symptoms after the course of prednisone, but we did discuss options and such in case things go south again.
Posted 1/19/2023 12:45 AM (GMT 0)
It's usually one "bad apple" in the workplace who causes the most stress. Good that your supervisor is supportive. Think about what you could do to minimize contact with the troublesome staffer. You might worry about losing your temper on the job, and not realize that's contributing to your anxiety. It's OK to lose one's cool occasionally when unreasonably provoked. In the workplace situation I mentioned above, the higher-ups finally realized that the dept. head's behavior was toxic, then figured out how to reduce her contact with affected staff. That was a huge relief so I wish a comparable (drug-free) solution for you. / Old Hat
Posted 1/19/2023 12:58 PM (GMT 0)
I unfortunately can't minimize contact with this person too much. I run a large research facility at a university and this person is a major user of the facility. We have also been friends for 20 years, since we were in grad school together (although as far as I'm concerned, the friendship is over). These two things seem to make him think he can overstep. I have tried to talk to him about it to no avail. My supervisor really told him off once, I have spoken to his department chair, and that helped some, but he always seems to behave for a while then start up again. I also talked to the university ombudsperson who agreed his behavior was bullying in nature, but because it's not related to my gender, religion, etc., there's no university policy to point to (which she agreed needs to change).

Anyway, it's a huge mess, and it's not a constant stress. It's that when he decides to pick at me, it's severe. Given that we used to be friends, it's especially upsetting and harder to deal with than if we hadn't been friends prior.
Posted 1/19/2023 6:03 PM (GMT 0)
I get the picture. Having worked longtime in university settings, I've witnessed many stressful scenes and experienced stress myself from overbearing academics and/or administrators. Their individual frustrations can lead to bullying behavior in the workplace, so unpleasant. For example, the toxic dept. head I mentioned above would summon us to group meetings for the announced purpose of reviewing altered documentation, then she would keep us in the conference room overly long by reading aloud page after page of that material. After about 40 minutes of this routine, a middle-aged male colleague eventually started rising up from his chair to massage his thighs, as though he felt his blood circulation being cut off from sitting too long. She would just continue to read aloud. Whenever any of us suggested to her that the lengthy reading was unnecessary (plus a waste of time), she would accuse us loudly of "insubordination"! It got very aggravating over some years of this behavior. I can definitely relate to your situation because I had a friendly rapport with her previously while working in a different division located in the same building. We originally met at a welcome luncheon for new hires! / Old Hat
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