What kind of flare-up is this?

Seems like my bill of good health is finally expiring. :-(

When I was diagnosed with UC years ago, my symptoms were; fairly intense cramping, diarrhea 12+ times a night, followed by blood and the sensation that I hadn't emptied my bowels properly. The cramping would wake me up whenever I slept on my left side, and I'd be running to the bathroom like everyone else here, haha.

Recently though, under stress, dietary changes and a change in sleep patterns, I've started having some issues again. I'm getting fecal urgency, followed by forceful evacuation (it 'shoots' out!) of gas and mucus. I have SO much trapped wind every day that my bowels are always making noises. It seems to be made worse by rough foods like oats and certain fruits.

When I do have a proper BM (not just the mucus by itself), it's well-formed. This is confusing to me... I also haven't had any cramping, just discomfort near the rectum and lower back pain. Sorry to be so graphic, but when I wipe, it's often covered in a very watery pale brown, almost clear substance. It's also not much quantity-wise.

Does this sound like something different, e.g Proctitis or.... a parasitic infection or something worse?

yup, things can change significantly over time symptom wise -

are you taking any meds ?

are you planning on going back to your previous lifestyle soon ?

could be start of a flare or some kind of bug -

Hi....it means your inflammation is limited in the rectum, with more formed stool, tons of gas, mucus, rectal pain, lower back pain. Pretty much a flare based on my own experience. Limited...thats good. Symptoms you noted and questioned rather than ignore....priceless!

You should be on rectal meds at this point. Concerns about a gastro bug can be checked via stool samples, but to me that would be an issue should you continue to get worse.

So, questions are....what meds are you on?...probiotics? ......fibre supplements?

q

Sorry to hear your symptoms are getting worse. Certainly contact your doctor and see about a stool test to check for pathogenic causes (like c diff) as they often mirror uc symptoms. Your doctor will likely want to do a colonoscopy or flexible-sigmoidoscopy with biopsies to see what's going on, how far it goes, and how severe it is.

Most certainly, every flare is unique, never the same. Generally urgency is a sign of rectal inflammation. Generally we have more flatulence when our uc is acting up, and it can be hard differentiating gas from stool. Increased mucus is a sign of an irritated large intestine surface. When our intestines are aggravated, produce more mucus and shed mucus to get rid of an irritant on it's surface (much like a cold causes us to have a runny nose, which is also mucus).

You seeing any blood?

It's very common for our bms to be anything but consistent when we're flaring. We can have a perfect poop, followed by another poop that's all diarrhea, and some are soft often all within the course of a single day. Generally, you're better to not judge one BM to the next and look for progress. Rather, you're better to look week-to-week for progress, as there should be a pattern of: better, worse, or the same.