Bubbley/Foamy Painful Blood gas - this flare is terrible!

Hello,

This is my first time posting on the forum. I just found out about healingwell yesterday, and it seems like a very active, knowledgable and caring group of people!

I hope so, cuz I could really use some support.

I have very little support in person. Basically just my husband and a couple understanding friends.

I was diagnosed in July and set up with a Colon Surgeon as my GI doctor. She was terrible. After still not being in remission, I decided to fire her.

Unfortunately my husband is not eligible for insurance at his new job until January.

Well, besides my story, blah blah blah... i wanted to talk about the ONE thing that is really causing me issue this and last week.

I like the call them bloody foamy razor bubbles... or something to that extent...

I suddenly get the urge that I better head to the bathroom... and all I get is passing gas... that feels like razor blades in my intestines and stomach and deep down in my soul!

This forcing its way out foamy gas can torture me anywhere from 1-5 minutes and usually causes sweats and some shaking.

When I get up to inspect... all there is is some blood off to one side of the toilet that has sank to the bottom and lots of pretty bright red foam floating around... like a murder/bubble bath combined.

Currently I am not eating much... whether I eat a lot or a little (mostly no residue diet kind of things) this has been happening for like 8 days straight. It has happened before, but not to this extent!

Anyone dealt with this before?? I'm not eating anything gassy so I'm not sure why all this excess air is in there!!

HELP!! :)

 

Warm liquids either make me feel great or terrible. I never know which ill get :/

Forgot all about the baking soda trick. Man that stuff is NASTY tho!

At this point, ill deal with bad taste over this!

Hi Embers..

Maybe some others can comment as well - But foamy, gassy and blood alarms me - especially with a lot of pain. Is is really foul smelling? Or putrid type thing?

Two things come to mind - 1) severe inflammation and 2) C-diff.

Maybe you could consider going down to the hospital if so; I'd hate to see things take a really bad turn by not getting on top of it.

When I was at my worst I had this type of thing - but was grey frothy stuff.. was disgusting and foul and I would break into sweats, shakes and the pain was intense. Gas and bubbles and blood was all that came out - sometimes a little liquid with bubbles in the toilet. Upon an immediate colonsopy it was severe inflammation. As soon as this was taken care of via antibiotics and prednisone (40/mg day) this all went away.

Also I switched to the SCD diet and this helped a little during that time. Didn't make it go away, but helped. SO the combo of Pred/Antibiotic and SCD did quite well at that time.

Well I got some plain mashed potatoes w salt in me. And some pretzels. Last trip to the bathroom I thought I was gunna throw up. No good!

So I drank down some baking soda water. Got a nice burp out!
And now in bed with my heating pad. Thank God for heating pad on the guts.

The last few weeks have been real rough for me. Might not be able to wait until January to go back in.
My husband and I are hoping... but are prepared to go in if im in too much pain or lose any more weight.

Hoping bakig soda calms the gas and supper gives more substance to my stool.
And sleep with purring kitties always helps.

thanks guys!

Im on pred, tapering. Just started 25mg today.
I have some lialda samples left but not taking any currently.

I drink Kefir. Vsl3 is super duper expensive.
Could you tell me about the psyllium?

And I do have my colonoscopy report.

What does your colonoscopy say about the extent of the inflammation found? You should take that Lialda.

Kefir is delicious, I'm sure, but if you don't want to spend the money on VSL#3, you might want to compare active culture counts in the kefir you're drinking, some top quality greek yogurts and maybe consider making your own yogurt at home. The Specific Carbohydrate folks get huge counts of active culture in their homemade yogurt.

Psyllium is a soluble fiber sold in every grocery and pharmacy. It will help bulk your stool.

My colonoscopy had a blockage so she got stuck just under half way. Barium enema showed no blockage. Also looks like inflammation all the way through colon.
My original doctor lady was really not very good.

I need to see an actual Gastro doc!

My husband losing his job, and therefor our insurance, was a huge set back. And we had just reached our deductible too. :/

I am excited to have insurance again! Wont take long to hit the deductible and then have reduced medical costs all year! very excited to start getting this under control!

Yes! That sounds great. I am just trying to make it through until I reach the light at the end of the tunnel.
In some aspects I do not feel like diet is what caused my UC to finally fully rear its ugly face... so I kind of thing a total overhaul of my diet isn't going to fix it.
I've never been big on greasy or processed foods so "eliminating" them hasn't even been an issue.
Restricted diets like the SCD or I was looking at FODMop ... they all contradict each other! lol.

But yes, eggs, organic stock with chicken breasts in it. I could probably add the really cooked carrots without a problem. I've had rice without issue. And I made my own applesauce yesterday. Really cooked the crap out of the apples.

So what about fiber? Should I be doing the psyllium husks? And as for probiotics:

Any suggestions? I was doing Kefir and another refrigerated liquid probiotic. I know their are pills. My friend just gave me some Flora-something.

Thanks for all the help guys!

(Also: I did take the Lialda today. 4 pills. I have about a weeks worth... so I am not really sure if it even matters.)

Hi Katie,

I can't really recommend a specific probiotic off the top of my head. When you're up to it, poke around your grocery store or HFS. There are so many. I've tried many different brands, some that worked, some didn't.

You can also try making your own yogurt as well.

I have to agree with kazbern about diet as well. We don't know what causes UC but it's likely it's not food ...maybe the chemicals? Who knows? But diet can help. I tired SCD years ago and it made no difference. Last year I decided just to go gluten free and low and behold (even though I was tested for celiac) I'm doing so much better. But do your best to stay away from gluten, eat the foods you've listed and hopefully we'll hear good news from you soon!

Chin up girl!

SCD is a gluten-free diet, so going gluten free is a less restrictive approach, while SCD is more restrictive.

I'm sorry your diet consists mostly of saltine crackers!