New to forum - New to UC - Looking for support and suggestions!

Welcome MMY!

Sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis. How old is he if you don't mind me asking?

I am fairly new here too (and fairly new to joining the UC club myself), so I probably won't be able to offer as good advice as some of the other more experienced members on here. Personally I found the initial phase immediately after the diagnosis the hardest because it is only then that the full weight of the illness comes on you and you realize that you will have this liability for the rest of your life.

After a few weeks though, once your symptoms improve and you become more accustomed to taking the medication things become better. You realise that, whilst the medication is sometimes annoying, aside from that, you can really live a normal life. I believe you will find these forums to very informative and welcoming as I have.

To answer your questions directly, I think the duration it takes for the pain and diarrhea to subside is quite subjective from person to person. I was lucky and within two days all the symptoms disappeared, however I have read other cases were people have trialed unsuccessfully with many medications for many years until they have found the one that suits them, completely eliminating all symptoms (or at least most).

All doctors I have seen have all said that the only thing you can do to help your UC is medication. Personally I don't believe this and I believe that there are many things one can do to help their UC aside from medication. Here are a few things I have read people have done that have helped their UC:

- Diet: Many have altered their diet, eliminating foods that they have found exacerbate their symptoms (usually gluten and dairy). There are many diets out there that some have used and actually have 'cured' their UC to the point they don't need medication and maintain their health on a restricted diet. Unfortunately there is no 'one' miracle UC diet for everyone. We must all find what foods we can eat and what we can't. Starting a food diary is advisable. The foods I have read that are really good are: Spinach, Almonds, Sunflower Seeds, Turmeric, Ginger. Probiotics are also helpful. You can look at members' signatures to determine what supplements they are taking and what they have found helpful.

- Stress: Having less stress and anxiety can reduce the symptoms of your UC. Whilst it may be difficult to be less anxious knowing that you have UC, one can aim to reduce stress over the long term. Things like yoga, meditation and exercise can help with this.

There are probably I few other things you can do to help the UC but these are the ones know of.

It is important to not lose hope with over your UC. I honestly believe that the human spirit is a wonderful thing. With positivity you can get through even the worst adversity. Good luck.

Max said it very well, we are all individualistic when it comes to how fast we respond to our medications. More the inflammation, the longer it will take to heal. The rectum is usually the last to heal and the first to flare so using a rectal med in conjunction with an oral can really help us heal faster. So I second Ima's suggestion by having your husband ask for a rectal med. I absolutely HATE them but I grudgingly agree they work wonders! :)

Btw, welcome to HW and please have your husband join us too if he wants. It is awesome that you are trying to find things to help him. The web can be quite obscure about some things and its usually just generic reused material. So coming online to a support forum and talking to people who deal with this day in and day out can really help with the whole educational experience.

I just started with Lialda today. My doctor told me Lialda may take 2 or 3 weeks to get me back into full remission, so he put me on a short cycle of prednisone as well. The fact that his symtoms are getting better is a great sign because it means its working! That's great news!

I myself am fairly new to all this as well, but if your husbands symptoms are that bad, it might not be a bad idea to get on a short cycle of prednisone and quickly taper off. By the time he tapers completely off, the Lialda should be doing it's thing and he can continue the Lialda for maintenance. This is all information that I got from my GI the past 2 days and what I am doing at the moment myself.

But again, it's great news that the Lialda is showing improvement, so be very happy about that :)

Another thing I have learned this past year dealing with UC, everything will work out. It can be a hassle time to time, but there is a lot of good information and several treatments. Just stay on top of it and be positive.

Thank you all for your responses! We have been trying to adjust to this diagnosis and figure out if it's even the correct diagnosis. My husband's GI did a biopsy on a little polyp and said that nothing looked cancerous but it didn't look typical of UC or Crohns...so he is getting blood drawn today for the Prometheus serology test. Before the colonoscopy, he did a stool test which came back negative (now i'm not sure if they did a c. diff culture though..)

He is on Lialda 2X per day and is now taking Probiotics (Intestinal Care DF Acidophilus and Bifidobacteria plus FOS...) plus iron supplement and multivitamin. He's got very little to no blood in his stool which is great but he is still going 20+ times per day to the bathroom and it is still completely diarrhea.

I thought psyllium was a laxative but it seems that lots of people take it to help with the diarrhea? I don't understand could someone please explain?

Obviously my husband doesn't want to start doing enemas but I think that a med enema at this point to help with urgency would be helpful?

Thank you for your help!