Recent Diagnosis and Meds Help

Hi All,

I am new to HealingWell and am really impressed with the community that has formed through this website. I hope you all the best, and thank you in advance for any advice you are able to give.

I was diagnosed with "extensive ulcerative pancolitis" on Feb 28th of this year. After reading a lot about others that have been diagnosed with UC I am wondering if there has been a lapse in judgement or procedure somewhere.

I noticed bleeding in my stool in Aug of last year and my symptoms have been as follows: I have 4-5 BM's per day. Some times they are all solid with minimal to no blood, and some times they are not solid with drops or a thin stream of bleeding at the end of the motion; the blood tends to be a true red rather than dark red or brown. I have no pain and no real cramping (some intestinal discomfort...akin to being gassy). When I have read about "flares" that people are having they are generally described quite differently.

The prep for my colonoscopy went well, but when I was at the hospital waiting (over 3 hours) for my procedure I was feeling a lot of churning in my gut that made me use the restroom twice, passing mostly mucus and flaky pink/brown material. Has anyone experienced this even on a completely empty stomach? Could this have affected my colonoscopy?

Anyway, my GI rated me a 6/10 as far as severity of UC (biopsy is pending). He has prescribed the dreaded Prednisone - 40mg daily for 3 weeks before tapering to 30mg, and Asacol - 800mg tablet three times daily. Does this sound appropriate for my symptoms?

Thanks again!

I had severe UC (I say had because I had surgery) that was totally resistant to all the drugs I tried. I did have bleeding, which was the worst problem for me, but I never really had any pain or cramping like a lot of other people do.

The meds your doctor prescibed sounds about right...that's exactly what I started out with when I was diagnosed.

Hi, I'm new too with pan colitis.  I was hospitalized for one month; I have been on Prednisone for since January 21st (down to 30 mg a day--I was on so long because I developed breathing problems).  I am also on Asacol 800 mg three times a day, but I cut it down to 400 mg three times per day to see if my breathing problem gets better.

I have had the pink flakey fleshy thing you speak of.  It's part of the disease and also occurred with me during my prep for my colonoscopy.  I don't think it affected the procedure or the outcome.  My doctor told me if anything was left in the colon, they just vacuum it up (gross).  He diagnosed me with UC/PC--I didn't think I'd have this forever as I have MS too.  Are you on a special diet?  I notice if I go near anything containing dairy or fiber, I start to get blood in my stool.  I'm sure everything will go well for you.  God bless.

Thanks all for your replies. They are indeed very helpful and reassuring.

I lived with what would be considered a flare for 6 months. During this time we began keeping a food journal charting our meals, snacks, drinks, exercise, supplements (Culturelle and Florastor mainly), as well as detailed BM entries. It helped my fiancee and I alter our diet to a point where my condition was manageable without any medication (I consider myself very lucky for this).

We eliminated completely: Dairy, artificial sugars (sorbitol, fructose, dextrose...really anything except table sugar and brown sugar), highly insoluble fiber (whole grains, cereals, raw vegetables, raw fruits), red meat and pork, oily foods, beer (although wine and liquor did not seem to be as bad).

Our diet consists of: Lots of chicken, fish, and eggs as the protein. Well cooked vegetables, freshly made fruit juices (for all the vitamins), and soy milk was a life saver to keep the weight up as much as I could (still ended up losing 15lbs over 6mo).

After the colonoscopy, however, the GI thought that my colon looked worse than my symptoms indicated and urged us to start medication soon. I am now 125lbs (5'9'' male, 26yrs old), and today was my FIRST DAY ON PREDNISONE AND ASACOL! And surprisingly I am already seeing much improved BMs (no gas/mucous to begin the BM, no broken or liquid stool, and no trailing bleeding). The urgency has also gone away, and so has the frequency.

While these signs are all very encouraging, I am grateful for what the diet has done for me thus far and will continue to follow it :) I hope that the side effects of prednisone don't put a damper on things...but thus far all is well.

Thank you all again!

Welcome to HW :) I'm glad you are starting to see an improvement already. I wanted to comment and say that not all our symptoms are the same regardless of where it is or how bad it is. I mean sure, we may all have D but not all of us have the bleeding and pain. Unfortunately, I don't fall into that category! lol I have had it all, D, pain, bleeding - the works. I will cross my fingers for you and hope that you continue to get better every day!