Catching a flare at the beginning

Yes, I do it with all my flares. You already know how I do it.

q

Got it NSSG and Q. I should have done something when I got constipated, but my doctor said I needed miralax, things went downhill fast from there.

I think it takes experience. Everything, I mean everything, is new for me. Nothing is the same....

NSSG -- how would you treat at earliest stage.

Q-- why don't you do enemas nightly all the time? Is that what you do with a flare coming on? and it always tamps it down?

Please explain....

Always grateful for new knowledge....

When I have the first symptoms of a flare, I increase to nightly, then when all is normal, I start to taper. I'm sticking to twice a week enemas..either every 3 nights or every 4 nights...unless another crisis happens..lol.

It's continual with me....up, down...I used to taper to once a week.

My mind is attached to my butt....no doubt about it.

I function, sometimes it's questionable, but in truth, my UC is the must predictable part of me. Give me meds, I'll learn how to use them....works for me. It's freedom with least side effects.

quincy

From what I have learnt in my past flare, the first symptom that I saw was constipation over the weekends followed by increased BM during the week (weird I know!). This lead to a bit of blood on the toilet paper etc. I left it too long and eventually I was in a full blown flare. What I will do next time (almost have this latest 6 month flare cracked) is to start up Pentasa enemas immediately and seek advice from you doctor ASAP.

I left it too long this time around and it eventually lead to problems (severe anemia etc.).

Once you feel things going off, try and nip it in the bud as soon as possible.

I found it interesting that I had a tiny bit of blood, went to my GI, and was told that all I needed to do was take lialda and canansa suppositories for two weeks for the flare to be gone. If that's the case, why do GI's recommend taking medicines like lialda for life?

I can sense a flare coming on when my stools become less formed. That makes sense. But I have other symptoms that are more unusual. If I drink a cup of coffee (never while flaring), I will have a feeling similar to heartburn but this 'heartburn' is in my lower left side of my abdomen. This tells me to cut out the coffee and watch my diet.

What really stumps me is that my pulse will race from my normal 68-72 bpm to 90-100 bpm, and this is for 24 hours a day whether it is waking up in the morning or just walking around at night. And I check my fasting blood sugar first thing every morning even though I am not diabetic (yet). Normally it is 85/95 but during a flare it jumps to 105/120 which is in the prediabetic range. That is why I monitor it so closely. I have heard that some meds can spike blood sugar but I am not currently on meds.

Journeytohealth:

I guess your original question was how does one catch a flare and can one stop one from getting severe.  There are a variety of ways to describe the beginning of a flare.  And it also depends on what stage you want to catch it.  For most urgency is often the 1st sign, of course blood is always a give away that the inflammation has gotten to the mucosa.  But less obvious ways are giving blood and interpreting it through elevated wbc, elevated ESR, etc...   There is of couse cramping and abdominal pains.  My personal favorite is the losing the ability to pass gas without any unwanted company.  As soon as I lose the ability of a dry fart forget it I am beginning to flare.

The most common way of avoiding a flare is to use rectal enemas and to increase your meds, if they are working for you at all.  Other swear that changing one's diet helps although diet is most commonly associated with most cases with UC. 

As far as going from Asacol to 6MP.  Don't be so hard on yourself.  Asacol often doesn't cut for people in the beginning and for some it often makes it worse.  I myself had to get off Asacol and that stuff can be hard on kidneys.  6MP has a very long history of being used with UC so I would definitely try it without worry.  My doc put me on Imuran instead of the 6MP.  I have good success with it.

Journey2health:

I believe the basic difference is that Imuran is converted in the liver to 6-M-P and then they both work the same.  They are both anti-metabolites and work by stopping the production of cells by interfering with purine which is essential for the cell production.  Hence the cells in the blood system are decreased and certain inflammatory cells like eosionophils cannot affect the mucosa of the colon.  Because 6MP is a step that is slightly ahead of Imuran (AKA as aziothioprine) it can be used in less concentrations.  As to why one doc would choose one over the other I am not exactly sure.  When I pressed my GI doc about the safety of Imuran he said the chances of horrible side effects are like 1 in 10,000.  In fact another GI doc has his daughter on Imuran due to Chron's for the last 12 years.  Different GI docs like to use Imuran or 6MP depending on their training.  Also for certain people they do better on of the two for who knows what reason.  Some can take one but not the other.  As stated in my sig, Imuran got me into remission and I am thankful.  My blood tests have come back normal all the time.

I would definitely ask your doc about this question, it's a good one.  Hope this helps

Hi! I'm a fellow UC sufferer, and I was wondering how many of you eat wheat, sugar, potatoes, coffee, chocolate?

I generally notice if I don't have those elements for quite some time, my flare-ups don't occur as often and I feel generally better.


When I do, however notice a flare up coming- which USUALLY comes in stages (although once or twice it came in other ways) starting with less formed stools, then slight mucous, than a bit of blood. This process may occur in one to two days, or take a few days to happen. at one point, it seemed to me that I went right to the bleeding part. Urgency is definately a key sign too.

I highly recommend trying the Specific Carbohydrate diet, though. I find that this may reduce the number of flare ups. It has to be followed to the T.

Well good luck....for all of us! (this disease stinks!)

Quincy, how often do you show signs of a flare and have to increase your meds?

ekspain said...
Hi! I'm a fellow UC sufferer, and I was wondering how many of you eat wheat, sugar, potatoes, coffee, chocolate?

That's great that the SCD diet is working for you!

I can eat wheat and potatoes. They don't cause any problems. I will have decaf coffee and sugar, but I try to limit them. I know they negatively affect my digestion, just not a whole lot. I can only have chocolate every once in awhile. It bothers my digestive system more than sugar or decaf coffee does.

I can't consume anything that is high in fructose. I'm fructose intolerant.

Quincy,
I plan to do them nightly until I'm off steroids. Where I go from there I'm not sure. I might check in with you at that point.

Tapering my maintenance meds is a touchy issue with me now as you may recall. You all warned me not to follow docs advice and jump from 12 to 6 asacol so fast. I hope you are right. I really, really want to maintain on Asacol.