Hello all, recently diagnosed

Hi everyone my first post here.

I have recently been diagnosed as having 'Indeterminate IBD' and my consultant started me on oral Pentasa 2g twice a day and rectal Asacol 1g once a day a week ago.

I'm hoping that if I describe my symptoms here others may be able to shed some light on which of the 2 forms I am suffering from

My first symptom (although I didn't know the significance at the time) was a patch of what I, and my doctor, thought was eczma on my leg about a year ago.
about 3 months ago I started to suffer from quite severe abdominal pain, usually shortly after eating.
about 2 months ago I started to get diarrohea , first of all 2 - 3 times a week but soon becoming daily and frequent (6 times + day and night)
Blood and mucous started to appear fairly soon after that.

I visited my GP shortly after the bouts of abdo pain began, unfortunatly his initial diagnosis was a bit off the mark and he prescribed something to encouarge my bowels to 'get going' as he thought they had 'slowed down'.

When the diarrohea started he referred me to a gastroenterologist. Luckily for me I work in the NHS (Pathologist) and I am based at the hospital where he works so I was able to be seen fairly quickly.

I had a flexible sigmoidoscopy 2 weeks ago which showed that the rectum was normal but further up there were patches of inflammation. Biopsies were taken. The surgeon who performed the procedure said that it looked like Crohn's disease.

The biopises were looked at by a colleague of mine in Histology, apparently Crohn's disease biopsies commonly show granulomas which mine didn't so they suspected UC.

When I saw my consultant last week he said that because the rectum was spared he thought it probably wasnt UC but he wasn't sure but it didn't matter that much right now as the treatment would be much the same initially.

So here I am 1 week later, not really feeling any better yet.

I am also having real trouble with the foam enemas. The tube provided is around 6-7 cm long but I am so sore currently (I have internal piles which have been around for years and are not very happy with the whole current situation) that I just cannot get it in very far and the foam seems to mostly leak out.

I went to my GP today to try and get something to help with the pile situation and he prescribed an oitment with hydrocortisone and antibiotics (he found a small lump forming around the peri-anum which he thought might be 'something brewing' ) so I hope that things might become easier soon with regard to that.

Well there it all is. Thanks for reading.

I would really appreciate any insight or comments.

Post Edited (RichardUK) : 3/27/2008 5:13:45 AM (GMT-6)

Welcome to HealingWell, Richard. I agree with Red. Because of the sparing of the rectum (where UC starts) and the "something brewing," it does sound more like Crohn's. Be sure not to let anyone talk you into having that "something" removed until you know for sure you don't have Crohn's.

It sounds as if you have a very competent GI, and it's good that he put you on both oral andrectal medications. With your symptoms starting only three months ago, it makes sense that your colon wouldn't be showing a lot of damage. Hopefully the early and aggressive use of 5-ASA's will keep things under control so that you don't get as much damage.

Sounds to me like you should have a colonoscopy done to find out where the damage actually is and how bad.

um...i haven't officially been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis but i have an appointment and that is what i'm thinking i have. you all seem to know so much about this that i have learned a lot already and have some good questions to ask my doctor.
my question for you is: i don't get the abdominal pain but i have had bouts of frequent diarreha. lately (maybe 2 weeks +) i have been having some "leaking" or what i can only discribe at "farting blood". sometimes it just appears but i'm a little freaked out by it because at first i thought maybe it was something to do with my period because i am very irregular but it's not coming from the same area. plus, it sometimes happens and i don't remember passing gas. i'm paranoid about it now because it has stained my clothes a couple times and i obviously don't want anyone to see blood around my butt (if i can help it). any suggestions...does this sound familiar? anything that might help this??? Thanks so much!