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can a colonoscopy push disease further up

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Posted 1/20/2008 3:58 PM (GMT 0)
my daughter is having her second colonoscopy 1st was thanksgiving, and she's having an endosocpy at the same time. i just wonder if these scopings will push disease to new parts of intesines? anyone have a thought about this?-thanks
Posted 1/20/2008 4:49 PM (GMT 0)
No, PLEASE, it can't. The condition doesn't spread that way, as far as we know, and I've never heard of this happening. Sometimes you feel worse for a few days after, simply because the prep can irritate the colon. But it's a necessary evil we deal with.

I know you and she are going through the tortures of heck, and I'm so sorry her UC is so difficult to get under control. I hope they find the resolution soon.
Posted 1/20/2008 7:44 PM (GMT 0)
No, it won't push/spread it throughout. The clean-out can cause some irritation/exacerbation of inflammation.

q
Posted 1/20/2008 8:11 PM (GMT 0)
and the prep is to be mixed with gatorade, that sounds abusive to the intestines, but i guess the whole thing is.
Posted 1/20/2008 8:16 PM (GMT 0)
Hello, you can always use apple juice to mix with the prep. make sure the apple juice is cold.
Posted 1/21/2008 12:39 AM (GMT 0)
Well, YOU are the one who keeps pushing for all the scopes & retesting. Doesn't it occur to you when you schedule them that they are irritating? Instead of giving your daughter Valium against the doctor's directions, which you wrote about in another thread, it seems that you should take it yourself. Read what Keylime has written about her teenage son + 8 yr-old daughter who BOTH have UC & take serious meds. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])
Posted 1/21/2008 12:52 AM (GMT 0)
You know what i like best about colonoscopies?  Fentanyl...  I would be a fentanyl junkie.

Oh - and I do not believe that a scope can push the disease further....but yes, it certainly is irritating - the air forced in by the scope, and all the poking / prodding, not to mention any polyp removal....lets not forget the prep - that is a bit harsh on our insides.  My first few scopes were w/o sedation.  They hurt physically, as well as were humillating.  But enter Fentanyl.  Now I look forward to it in a way.  Pretty sad huh?

Posted 1/21/2008 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
Old Hat i'm not quite sure what to make of your reply-i didn't ask for the scope-the bleeding isn't stopping and i trusted that due to the findings (sigmoid) the dr wants to see if the disease is quickly progressing, plus she is now having eye problems. i don't know what to do i don't want her scoped if i say no, what do i do next just keep the meds going without knowing what is going on inside, maybe? the colazal isn't working so far,and the rectal meds are not reaching high enough, it's been 2+ months -i really don't know what to do--should i cancel the scope and pray that the 6mp works in a few weeks, what would the difference be, so i know if she has more damage or if we find chron's would it be treated differently,
i will question her again to be sure what the intent of this scoping is.
that valium gave my daughter a much needed sleep. i'm so wound up i don't think it would make a dent in me-but you know that-but it's my child and it's how i am.
Posted 1/21/2008 2:58 AM (GMT 0)
Two and a half months when you're flaring seems like FOREVER, however, it's not really that long. My first flare was about nine months - well, that's when I finally made it off of the pred. It can take Imuran/6-MP a minimum of 2-3 months to kick in. Unfortunately, it's a disease of trial and error. You try one med, it doesn't work, you move on to the next med, as you know.

As others said, the scope cannot transfer/push the disease farther along. However, the prep and scope my irritate/aggravate things. Understandable question. Questions find answer which find knowledge. You can't know if you don't ask, right?

I agree with you that sleep is much needed. I believe it's one of the most important parts of healing. My favorite GI doc so far (only switched because I moved cross-country) said that there are three important things to keep yourself in good health: (1) No stress, (2) Adequate sleep, (3) Eating right. I'm sure we could add exercise and taking our meds too!

