Mild flare symptoms won't end!

Hello everyone (again).... still flaring, dating back to last fall after using an excessive amount of antibiotics.

Last month or so, I've been at the point of 2-4 BMs a day (very rarely 5 BMs), mostly solid/formed, but occasionally (about every 4 days or so), will have small amounts (very faint) of blood and/or mucous when I wipe.    Occasionally there is a little bit of streaking on the poo but again, this is very isolated and infrequent.

Right now, I feel normal, I'm eating normal, and aside from the trace amounts of blood and mucous, I'd said everything else is normal.

I realize that I'm still flaring but I'm just not sure how much I should stress about these symptoms and what else I should do to get out of it.  I have been doing the rectal enemas (Rowasa) but these almost seem to make the blood and mucous flare up a little bit more. 

Is this just the final lingering effects of my flare that need more time to subside?  Will the subside without doing anything else?  Confused and hate even talking to my doctor about this because he always fires back with needed to do something drastic from a medication standpoint and like I said, I pretty much otherwise feel normal.

I would not say you are still flaring, from what you describe.
Some UC sufferers always have a little blood and mucus, and poo more than "normal" and that never subsides.
I was one of those. My flares manifested themselves with urgency. The blood only stopped when I started Remicade.

I would not do anything more, don't even use the enemas if they are irritating (trust your instincts).
Just enjoy feeling normal!

I'd suggest you up the enemas to nightly....for a week and see if your symptoms increase or start to decrease.
Give a fair assessment of it.

If you find they actually are worse, then request the steroid enemas and try them.

What oral meds are you on?

Are you using any probiotics?

q

I'm experiencing almost the exact same thing.  I feel totally normal only have one pretty normal consistency BM per day, but there's almost always some mucous with it and occasional spots of blood.  It's so frustrating.  FWIW, while I was taking rectal meds, my symptoms got a LOT worse, then back to almost nothing when I stopped them.  I have been toying around with different diets (GAPS diet, specific carbohydrate diet, primal, essentially very low carb and no sugars or anything at all artificial/processed).  I have gone off gluten and dairy but still those oh, so mild, symptoms persist.  Argh.  So frustrating to feel like youre ***almost*** there, but not quite.

Im dealing the the very same thing, 2 to 3 BM's a day, formed, no blood or mucus half the time, and other times some mucus and traces of blood, and every once in a wile Ill get a half a teaspoon of blood or so mixed in with the mucus. It always seems to run hand and hand with stress and, or food. Yesterday I had to move my boat from one slip to another ( I live on a sailboat), it was windy and I had to get a lot of stuff done to make the move...Sure enough this morning my second BM had specks of blood and a blob of mucus mixed with a small amount of blood, maybe a half a teaspoon, if that...Its making me crazy...Go figure it. Stress seems to be a huge trigger for me, I walk 3 to 4 miles a day and meditate every morning, no processed foods, booze, or tobacco. I still cant seem to get totally blood and mucus free. My Gastro doc says its normal for some of us...Heck I dont know anymore what normal is. lol Love to hear more on the subject. I hope you get it under control soon...Let me know how your doin. God Bless, Jeff

These symptoms have been the ONLY symptoms I have ever had. Unfortunately though, without any medication (mesalamine) they were progressing. A few weeks ago when I was med-free and waiting for the appt with my new GI doc, one BM had about a tablespoon of blood on it, where before there was ever only streaks (and my butt hurts these days and never used to).

The mucus content has always been through the roof. Just lots of it. And it can be very strange and varied in appearance. I can see how the candida pushers sell products, because there have been times when I was just CERTAIN this stuff was "bacterial colonies".

Hell, just a week ago I thought this again !

I think for me, my stance is going to be to continue the meds because of the reduction in symptoms. I won't escalate them though unless while taking them I see a HUGE shift in symptoms towards the 'worse'.

This feels like being between a rock and a hard place. How do we ever really know if we are on the precipice of our UC getting out of hand if we can't look at our colons every day?

I've decided to implement a no dairy (except for home made yogurt and kefir) and gluten free for 6 months to see if this is MY missing link. I already gave up sugar and processed foods 3-4 months ago and it didn't change anything.

I was like you for a period. I wasn't quite sure what to do because I didn't feel "sick enough" for heavier meds like immunomodulators or biologics. Ultimately, I decided to go forth with the heavier meds because I knew I needed to get off prednisone and I wasn't even close to being able to do that.

Fast forward a couple weeks (waiting to start Remicade) and I can tell you I made the correct decision. Inexplicably, I've gotten much worse even though my meds have not changed. After two months of no blood and fairly formed stools, I have blood every day now and mucous and diarrhea. I'm very glad I made the decision to go on Remicade (I found out I cannot take Imuran/6-MP due to TPMT deficiency). I will be starting it next week.

I'd recommend trying something like a steroid foam (maybe even with oral Uceris if you aren't taking pred) for a few weeks as a last ditch effort and in the meantime getting preliminary bloodwork done for Imuran/6-MP. (I assume you are already on oral 5-asa and that is not working well enough on it's own?).

Keep in mind that blood means that the lining is inflamed enough to be fragile and bleed. I'd never call it a normal thing or occasional event.....it should be a concern because limited in rectum flaring wouldn't necessarily show increase or change in stools.

But....blood can also be caused from hemmies and fissures. It's important to determine the difference and treat accordingly.

q