Possible diagnosis of UC, I feel really sick, what should I do?

Hello everyone.

I'm so desperate and I don't really know what to do. I was never properly diagnosed with UC, the first time I ever had any complaints was in 2009, I noticed mucus on my stool after a spicy meal, it cleared up quickly and I forgot about it. In 2010 I was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis and put on Elmiron which is known to cause some serious side effects, the mucus came back after two weeks on it and stopped taking it, I had no more problems once I stopped. about a year later I had pharyngitis and was put on antibiotic and ibuprofen, after a week on it I had this terrible stomach ache, a few hours later I had diarrhea, of course I went on the BRAT diet but my symptoms only cleared up 15 days later, during those 15 days I had bloody diarrhea and a lot of mucus as well. After that I saw a GI, he told me that I had IBS without even examining me or asking for a colonoscopy. I didn't knew better at the time and trusted him, he told me to look up on the internet about what foods were recommended for IBS and so I did, I cut down on everything you can imagine and during the first months I remember having diarrhea if I ate something that wasn't safe, I honestly believe that at the time my anxiety was also playing a part during these episodes. After a few months I felt fine and have been fine ever since 2012, there were no more doctors, no meds at all, no tests, nothing. I thought I was doing okay until I ended up in the ER very recently. It turned out that I had food poisoning, I told the doctor about my IBS and the doctor asked what my symptoms were and I told her everything I wrote above, she immediately told me that it was very unlikely that I had IBS, she suspected that UC was my problem and told me to visit another GI once I felt better. I got better and started looking for a GI, unfortunately I live in a very small place, we have two GI doctors here and the closest hospital is two hours away. Thre weeks ago I was feeling okay, suddenly I felt really nauseous, this happened after I woke up which means my stomach was empty, I ended up vomiting bile and that was the start of it all, I haven't felt well ever since that day, I went to the hospital two days after this episode, it was a nightmare to get there because the transport we have here is not the best and I don't have a car. The did some blood and urine tests, everything seemed fine and I was sent home. I went back to the brat diet to give my stomach a rest and I started feeling very constipated, I felt swollen and I started going to the bathroom more frequently but my bm's were this very hard to pass separate hard lumps, the weird thing is that I went from this to pasty stools on the next day, then hard lumps on the next one followed by diarrhea. I've been going back and forth between C and D, I'm bloated, I feel my bowels moving, I have discomfort and I don't know what to do or what to eat. I also have a lot of mouth and tongue ulcers, I had them for weeks and they're not going away. I've been trying to get an appointment with a GI and he can only see me next week, going to the hospital is also not an option because we don't have how to get there and I'm here starving. I looked up online for snacks and such that I could eat but nothing I found is sold where I live. Any tips?? I'm feeling miserable and my anxiety is driving me insane, I've read a lot of horror stories online and that didn't help at all. I'm sorry this is so long...

garylouisville said...
Where do you live?

I live in a small village in Portugal, there's not much around here, it's very isolated.

Despite how miserable you are feeling, waiting until next week is going to be alright. The BRAT diet might have made you more constipated - you might try adding in some fiber to help things move along, or you can try something like miralax to normalize your bowel movements.

Please do not take ibuprofen anymore. This is known to be a risk for flaring inflammatory bowel disease.

I'm sorry you are hungry. You should be able to eat simple home-cooked meals without any problems. Stick with whole foods like rice, meat, cooked fruits and vegetables. Dried fruit might be a nice way to add gentle fiber. I'm not sure you should use whole-grain bread - maybe just toasted bagette with butter would be best. As for dairy, you should be able to tolerate yogurt and I would recommend a good yogurt with live cultures and little sweetener to help your gut.

kazbern said...
Despite how miserable you are feeling, waiting until next week is going to be alright. The BRAT diet might have made you more constipated - you might try adding in some fiber to help things move along, or you can try something like miralax to normalize your bowel movements.

Please do not take ibuprofen anymore. This is known to be a risk for flaring inflammatory bowel disease.

I'm sorry you are hungry. You should be able to eat simple home-cooked meals without any problems. Stick with whole foods like rice, meat, cooked fruits and vegetables. Dried fruit might be a nice way to add gentle fiber. I'm not sure you should use whole-grain bread - maybe just toasted bagette with butter would be best. As for dairy, you should be able to tolerate yogurt and I would recommend a good yogurt with live cultures and little sweetener to help your gut.

I'm really scared for having to wait until next week, unfortunately there's nothing I can do but wait. My research online didn't help at all, I read awful stories, read about terrible complications, it just triggered my anxiety even more.
I haven't taken Ibuprofen in a long time, nowadays I'm really careful with the meds I take.
As for the diet, I have anemia, I've been on a very poor diet for years and that's what caused my anemia, my hair is falling out like crazy and I wanted to have e healthier diet but it's hard with these symptoms, I only feel better if I'm starving, once I eat somerthing I get really uncomfortable. It also makes me very confused to be constipated one day, have diarrhea on the next one and still feel constipated.