Suspected UC in pregnancy

Hi there
I have found this forum so helpful over the last few weeks and just wondered if I might get a little personal advice?

I started with diarrhea (mucus but rarely blood) at 7 weeks preg and it slowly got worse until I was hospitalised at 11 weeks. Flexi sigi shows inflammation which might be crohn's but more likely UC (although my rectum and left side is clear, it got worse and worse as it went round - is this unusual in UC?). I'm waiting biopsies to confirm this..

I had three days of IV hydrocortisone which worked well and then onto a week of 40mg pred, next it's a week of 30mg then a month of 20 and then tapering after that. It is settling, but after a week on 40mg things don't feel just right, although only going 2x a day.

My questions are - is UC which spares rectum/left side common? If I go down to 30mg whilst feeling 'not quite right' could I experience more sypmtoms?

The doctors say the benenfits of IV hydrocortisone/prednisolone outweigh the risks to the baby but I'm pretty terrified taking it so any reassurance would be helpful! My doctor said last that I might stay on it longer through pregnancy to stop me flaring again? Anything else I could do to help my baby - I've got ranitidine and calcium tablets along with my pregnancy vitamins.

Thanks so much for reading - apologies it's a bit wordy!
Katja

Thank you for replying so quickly!

Your replies have really helped sort my brain out. Obviously I will have to wait a little longer til the biopsies (he took 10 - hope that's enough). During the sigmoidoscopy he said it didn't look like UC, but since then the Gastro docs have said it doesn't look like Crohn's either (lots of mucus around the right side but not a 'thickening' of the colon). The consultant surgeon said it looks like post infectious colitis (although no one agreed with him and sypmtoms came on so slowly that it was not like an infection at all). So perhaps something different altogether!

I have no history whatsoever of bowel issues and never been ill before in my life (I'm 31). I think maybe the reason they didn't put me on IBD meds was because they take weeks to work and might not be appropriate if I didn't have IBD? All of my blood/stool/urine tests were completely normal. BUT I was going 20x a day so they decided IV hydrocortisone was the only option to stabilise me. Do you think I'll likely start up 5ASAs during pregnancy and whilst having prednisolone?

All this is hypothetical until my results come back but thank you for helping me think it all through. I've already had enough of people saying 'oh my friends' mum has crohn's and she's fine'! I definitely did not feel fine in hospital on IV steroids with a surgeon hovering round me!

Katja

Katja, prednisone during pregnancy is considered ok. I know it's not optimal, and I'm sure your dr's want to get you off, but it is much more important for you and your fetus that your bowel function is normalized so you can have proper caloric and nutrition support for you and the growing baby.

If your inflammation is all right-sided, perhaps entocort is a reasonable solution. Did they only look with a sigmoidscope? I'd think a full colonoscopy would be in order to really get a handle on what's inflamed. I think if you are starting to feel worse again as you taper the prednisone it would be wise to tell the DRs and slow down the taper.

Pregnancy can bring on a flare of autoimmune disease. Sorry you're having this problem and I hope you feel better soon.

what person follows all the rules anyway regarding what should or shouldn't happen? Many women here have had their UC symptoms appear during pregnancy...seems your OBGYN is a bit in the sand.

But...they don't know what you have or how long ago you had it....doesn't mean it just showed up overnight.

Have you had an ultrasound? don't know if anything would show up on that regarding inflammation.

If you do have CD...it skips. so not to assume it would be continual.

The biopsies results should be back soon...so you'll at least have some information to enquire. Make sure that you get a copy for your records and research...

Hang tough...at least finding out the info, proposing questions and getting answers will help a lot.

q