Change in Stool Colour

Hello,

Yesterday I had a colonoscopy done, previous to that I was heavily passing watery blood stools. However, from yesterday night the colour has changed from Red --> a Tarry black colour. I am just wanting to know if that has happened to anyone else before as this is my first time and has gotten me a little worried.

My GI doctor has prescribed me Prednisone. I am also taking Vitamin B, D, Calcium and Iron pills. I was on remicade however, that has seemed to stop working from me.

Thank you,

The first time I went on Prednisone it caused me to have some black tarry stools too, of course iron supplements can do the same...you should report changes like this to your GI, I would.

Thank you for all your replies. Just an update, I have stopped the Iron supplements and the stools have gone back from the black to a reddish colour. I have booked an appointment with my GI to see what he says as prednisone nor the iron supplements have never done this.

Quincy: My UC at time of diagnosis was limited to the rectum and and descending colon however from my last colonoscopy (this past wednesday) it has now progressed throughout the colon.

I'm currently weighing my options between etrolizumab and vedolizumab....

Another question, I have noticed that I am unable to produce an adequate amount of urine output; being on prednisone i thought this would have been relieved. Has anyone experienced this before and what have they done to aid in this?

Thank you

Limited output and D does signal that you are not well hydrated
Because you did a prep and you are having D I am concerned about loss of electrolytes especially pottasium.
Call doc ASAP and ask them what to do.
They might send you to er for fluids or pottasium iv.
If you do go for fluids and pottasium iv than have doc call the er when you are on your way so you don't have to wait so long.

asomani90 said...
I'm currently weighing my options between etrolizumab and vedolizumab...

Interesting choices. I hadn't heard of etrolizumab, it's still in stage iii trials. Vedolizumab (entvyio) some here use. Both are site-specific immunomodulators (ssi's) that involve madcam1, unlike other anti-tnf biologics which are systematic. Is your gastroenterologist involved in the trials?

www.etrostudiesresearch.com/

It's a tough choice. I agree on your throught it's a tossup between entvyio or Entrolizumab.

Not sure on retrying remicade, I'd have to know more about your uc experience about it. I'm guessing you didn't do well on it, or else you wouldn't be asking. How long have you been on remicade? Did you have any response to remicade all? Did you stop it, and if so how long (off for more than a month then forget it)? My gut-feeling is if you didn't do well, then try something else. Remicade is an anti-tnf blocking medication (as are simponi, humira) that interferes/blocks your immune systems ability to signal an attack "send inflammation over here". The reality is 60 percent have a response, and only 30-ish percent of those people reach remission. Tnf-alpha is one way your immune system can signal an attack, but their are other mechanisms, as well, and it can work around tnf-alpha (for some).

Entvyio is an entirely different class of biologics (site specific immunomodulators working on madcam1), so that gives you a chance that you might respond better to it. It's anti-adhesion medication that blocks an attack on gut tissue, by trapping lymphocytes within the circulatory system (if lymphocytes can't adhere to capilary walls via madcam1 and transfer themselves into gut tissue, then they cannot attack which causes inflammation). Downside is entvyio takes 12-14 months to work, slow acting. Some have tried it here, and only a few had really great results (given they'd already tried and failed the rest of the meds, as well). Maybe enough haven't tried it? Don't know.

I don't know much about Entrolizumab, myself. I know it's a site-specific immunomodulator that works in-part as a madcam1 blocker (anti-adhesion) which is what Entvyio does. It's plausible that this is an improved version/more advanced version (there's a great video on it's website describing how it works). I'd look at the clinical trials closely, and ask your doctor what kind of response are people seeing, can he contrast/compare them? Would you get the medication or placebo? If you are getting the real deal then it might be tempting. Downside is it's not fully vetted yet.