Son just diagnosed

My son age 19 was just diagnosed with UC. It began Sept. 07 and with the exception of occasional bloody diarrhea hasn't been an issue - He had been on Asacol for 12 days and then began "a full blown UC flair up" according to doctors. He has been in bed for 6 days, abdomen pain, sparatic fever 101 to 102. Now we on Preds, Asacol, antiobiotic and pain med. Can someone tell me how long this episode could last if we are doing everything we're supposed to?

i had UC since i was 15. i am now 36. My episodes use to last up to 3 weeks. try not to eat solids because it can irritate the ulcers and cause more bleeding. i would eat baby food and ALOT of fluids since i would have 10 to 15 bowel movements a day. Try to buy potassium in liquid form or  a chelated form this way his body can absorb it better. Your body gets dehydrated and your potassium and magnesium can drop below the normal range. UC can be controlled but he must take care of himself. My last flare up (Aug 07)lasted 4 weeks and my colon preforated. i had emergency surgery and i now have a temp ileostomy and hopefully i should be going for my reversal surgery and i will be back to normal UC free. i hope he feels better Flare ups can be very painful and r somewhat like going into labor.

My fevers would last for about a week after taking the prednisone and asacol. if that didnt work then i was admitted into the hospital at which point they would intravenously give me 100mg of prednisone, potassium and a hydrocortisone enema morning and one right before bedtime. No food for about 3 days then i was able to go on a liquid diet and gradually start to eat solids. every time i had a bad flare up i would stay in the hospital for about 4 to 7 days. Dont wait to long to go. If you don't see an improvement call your doctor and go to the hopsital  

Research and find the best doctor you can get.

We've been in the hospital since Monday - the culprit was the asacol - nasty stuff - it's pretty sad when you get more sick with medications that are supposed to help. The are inducing heavy dosages of steroids for now, there is some improvement and hopefully we will go home today. I almost believe if we had done nothing to try and clear the UC up we would have been better off. Not sure what they are going to try after the steroids but I will absolutely check all all possible side effects. Sad thing is we asked three different times if this could be making him worse - they said chances were slim. Thanks so much for your and everyones help.

Judilyn said...

But fever, yes, you definitely need to call the doctor. That suggests an infection and isn't usual with a UC flare.

I disagree. Fever is not uncommon with a moderate to severe flare. From www.webmd.com:

The symptoms of ulcerative colitis may include:

• Diarrhea or rectal urgency. Some people may have diarrhea 10 to 20 times per day. The urge to go to the bathroom may wake you up at night.
• Rectal bleeding. Ulcerative colitis usually causes bloody diarrhea and mucus. You also may have rectal pain and an urgent need to empty your bowels.
• Abdominal pain, often described as cramping. Your abdomen may be sore when touched.
• Constipation. This symptom may develop depending on what part of the colon is affected. Constipation is much less common than diarrhea.
• Loss of appetite.
• Fever. In severe cases, fever or other symptoms that affect the entire body may develop.
• Weight loss. Ongoing (chronic) symptoms, such as diarrhea, can lead to weight loss.
• Too few red blood cells (anemia). Some people develop anemia because of low iron levels caused by bloody stools or intestinal inflammation.

So sorry to hear he was dx. I do hope he gets better soon.
I agree you can have fever with UC. I've seen it on multiple sites and have had one during a regular flare for about a week (possibly other times too b/c I'd feel like a fever just broke). Oddly, I didn't get one during my major flare. I believe asacol also made me worse, the rowasa enema form of it actually. The doc thinks I'm nuts...all the docs think I'm nuts...since it's such a rare thing to have happen. But not unheard of. I don't seem to be too bad with the Lialda though, so maybe it wasn't the mesalmine. I've been in a flare for 7 months, and I know some people take years to find a way to stop him. He will find ways to deal with it and lessen the symptoms though no matter what. I did the scd diet and vitamin e enemas for a year and a half and was way better on that than any meds the doc ever gave me. That and licorice root. The steroids didn't work for me in the hospital. There are a TON of things to try. It can be very very overwhelming, but it WILL get easier to deal with.
I do hope he is someone who can take a simple drug or natural cure and be done with it though. It can work that way too!

Hi nicksmom

I'm so sorry to hear about your son.   Things, will get better.

I was dianosed also with UC this September.  September 6th in fact.  At first I was scared to death of what was happening to my body but since then I have learned all I can about this disease to help fight it and am doing much better as your son will be.

A piece of advice, though.  Watch out for the side effects of steroids.  They're nasty.  Also, ask your doctor everything about the steroids they are giving your son.  While in the hospital they didn't tell me anything about the steroids I was on and had to learn what the side effects were the hard way.  Now, when ever I'm prescribed something, I quiz the doctor to no end.

Take care.

ok - dr. appt today, he wants to begin lowering predisone which I'm all for, but wants to start on very low dosage of Azathioprine. As the Preds decrease the Azathioprine will increase. Anybody out there have any information on Azathioprine. I can find what all the drug companies say but I prefer the personal experiences to know what to expect. Thank you so much for all your well wishes and support.

That's kind of what I was thinking, he wasn't doing bad at all until we started the asacol, so why not try and wean off the preds and see what happens - I may talk to dr. again before we start.  Although the asacol did a number on his colon - he seems be be progessing he is just so tired.  Thanks again for your input it's really helpful.