New member/new diagnosis

All- Hello! Just joined the forums yesterday. Had a colonoscopy this morning, confirmed UC. Symptoms were slightly bloody diarrhea for close to a month. Family doctor 2 weeks in put me on Lomotil and Flagyl, and ran tests for infection and parasites on stool samples. Tests came back negative, and antibiotics had no effect. Went to the GI and now we're here. Male, 35, otherwise good weight and health. Biopsy results back in 2 weeks.

Just got prescribed 20mg/day Prednisone and 3600mg/day Asacol. Also been heavily researching on these boards (as much as one can do in a day!) about anti-inflammatory diets. I'm going to be taking the drugs, but also adjusting diet at the same time (and lucky for me, I love spinach!), though I'm not terribly far off on the sugars, sat fats, alcohol, caffeine, and red meats to begin with.

Specifics around the procedure for all those that really want to to know:
Granularity, friability, erythema and multiple small erosions in the mid-ascending colon, hepatic flexure, transvers colon and splenic flexure compatible with UC (biopsy).
Normal mucosa in the terminal ileum, cecum, descending colon and proximal sigmoid colon.
Granularity, friability, erythema and ulceration in the mid-sigmoid colon and rectum compatible with UC (biopsy).

Thanks for listening!

Right, as hekela said, welcome - and so sorry for the diagnosis.

There is a wealth of information here, and please check out our Resources thread at the top of the forum. CCFA.org is also a very good source of basic facts.
We run the gamut here, of various viewpoints and different experiences. With UC, not everyone reacts to meds the same, or foods the same, or... anything else the same!

My guidelines in a flare, for decades, have been to avoid raw "scratchy" foods (coleslaw, salads - though recently I found I was OK with raw spinach.....corn, popcorn, gassy foods, because they hurt, greasy foods because they're hard to digest for anyone.

I do think the best ting to do is to keep a journal and note what seems to help or hurt. I continue with two cups of coffee a day and one or two glasses of wine with a meal on weekends.....I've had the occasional cocktail and it doesn't sit well for me.

Personally, I find the psyllium powder helps a lot (Metamucil) - and also probiotics.

If you search the past threads (search button at upper right) we have some good conversations on turmeric and other anti-inflammatories.

Again, welcome!

Welcome to the forum. A quick and easy to gather helpful information is to browse our signatures. It lists the prescribed meds. You will also find that a vast majority share OTC supplements that may or may not have been recommended by our doctors but we find work for us. Many of our signatures list probiotics. Do a search of our threads and you will soon see why. You will also find many signatures listing soluble fiber such as psyllium and vitamin D. These are the most popular but there are many more that may or may not work for you.

Following a diet or keeping a food diary is popular whether as a must to avoid inflammation or because certain foods are comforting and don’t aggravate symptoms. It’s more of an individual preference.

Post Edited (BabeintheWoods) : 10/25/2010 9:19:54 PM (GMT-6)

Hi..welcome to the forum!

Doesn't sound like UC with a huge break in the inflammation (descending/proximal sigmoid) especially without cecum involvement, unless the antobiotics helped in part.

Looking forward to hearing your biopsy results.

Wondering why the doc didn't put you on just the Asacol and a 5ASA-mesalamine retention enema rectal med...rather than using pred as first-line.

Diet is subjective....and always a hot topic.

Was the written report you have above exactly as the doc wrote it?
Interesting.

quincy

Quincy- yes, those were the notes that the doctor put in the report (at least, the one I received) word-for-word.

Good question on if the antibiotics helped; I got off them last Thursday, 3 days before the procedure, possibly they kept working for a few days after, unfortunately no way now to isolate...

I'm not necessarily happy with taking the pred, but my wife insisted I start on it right away, no time to research it a bit more, so here I am.

More specific on the symptoms- 2-3 times within a half hour of getting up in the morning, once in the afternoon, once in the morning, and sometimes once in the middle of the night. The morning ones were preceded by sprints to the bathroom, the others I had 2-3 minutes of lead time, and (thank goodness) the timing was regular enough where I could ensure I was in the vicinity of a bathroom when I needed to be.

I have 2-3 drinks/week, don't smoke, no coffee/soda, and go very easy on the red meats and fried foods. But I do get stressed very easily and the start of this roughly coincided with a very stressful event (and I've gone through a lot of the "does stress cause it" threads, so who knows) and I wouldn't qualify myself as a solid vitamin-taker, whole-grain and vegetable-eater, or flora-ingester, so these are some of the areas I want to concentrate on first.

Will definitely follow up on the rectal meds, also found the DIY rectal Asacol/5-ASAs.

Next appt. is in 6 weeks, but will of course get in touch with him before then. And will follow up re: why the larger normal area.

I had stool samples done 2-3 weeks ago, three vials and a cup- "nothing out of the ordinary" though they were looking for parasites and infections (this was before the GI, with my family doctor), so not sure if there were any UC-specific tests.

Making sure I get the biopsy results, and my neurologist father-in-law's getting a copy as well.

Appreciate the help!!!

Initial findings, with biopsy results:

Granularity, friability, erythema and multiple small erosions in the mid-ascending colon, hepatic flexure, transverse colon and splenic flexure compatible with UC.
>>>Biopsy: moderate chronic active colitis compatible with UC, no evidence of dysplasia or malignancy.

Normal mucosa in the terminal ileum, cecum, descending colon and proximal sigmoid colon.

Granularity, friability, erythema and ulceration in the mid-sigmoid colon and rectum compatible with UC
>>>Biopsy: severe chronic active proctocolitis compatible with ulcerative proctocolitis. No evidence of dysplasia or malignancy.