I empathize with your emotions and what you're doing. I know that my mother was very worried about me when I was first dx'd. I'm sure she still worries too much about me - but she's my mom and that's what moms do! Just remember to take care of YOU too!
Posted 1/21/2008 3:08 AM (GMT 0)
dakota girl, i understand that flares can go on and on, i just don't know if it's a flare or that's manageable without the dr, she goes to the bathroom all day and all night and since it began in november she had 2 weeks where it began to slow down, but here we are again -she goes all day and night with bloody d and her blood tests aren't great, so how long do you go on like that and what if it doesn't slow down?-thanks for responding
Posted 1/21/2008 3:09 AM (GMT 0)
PLEASE :)

If your daughter does have crohns and it's affecting her colon, hence the name crohns-colitis, then the same meds are used to treat it as what's used to treat ulcerative colitis, if they find she also has crohns in the small intestine they will give her different meds to reach that area...there are different meds used to treat inflammation in the intestinal tract depending on where the inflammation is...if it turns out they find crohns in the small intestine then she has crohns and not UC in the colon, more than likely and here are the differences between UC and CD...

UC is colon/rectal only, CD is anywhere from the mouth to the anus (the entire GI tract), the inflammation pattern with CD is skipped patterns of inflammation with healthy tissue in between, with UC the entire area will be inflammed with no healthy tissue...also, the inflammation with UC is surfacable only, with CD it can go through the many layers of the mucosal lining, which usually leads to fistulas, which UCers never tend with because their inflammation remains on the surface of the lining.

Find out from your daughters GI what the pattern of inflammation he saw was like.

:)
Posted 1/21/2008 3:17 AM (GMT 0)
I think the doctor is right to check things out. Months of constantly bloody D, without improvement, isn't good.

You might want to search on soccermandy's posts. She is a teen who had terrible trouble controling the UC and eventually had surgery. When they removed her colon, it looked horrible (and she did have a link to the pictures). Unfortunately, sometimes the disease progresses so fast and is so severe that surgery becomes the best choice. I'm not saying that's what will happen to your daughter, just putting some more information out there.

I was terrified of surgery and wouldn't even let myself THINK about it until April 2007. I was flaring badly and just wanted it to end. A couple of books were recommended on the forum and in my thirst for answers I read them. The calmed my anxiety and I made peace with a surgery that I may never have to have, but if it comes to that point, I know I can do it. So, if you're up to it, I would recommend them. Things are much scarier if you don't know about them.

"It Takes More Than Guts" by Philip Van Hooser
"bag lady" by Sandra Benitez

Usually the first step meds are 5ASAs. Then if those don't work, immunosuppresants are next. If those don't work, the big guns come out - Remicade and Humira. If the disease proves to be medication resistant, surgery is the next option.

It really helped me mentally when my doctor told me what the plan was during my last flare. He told me what we were going to try next and then if that didn't work, what the next step would be. I felt relieved to know that there was a treatment plan. Maybe something to ask your doc about?
Posted 1/21/2008 3:19 AM (GMT 0)
thank you pb4
Posted 1/21/2008 3:24 AM (GMT 0)
You're very welcome PLEASE

:)
Posted 1/21/2008 3:26 AM (GMT 0)
PLEASE - My parents had a really hard time dealing with my Colitis. Flares can sometimes be short and sometimes they can be long.

The flare I am "just" starting to recover from has lasted just over 2 years now.

It took AGES to find the right balance of medications to get the colitis to respond.

Colitis is not a viral or bacterial disease. Its not "caused" by food and its not curable. They really don't even know what triggers a flare in the first place.

I don't know your daughter, so I can only respond from my own experiences. When it was me at 16 going through exactly the same thing, I needed my parents to be calm and strong. They were who I drew my confidence from to get me through another miserable day. I know now how hard it was for them to deal with, though at the time they hid it really well.

As for your actual post question, no - a colonoscopy can not "push" the colitis flare further into the intenstine. As the others have said, the prep however does make you very very uncomfortable for a good week afterward.
Posted 1/21/2008 4:16 AM (GMT 0)
i was 11 when i had mine and they gave me drugs. i was only semi aware of what was going on and they gave me some drug that helps you to forget. i slept for 4 or 5 hours after mine. i didn't have any after affects though.

did she have to take a Phospho-Soda Oral Laxative for the first one? that was the worst part for me!!!!
Posted 1/21/2008 5:29 AM (GMT 0)
PLEASE, my first and only flare lasted from the summer of 2001 until March of 2006. Medication (Colazal, Azathioprine, Entocort) made it better - about 15 trips to the bathroom instead of 25-30 - but I still had bleeding and pain most days. I was up at least four times every night, and couldn't make it to work before 9:00 even though I got up at 5:00.

