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Posted 7/25/2010 8:16 PM (GMT 0)
  is it normal with uc to have some mucous before a bm? seems every time i have a bm there is mocous first...why is that? no blood at all. confused
Posted 7/25/2010 8:26 PM (GMT 0)
I was close to remission while on 20 mg of Pred and there was no mucous. Now that I am tapering it down to 5mg, I start seeing mucous too before the BM. maybe there is still a small inflammation and I am thinking about adding an enema at night.

I don't know if this helps at all, best,
R
Posted 7/25/2010 9:42 PM (GMT 0)
The colon produces mucus normally, but during flares there will be more and if one has extreme stress or eats foods that might quicken the colon activity, etc.

Mucus is a good thing, for when there's extreme bleeding and the disease is extreme, mucus production is waaaay down.

q
Posted 7/25/2010 10:23 PM (GMT 0)
Is that true, Quincy? Mucous is a good thing? I hope so, cause I see it daily! I pass it every time I pass gas, & I see it with bm's also. But blood is rare, maybe some pinkish toilet paper, that's it. Where did you hear that, in all my years of doing UC research I've never heard it- but, it does seem to be true because when I've flared badly in the past, there's little to no mucous, just tons of blood & D. It gets annoying, constantly oozing something....
Posted 7/26/2010 12:00 AM (GMT 0)
I only have mucous when I'm very sick and flaring badly. Usually my flares starts with mucous, then goes into exploding blood and mucous. When my mucous is gone I know I'm getting better. Nightly enemas help big time!
Posted 7/26/2010 3:21 AM (GMT 0)
My GI Doc told me that a certain amount of mucous is OK and normal. It is a natural lubricant that allows the stool to pass more comfortably. When your immune system is active in the colon, the mucous is copious and full of white blood cells that are there to attack what is perceived to be an infectious agent.

I've had times where I had lots of mucous and nothing ever came of it, and other times that the mucous started to contain blood and then I started to flare.

For me it can go either way.

One time out of the blue after being healthy for a long time, I passed some stool that was just covered, and I mean covered in mucous. The next BM was normal and I stayed in remission.

I've learned not to worry about things too much unless all the symptoms come back at once, especially if I get worsening diarrhea, but everyone is different. I tend to get a lot of false alarms even when I am in remission. I don't know if that is normal.
Posted 7/26/2010 4:43 AM (GMT 0)
Eva Lou....It's a good thing in the way that the mucosal layer isn't destroyed or badly inflamed to the point of not producing it....it's basically a mechanical process, not disease. But any activity that's not perceived as "normal" in the colon will start producing more mucus to protect itself.

IBS used to be called mucus colitis....where those affected produced lots and lots of mucus, but there is no inflammation. With UCers, rectal inflammation and urgency, mucus will be easily passed unknowlingly because it's almost difficult to "feel" since it's so slippery.

Bentyl could help with that somewhat if you have lots of spasming (which of course, can possibly encourage more mucus production.

q
Posted 7/26/2010 6:32 AM (GMT 0)
Thats good to know that the mucous is protective. It always freaked me out.
Posted 7/26/2010 2:48 PM (GMT 0)
It's good to pay attention to the fact that "something" is going on, and yes...it's probably a symptom of an early flare if it's just happening. It'll happen at the end of a flare as well....so it's "bad" and "good"..depending on the timing I think.

q
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