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Posted 10/3/2014 6:04 PM (GMT 0)
Hello everyone.... I'm 39 male, and here is a brief summary:

*2011 - pain in gut. Emergency CT scan showed "swollen colon". Levaquin prescribed and pain gone in 3 days.

*Colonoscopy 2011 - "pseudo-polyp" removed - GI told me no worries, "we'll see you in 10 years"

Fast Forward......

Last 6 months, blood in stool sometimes. Last 2 months, it got consistent.

GI did blood/stool tests, and sigmidoscopy:

*"Mild to moderate colitis"

*"chronic colitis"

GI says he thinks it's Crohn's or Ulcerative - but wants this to "calm down" and then do a full colonoscopy.

Meds
****

Mezalamine Enema nightly.

3 mesalamine (liada?) pills each morning.

After 6 days of meds - I felt MUCH better. 10 toilet runs went to 2-3. Still soft - but NO blood. Felt ok. Also, for a week preceding this - I went into diet lockdown meaning egg whites, banana, white bread and olive oil - only 800 calories a day.

So for 4 days I felt good - I experimented. Ate 1 slice of pizza w/spinach. Had a FEW drops of hot-sauce. Had *one" small lobster tail with butter. Also had a little 'tiff' with the Wife so I got mad. (I was right, I always am right :) kidding)

Now, symptoms are back full-force. 10 bowel movements per day - with urgency- with blood.

Theories
*******
*Did my few small splurges set this off again?

*Did the meds quit working?

*One day my enema didn't all go inside - could that be it?

OR is melamine not my thing, and the 4 days of relief was a fluke?

Posted 10/3/2014 6:12 PM (GMT 0)
mesalamine helping you is probably likely. But also having a tightly restricted diet the way you described is essentially bowel rest, which is also good. Unfortunately, we cannot live on 800 calories per day. Your "splurge" doesn't seem like so much, but who knows. Everyone's reactions to foods are unique.

It is highly doubtful that 6 days of meds solved all your problems. Continue with the enemas nightly and the Lialda every day (not sure 3 pills is right, unfamiliar with Lialda dosing). If your symptoms don't get under better control talk to your GI about oral steroids.

And schedule that scope. I'm sorry your 2011 scope missed this. I hope you have a different GI this time around.
Posted 10/3/2014 6:23 PM (GMT 0)
I went into diet lockdown meaning egg whites, banana, white bread and olive oil - only 800 calories a day...
So for 4 days I felt good - I experimented. Ate 1 slice of pizza w/spinach.

You are new here so you probably missed our diet modification debates. The problem is that some of us are certain that there are certain foods that trigger flares and dairy and wheat (gluten) are on top of the list. But there are others, including GIs, who swear that diet doesn't have anything to do with ulcerative colitis.

My signature indicates which foods that are my personal verboten list. But everyone is different. One seemingly universal truth is that mesalamine enemas are very effective. Glad you found a doctor who recommends them.
Posted 10/3/2014 6:51 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome to the wonderful world of IBD where not much of anything makes sense. Did they ever figure out why you had a "swollen colon" in the first place? Levaquin can actually trigger UC in some cases so I'm not sure how that fits into the picture since it apparently cured your swollen colon but were then diagnosed with UC afterward. Max dose of Lialda is 4 pills per day so I'm surprised the doc didn't just put you on that. Believe it or not, generally speaking, when you eat more you poop more and when you eat less you poop less. So, it is possible that by just eating less your symptoms appeared to calm down temporarily but then when you resumed eating more then you got worse. Everyone is sensitive to certain foods but those foods are different in everyone. Many UC'rs are low on the digestive enzyme DAO, which helps metabolize excess dietary histamines. This causes me to have worsening UC symptoms whenever I eat foods high in histamines. Ripe fruit such as bananas, breads with yeast, pizza, spinach, probably the hot sauce, and unfresh meats and seafood are all high in histamines so it is possible you may also have a histamine intolerance due to low DAO. The meds probably didn't quit working that fast - you probably just overwhelmed them. Sometimes missing one enema can make a difference. I doubt the mesalamine did that good of a job and then all of a sudden quit working in that short of a timeframe.
Posted 10/3/2014 7:27 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah, it's more likely the drastic diet than the mesalamine which gave you relief. Mesalamine takes about 2 weeks to start working.

I'd go back on your strict diet until you see the GI and get a scope, but increase the calories to something more normal, like 2000 calories a day or whatever.
Posted 10/4/2014 1:11 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you all for the replies, please keep it coming.

IAmCurious mentioned some 'no' and 'yes' foods which when I read all over the net - it seems that everyone has different allowed foods and forbidden foods.

Right now i'm flaring. I'd LOVE to eat fruits and veggies. Before this happened, for the last 3 years I had improved - was doing 3 fruits+ 1 veggie a day, and at least 1-2 of those fruits were anti-oxidant.

Now I'm having NO fruit and veggie and worry about having no anti-oxidants.

But everyone says that while in flare, stuff like berries is the enemy.

Go figure.
Posted 10/4/2014 1:47 AM (GMT 0)
The only way to know for sure is to see what works for you and what doesn't. Don't just take someone's word or a book's word, or the doctor's word, or the internet's word. There are some things which are common to many such as lactose and gluten but that doesn't mean that those will bother you. Neither one of these groups ever bothered me but the high histamine foods did. It is my opinion that there really aren't many foods which are good for your condition but by eliminating the foods that bother you, you can do much better. Don't be scared to eat fruits, veggies, or berries unless you know for sure they bother you. Too many people here eliminate a whole bunch of foods just to eliminate them when they really have no proof that those particular foods actually bother them.
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