This isn't meant to frighten you, only to point out that once I found the right medication for me, I went into remission and have been in remission for nearly two years. So don't despair. Once they find the right combination, she should be able to lead a normal life. It just takes a lot of patience to work through each option until you get to what works.
Posted 1/21/2008 2:02 PM (GMT 0)
Hi PLEASE.. I m new here, my 14 year old son was dx'd 10/07 with left sided moderate to severe UC.  I am a lurker on this site too, trying to get answers to this disease.  Your stress has drawn me to post.  My sons dr. agressively treated him with pred, 40mg/day, along with colazol, previcid, iron, mesalamine.  This cocktail kept him w/o blood.  Tappering pred 5mg every 2 weeks. When there was blood again we had to increase pred. and introduce 6mp, along with calcium, and a multi vitamin. I did not want to give him 6mp(may cause cancer and other nasty side effects).  The dr. clearly pointed ou that if we did not get the uc to calm down he would most likely get colan cancer.....I would rather decide if he could go out on Friday night with his friends but.....6mp it is.  This being said, why have the drs not tried pred, or is one of her meds a steroid?  This seemed to help my son right away.  And, I know how hard it is to cope with this as a Mom.  I am certain I have aged 10 years since October.  Keep the faith!  Casey's Mom
Posted 1/21/2008 5:46 PM (GMT 0)
CaseysMom- this dr tries to stay away from prednisone-i think becuase of the dependancy, and maybe she was trying to avoid the steroid effects of weight gain if the other drugs worked -she has been using rectal steroids- anywhow she put her on the 6mp last week and said she would probably be adding the prednisone ater the colon/endoscope this thursday. in the uc world i think that we have been at it a relatively short time and the other meds seemed to work after about a month, but that only lasted a short time and here we are with the bleeding and pain so i guess now she will get aggressive-in parent time it feels like every
minute is an hour and i just want to get this thing under control. you sound composed, i know i am seeming a bit frantic in my posts but i do control myself for my daughter and let her know that it will all work out with time-thanks
Posted 1/21/2008 7:34 PM (GMT 0)
Hi PLEASE,  I do try to stay composed, my husband is the bad one in our home, but when they gave me the dx I lost it.  The thought of my baby having this to deal with forever....I lost it!   I think also we have a different dr with a different approach.  On the pred right out of the gate!  It is what stopped the bleeding.  Although he has a big round face and loads of pimples, it stopped the bleeding! He is almost off, down to 15mg a day.  If he still had blood I am sure I would be more urgent. Good luck with your daughter.  Casey's Mom
Posted 1/22/2008 1:50 AM (GMT 0)

Hi PLEASE.

I've read some of your posts and I think it's commendable that you're putting such a strong effort in for your daughter, especially since I've also read posts about people complaining, rightfully so, about how they have to convince their family members just to be there for them when dealing with a flare.

However, your posts also remind me a lot of my mother who worries a lot about what I'm going through and comes up with many ideas to try.  There's a certain amount under your control but it all depends on how your daughter responds to the treatment she's going through and this may not happen as soon as you'd like - I can attest to that.  So definitely keep asking the doctor all the questions that you have but also try to be patient with the treatment.  Also you might think that you're hiding your emotions from your daughter but children pick up on what their parents are feeling (just like a parent can sense a child's feelings without a word being said) so I hope that you're not stressing yourself out too much. 

Also, I agree with the others that, apart from maybe causing some temporary irritation, a colonoscopy shouldn't push the disease to other parts. All the best with the prep and colonoscopy.

Posted 1/22/2008 2:12 AM (GMT 0)
I was wondering if you decided to order the movie True Guts. I wish it was around when I was younger and first diagnosed.
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