Posted 10/17/2014 9:09 PM (GMT 0)
So in the beginning of this year I began to have blood in my stools. I was 17 and for some reason I just didn't pay any attention to it for the first few days. Then it became diarrhea almost 10 times a day. I went to my local urgent care and they sent me to a childrens hospital (Since i was still a minor). They didn't even do a catscan on me. All they took were stool samples to test for bacteria. I was severely fatigued but I didn't need blood transfusions. They sent me home the next day with no answers and within a week I was back to normal. I was still very anemic though and not my 100% self. Up until August I was going normally though. All of a sudden more blood and diarrhea. I had no idea that ulcerative colitis even existed at this point so I thought it was food poisoning or something and that it would go away like last time. It ended up getting really bad to the point where I was so pale and weak my mom began crying to get me to go the ER. At the er they ran alot of tests and took blood. At first when they looked at the blood test they thought it was Pancreatitis. They then ran a catscan and saw it looked like inflammation in my colon, but my pancreas was fine. They proceeded to begin a blood transfusion there in the ER while they prepared to transfer me to a hospital. On a sidenote the weirdest thing about my experience with UC is that I have never had any sort of abdominal pain whatsoever. The doctors could push down on my gut as hard as they want and it would not hurt a bit. My heartrate in the Er was near 170 which is not what an 18 year old should be at, but my blood pressure was normal. I don't really remember the first day at the hospital because of the relaxants they had me on but I was given another blood transfusion when i got there. The next day the GI doctor came and started talking with me. They wanted to do a colonoscopy. I just wanted an answer so I wanted to get it done asap. Finally we got a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis and they started me on 40mg of prednisone, delzicol, iron supplements, and Calcium with vitamin D. So far i've been doing okay, no remission yet, but no blood or diarrhea. Sorry if this story is kind of all over the place. It was just a lot going on in such a short time for me. Still a senior in high school as well. But I have felt better than Ever in the past year. I have more energy than ever and 1-2 Bowel Movements a day. Hope to learn alot from this community!