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What are your flare warning signs?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 6/10/2009 4:25 PM (GMT 0)
Just wondering what warning signs you are aware of that make you think "uh, oh, a flare is coming, I should adjust my diet, etc."?

I've had three flares in the past three years and looking back, I'm wondering if I missed any warning signs that one was coming.

Thank you!

Posted 6/10/2009 5:04 PM (GMT 0)
I don't actually flare with blood and mucous anymore, but my first sign is the smelly gas. Then comes a few more than average bms. Sometimes I get a bit of fatigue and achy joints, but that hasn't happened in a while, knock on wood!

Posted 6/10/2009 5:10 PM (GMT 0)
You might not have gotten any warning signs. For me, it's looser, smaller, thinner, and more frequent stools with occasional diarrhea.

Thanks for the reminder. I need to go back on my anti-inflammatory diet. I ate out last Sunday evening, and there must have been HFCS in something I ate, because my stools became looser, smaller, thinner, and more frequent after I ate there. I e-mailed the company to find out whether or not they add HFCS to any of their sauces, something I should have done before I ate there.
Posted 6/10/2009 5:31 PM (GMT 0)
Two biggies for me are several days of increasingly severe fatigue, whereby I can barely keep my eyelids open, and secondly, an ozone-like smell - only for me mind you- like that in a room full of electronic equipment. The latter I assume is some sort of change in my blood chemistry, even though things like the sed rate have never changed. These warning signs will begin as much as 48 hours before a flare. Once a flare begins, it starts for me with a rapidly increasing yucky and painful feeling throughout my lower guts, and the onset of loose stools and D (if I had formed ones beforehand, that is).
Posted 6/10/2009 6:51 PM (GMT 0)
My first flare, the only sign was blood streaks on the paper and stool. That flare went on for over a year but it was easy to control with Canasa. After the big flare up from running out of Canasa I was put on Asacol and I have been much closer to remission.

Recently I tried to lower my dose of Asacol and a flare started coming on.

I first noticed

smelly, warm gas & BMs

then looser, thinner BMs

I was going 3 or 4 times a day instead of my usual one or two MAX

The urgency came back

next thing you know there was mucus and blood

I am always a bit on the tired side. Probably from my iron levels being low.

Posted 6/10/2009 7:00 PM (GMT 0)
For me , more and more white solid on stool is a sign of flaring coming.
Sometimes, when I consume too much fat (butter or meat), I also see more while solid on stool, but that goes away the next day.

If it is more and more, a flares is coming.....
Posted 6/10/2009 7:44 PM (GMT 0)
I'd say extreme rectal fullness from gas that seems more "internally explosive" rather than easily expelled. That as well as stomach discomfort.

Eventually within a few days, I'll have thinner stools and possibly some mucus. Then the clincher is the severe rectal pain upon having bms, urgency and frequency.

Bleeding isn't the norm for me, but I did have some during my flare at Christmas which shocked the socks off me. Upon starting the Salofalk enemas, however, the bleeding stopped in a few days.
I was quite sick during the Fall with 2 colds and another at Christmas. Taking Cold FX continually (plus the stress, business and being on maintenence every 5 nights enemas) might have pushed me over the edge.

It's best to recognise anything that's continual or increasing....if a more obvious symptom comes after bring constipated, I'd lean more towards it being a flare and good to start rectal meds as early as possible to keep the flare to a minimum.

Mild flares, however, still need the patience of using the meds and tapering. I tapered very quickly....and was quickly put in my place. Hard when one's butt rules!

quincy
Posted 6/11/2009 5:30 AM (GMT 0)
blood and slimy poos and yes, the discomfort of a not normal poo
Posted 6/11/2009 1:09 PM (GMT 0)
I get a bubbly sensation in my colon for a couple of days and then after the couple of days the blood comes.
Posted 6/11/2009 2:41 PM (GMT 0)
Having mucus come out with the gas. THEREAREMIRACLES once described this as not "being able to fart without something else flying out into your pants"! That's the 1st sign that real trouble is brewing inside. / Old Hat (30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])
Posted 6/11/2009 5:13 PM (GMT 0)
increased gas, gurgling sound of intestines...even one or two bad cramps and I know it's time to watch what I eat, get my rest, cut back on dairy and take all my meds exactly on time. Good luck!
Posted 6/11/2009 10:57 PM (GMT 0)
First sign: feel as if my tongue & mouth has been rubbed with a sand paper... sometimes my tongue even starts bleeding.
Second sign: After 2-3 days...mucus
Third sign: a day later is smelly gas + dirty burppss!!
FLARE!!
Posted 6/14/2009 4:52 AM (GMT 0)
G-man gets crazy emotional, angry, and teary.  He also gets glassy-eyed, fatigued, often jaundiced or ashen looking and sometimes a low-grade fever.  Plus most of his joint pain and eye inflammation appears to happen pre-flare.  Fun stuff...
Posted 6/14/2009 2:48 PM (GMT 0)
Lots of gas with mucous, blood on the TP, sometimes constipation before the D comes
Posted 6/14/2009 4:46 PM (GMT 0)
When I'm not flaring, my first BM may be 1 to 2 hours after waking up. If I have to hit the bathroom 5 minutes after waking up then I know I'll be running to the bathroom 10 to 15 times a day instead of my "normal" 3 times a day.
Posted 6/14/2009 11:36 PM (GMT 0)
For me, my first major sign is bleeding. Notice some this past week, so I pulled myself away from mostly all dairy. Hoping that will make the bleeding stop.
Posted 6/15/2009 12:33 PM (GMT 0)
My tongue gets all sand papery too... I thought it happened after the flare, when I would be mal-nourished... Now I'm wondering if it's a sign of a flare...
Posted 6/15/2009 2:05 PM (GMT 0)
Following up on what a few people have written about the tongue getting like sand-paper before or during a flare, in a lot of Eastern treatments they look at the tongue to get an idea of the severity of a digestive problem.

When I went to India, as well as to a Chinese herbalist in the USA, they first examined the tongue. Cracks, especially near the front of the tongue, sometimes with bleeding are common with people with active UC, and you sometimes get a metallic taste in your mouth too.

The first signs for me of a flare coming is a couple days that are great, with not having much of a need to go to the toilet at all, and then the mucous and bloating starts...
Posted 3/3/2017 9:23 PM (GMT 0)
definitely foul smelling gas (more foul than normal gas) - had this weeks before other symptoms kicked in
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