Posted 11/17/2012 2:25 PM (GMT 0)
Hello all! I've been lurking on the board for about a month now and decided to join. Just wanted to say thank u. I hope u guys know that your posts have been so helpful with me coming to terms with this disease.
A lil about me and my dx: (long post and TMI alert)
Around the beginning of September i was stressed out to say the least. My fiance and i had just moved, work was kind of hectic and I began noticing that my stools were "red" and loose. I felt fine but noticed my stomach was always rumbling/gurgling and i kept running to the bathroom a lot at work. I was concerned but not alarmed and after discussing it with my mom we came to the conclusion that it was something I'd eaten.
Fast forward a few wks and now those "red stools" started looking a lot more like actual blood. I scheduled a visit with a GI dr and he took one look at me and said it was prob hemorrhoids and we scheduled a flex sig. I later called them back and had it changed to a colonoscopy because while hemorrhoids sounded "great" I knew something else was going on at this point.
Colonoscopy showed moderate to severe inflammation in the rectum to mid transverse colon. My ppwk said "indeterminant colitis" and I was sent home confused and scared with a rx for prednisone and Lialda.
I reluctantly took my meds for about a 1.5 wks and then found a book that advocated a raw vegan diet so I quit the meds and eagerly began juicing and eating fruit. I quickly went downhill from there. What started as a few solid stools with blood/mucous stools in between turned into full blown bloody diarrhea, no energy, going every hr on the hr at night, dehydration, u name it. I lost 18 lbs over the next 2 wks. And one of those weeks i ended up not being able to work due to the extreme fatigue, all I could do was lay in the bed and sleep. It was during this time that I found the SCD diet and began to eat the chicken soup.
I went back to my GI on 11/5 and saw the nurse practitioner who further explained that they believe I have UC (They used a lot of terms like "possible," "characteristic of," "looks like"). She explained that the biopsies they took don't show any chronic cell changes but due to the inflammation, etc it is characteristic of UC so that is how they will treat it. She urged me to get back on my meds.
And that is where I am now. Currently feeling a lot better I've been following the SCD diet, taking my pred (which I can't wait to get off of), and Lialda. I'm still having diarrhea, maybe once or twice a day but its getting more solid and I haven't seen blood for a few days now. Im also happy to report that last night was the first night in wks that I slept all the way thru the night w/o having a bm.
Now I'm focusing on getting in remission and staying there. From my research online and this forum I've ordered a few supplements and also plan on trying the protein shake, probiotic method as well. I will have all of my supplements except the slippery elm and l-threonine by tomorrow so I plan to start soon.
Okay enough rambling. Thanks if u take the time to read this, I'm happy to be apart of the forum!