Newly diagnosed with colitis

Hey everyone,

Just here to introduce myself, just had a colonoscopy today and it's some form of colitis, possibly UC, won't know until the biopsy results next month. I'm a 22 yo male, 5'8, 145lbs from Toronto, Ontario, Canada of Chinese descent (I thought UC was rarer in Asians lol).

Just got put on 5-ASA, Cipro and Flagyl for 2 weeks to see how it goes. I wish everyone on this board and anyone who suffers from a disease like CD or UC a life-long remission and hope that some day a cure will come.

notsosicklygirl said...
Hey toronto -

I am sorry to hear you'e dealing with inflammation of some kind. I hope it is not UC and that it is something that will be treatable with antibiotics. Keep me updated on the bipsy results. Why will it take until next month? Usually it takes a week or less to get results.

I hope so too notsosicklygirl.

I'm not sure why it will take a month but I was instructed by my doctor to schedule an appointment in a months time at her office and to see her in a week of pains/bloody stools do not subside.

Hi TorontoBoy, I am sorry about what you are currently going through, please keep us updated on how things go and please ask us any questions you have (none is too disgusting). I think you will find this forum extremely helpful. I too am of asian decent and my primary GI said that out of all his patients, only 3 are asian haha.

thanks all for the support. Here's the background story.

I started getting bloody diarrhea (visible) on March 23. Up to 10 or 11 times per day with bad abdominal pains before bowel movements. Went to my GP on the 30th, he told me to get a stool culture and ova parasite test done. The tests came back on April 2, negative for any bacterial or viral infection or parasites. It slowly got better and on about April 12th I was in the clear with no blood and a day or two of solid-ish stools, or so I thought. On April 16th, I started having horrible abdominal pains, felt extremely bloated, constipated, so I put fingers down my throat to vomit, some crackers I ate came back up, no blood.

Couldn't sleep from all the pain, ended up getting a ride early in the morning to emergency, saw a GI and they thought it was colitis from the symptoms. Scheduled a colonoscopy for the next day 17th. Did the whole laxatives thing, GI did the operation and didn't find any lesions or anything, oddly enough, the pain is only on the left side but there was nothing on the left side, seemed clear...was prescribed the listed regiment, all orally. So why is there left-sided pain if it's not left-sided colitis? UC usually starts from the rectum and follows upwards through the colon, there was no evidence of that in my case, only some "white spots" in the ascending colon, no idea if that is related...in the mean time, the abdominal pains are sometimes almost paralysing. Also, have not had bloody diarrhea since the 12th but still have loose stools.

I have a question, I've read a lot about dietary changes but really have no idea what to eat that helps calm the pains during a flare up. Tonight I ate blanched broccoli

Post Edited (TorontoBoy) : 4/19/2011 7:01:33 PM (GMT-6)

quincy said...
Definitely not UC unless it healed really fast and it shows only on the microscope. or...maybe microscopic colitis..

I would stay away from any meds that would cause excessive gas..broccoli being one of them.

I would push for a gastroscopy and a small bowel follow through. Were you tested for h.pylori?

Were you awake through the test? or is that what the doc said. I hope he took LOTS of biopsies.

REgarding food...maybe for you to follow basic proteins and carbohydrates with very well cooked veggies or fruits or even canned that are already cooked.

Proteins can include eggs, chicken, other meats, fish, etc.

Make sure you eat smaller meals.

The symptoms you have at this point could be from the flagyl or Cipro.

The pain in the left side could be that the sigmoid triggers the bm...if the upper part of the colon is inflamed and there is diarrhea...the sigmoid will respond faster and get it out faster.

I'm wondering if you could possibly have any food or supplement allergies, etc?

Was it suggested that you use an antidiarrheal med at all?

Welcome to the forum, looking forward to hear your biopsy results.
q

That is the exact reason why I think my GI is jumping to a diagnoses without any proof (so far without the biopsy). I wasn't tested for H. pylori or given a abdomen CT or xray. It could very well be an UGI issue, which would require me to get a UGIE asap...I did get blood work done but I don't know the results (maybe they tested h pylori there, I don't know). I was put under for the whole operation so I had to take my GI's word afterwards, though they took a bunch of pictures and biopsys (didn't ask how many exactly).

I am also wondering the same thing with regards to food/supp allergies. I've never really had any problems in the past with any sort of food allergy but it could very well be the problem if I don't know about it. The GI wasn't very helpful with regards to the post-op instructions. Basically wrote a prescription, said to book an appointment and there's nothing definitive yet (read: no idea what's going on) until the biopsy results return. So no, I was not told to take any diarrhea meds or even tylenol, which I ended up taking 2 tylenol extra strength this afternoon because of extreme left-side pain but the pain comes and goes throughout the day.

thanks for the tips, ya i def will get a copy of the patho report and blood report.

i'm not sure if the tylenol worked because i have periods of the day where the pain is minimal then it just kicks you like a horse.

i guess things really don't happen overnight....it probably takes a week or two for the 5-asa to actually start working.