Newbie, still looking for relief

Hey all, been dealing with UC symptoms for about a year now, was diagnosed with sigmoiditis in January 2011, upgraded to UC in July.

Started with bloody stools, then bloody diarrhea. Was put on Hydrocortisone supps in January, that worked about 4 months, then symptoms came back. Canasa was tried, it was awful. Splitting headaches, more urgency, colors emerging from me I'd never seen before. Figured it was just the colitis and got a colonoscopy. That's when I got the UC diagnosis.

Prednisone 40mg for awhile to bring symptoms down, then tried Mesalamine again. Same results, back to pred. Did Azathioprine for a few months after weaning self off pred and it worked decently until I switched jobs and got married in a 6-week time span. The stress led to another flare.

This flare is not as bad as past flares, but still it falls into the "moderate" category of UC: 4-5 times a day, bloody diarrhea, left-sided gurgling at some points in the day, no real pain, but sometimes some aching on the left side that wouldn't have me worried otherwise, akin to gas or a bad hangover.

Here's the catch though, prednisone's not helping any more. The azathioprine isn't either. I tried Saccharomyces B. for a couple days and I thought I was doing better when things got awful a couple days later. Trying Align starting yesterday.

Another kicker, SCD really isn't an option for me. I work in the beer industry in Chicago, and have for the last 4 years. Plus what I've been reading is that it's a way to control things and not really cure them. That's no fun.

My doc is suggesting that Remicade is the next plan of attack. I'm thinking about fecal trans, but I don't have any relatives in the city, is that an issue? I'm wondering what folks might suggest at this point. I also called UChicago to try to get into clinical trials as a way to find a new option for treatment and hopefully save some money. Any other things I might be missing?

Welcome to the forum.

BTW, Here's what's worked for me:

1) I understand you can't do the SCD diet, but you could be very careful with food combining.Here's some info on it: http://cureforulcerativecolitis.com/step-1-methodology-to-eating

2) Adding L-Glutamine 15 grams - for colonic repair.

3) Adding slippery elm bark powder - 1 tablespoon mixed in a little water, 3-4 times a day - IMO it is the equivalent in nature to the 5asa's.

4) Probiotics are key. If you can get your doc to write you a prescription for VSL#3 DS - that would be better, stronger, and probably cheaper ( IMO 3 x per day at least) than buying VSL#3.

5) Drink lots of good water.

6) Get your vit. d and b12 blood work done, to see if you are deficient.

7) start a food journal and see what correlations come forth

8) There's a great app for keeping track of your symptoms, diet, meds, etc...

http://wellapps.com/products

9) Adding rectal meds. Are you on any rectal meds like canasa suppositories or rowesa enemas?

10) You may want to add liquid vitamins/minerals to make sure your stomach does not have to do the work of breaking them down, and hence not absorbing them.

11) Also, I've been supplementing with good quality whey protein - Dr. Mercola's Pro-Optimal Whey, which I make with almond milk ( you can see from my sig).

12) Astaxanthin is a great anti-inflammatory

 

Good luck, and I hope you start to feel better soon.

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