haven't been here in a while... gassy cramping no relief no pooing :'(

hello all.
i have not been on this forum in years! i missed you guys n gals!

of course, when someone comes back.... yes, they are usually flaring and having issues and need help from fellow UC'ers. that would be me, right now.

ok, so i have been flaring since sept 8 2011.
mild - moderate flare comparitively (a lot of you will remember)
bleeding with every BM (yes im a bleeder)
pain, but not so much where i am vomiting in reaction to the pain like i used to (thank god).

tolerating it okay over the months as comparatively i've experienced worse.

finally put on 25 mg of prednisolone 5 weeks ago. doing nothing for me.
saw a new specialist i have been waiting to see for a while now, he said he didn't know i was so sick. if i didn't look so well, he would hospitalise me. (i have this thing where i look good when im sick)
he put me on 50mg for a week and i went back to see him a week later. well it worked.
i went from 15+ bloody bm's a day to only 3-5 non bloody more formed bm's. big improvement. only problem with me, is when i get better, it hurts more, cuz i can feel the more solid bm's moving thru my colon and it's excruciating.

when i saw him last thursday, i was hot and flushed and felt absolutely awful. prednisone side effects!! they were horrible.
but next day i was much better.

then sunday i thought i had the flu or something. but after spending about 5 hours resting in bed, i felt better. still bad, but not like the flu at all.
maybe more prednisone side effects???

now the last 3 days, i have been having this horrible issue of only going 1-2, more solid, no blood bm's a day and the rest of the time i am cramped up and gassy.
i have constant pain and im hot and flushed and feel awful.
i can't sleep becuz everytime i move in bed i have to go to toilet... JUST TO FART!!!! not fair. cuz it's a lot of farts! so i am exhausted as well.

why do i have this horrible cramping that won't go away?
why so much gas?
how do i get rid of it?
its like i have to go to the toilet, but nothing will happen. almost like constipation. but seems different at the same time (from experience)
anything that even thinks about my rectum makes me have to run to the bathroom.
and it's embarrassingly noisy.

i took immodium once and it was the most horrible experience of my life and don't want to repeat that.

oh, and just recently i have been much healthier - like lots and lots of fruit! and veggies. brown rice, brown bread, brown pasta... no refined stuff. not so much fast food anymore. can't remember last time i had it. but i eat lots of fresh fruit.

i wonder if it's fruit gas???



my sig is old, so here is what i am currently on.
________________________________________

mesalasine granules 4g a day
prednisolone 50mg a day
methotrexate 20mg (once) a week
folate
tumeric
endone (take quarters / halves throughout the day for pain - much less than prescribed)

You have described me almost exactly! Just a couple of weeks ago, I felt the same way. I was typically having 2-3 sort of formed bms daily that hurt cause I could feel them moving. Then one Sunday, no poop. Monday, no poop, Tuesday, little poop but not good. All those days, had gas and mucus. I had just tapered to 30mgs of Prednisone on Sunday. I was bloated and miserable.

Wednesday came and oh boy.... had to go home for lunch and the dam burst. One of those vomiting bms! Felt like my brain stem was coming out!

I called my GI and was put back on 40mg until 3/23 when I go see him. We are going to talk about changing the Lialda.

Yesterday I suddenly felt like I was getting the flu. Sudden exhaustion hit hard. I went to bed at 8pm and slept through the night. When my clock went off this morning, I felt like I could have slept all day. BUT I got up and today hasn't been that bad. I have had about 4 days since May 2011 when I have felt like that. I don't believe it has to do with the steroids... I think it is more the disease.

Hang in there

Have you tapered down at all? I think the pain if from inflammation but you would think since you're not seeing blood, you must have had a decrease in inflammation. Do you have anything else going on like a fissure that would make things very painful? I hope it gets better if you give yourself some time to heal. Starting at 25mg isn't very effective as far as I know. It's not enough to stop a flare in its tracks and it almost seems to be counter-productive because, for me, when I was on pred and went up in dose, it took longer at a higher dose to get back to healthy.

Hi, Kazygirl! Welcome back to the forum, but sorry to hear that you're flaring. Probably you need a SLOW taper off the oral steroid. Have you tried low-residue foods to minimize irritation & gas? (Plain boiled white rice, roasted chicken or fish w/o skin, scrambled or boiled egg, toast, applesauce, ripe banana, only cooked veggies & canned fruit) Try to lie on your back at night so as to minimize pressure on King Colon. It's going to bug you 'til the meds take hold; that's why you have gas & cramping. HOW IS NINA LYNN? Probably keeping you busy-- so try to lie down for more rest whenever you can. All best wishes for you to feel better soon. / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

Oh, wow-- Nina is turning into a little girl. That was so exciting when you wrote us to announce her birth! I hope the Movicol gives you relief. It sounds like you need a gentle fiber supplement plus plenty of water daily to keep things movin' thru. Quincy seems not to have noticed your post yet because she would surely advise you ... / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

I noticed....all I have to suggest is rectal meds. I would say that while it's easy to think you're only constipated and you need a mild laxative...you should also consider these symptoms as a probable flare..albeit limited in the rectum.

hope you feel better soon.
q

If you've been flaring since september..have you not been on any rectal meds at all?

What meds are you taking?

q

Something to consider....after you take the pain med at night and it's kicked in, try the colifoam.


q

Sounds to me like you might need about 1-2 grams of magnesium and at least 2 grams of vitamin C.
That helps me each time I am plugged up.
J

kazygirl....are you coming back to comment on how you're doing?
There are members enquiring....
q