HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Colitis flare.. are the steroids going to work or not? :(

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 2/9/2017 3:14 PM (GMT 0)
having an ulcerative colitis flare and need some advice... last week i was in hospital where they found apparently I'm only having a mild flare. I was on a steroid drip for 4 days then on sunday changed to oral prednisilone 40mg a day and then discharged (i also take mezevant). So after 4 days on the drip and 5 on the tablets, should i be seeing some improvement in my flare by now? Still having stomach pain, joint pain, urgency, bloody watery stool about 15 times every 24 hours. do i need to go back to hospital or could the oral steroids still take time?

I have contact with my IBD nurse and she's asked if I feel they took me off the drip too early and if I need to come back in... I'd like her to be the one telling me what I need to do here! Obviously I wouldn't like to go back into hospital but my whole life is on hold here with work etc and I just want to know if I'm sitting at home uncomfortable waiting for an improvement that isn't coming if I'll need to end up back in hospital on the drip anyway sad

Advice and opinions would be really appreciated as this is only my second flare so I have no idea what to expect x
Posted 2/9/2017 3:24 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds like you did not respond to the steroids. This raises the possibility of infectious source like c.diff or some symptoms form IBS - neither of which steroids toucheds.

The other possibility is that longer and stronger steroid would let you Mezevant get a foothold and resume managing your UC. Possibly something stronger than Mezevant will be needed for maintenance.

If there is urgency and rectal bleeding, the introduction of suppository or enemas may help.

I would just get stronger oral. Hospitalization for "mild" flares is uncommon, and all they can offer is IV vs oral steroids - but meanwhile you might catch c.diff at the hospital.

good luck
Posted 2/9/2017 3:31 PM (GMT 0)
so what exactly were your symptoms when you went in ? did they get worse in the hosp ?

agree with DB - a mild case doesn't normally require a 4 day hosp stay - you need to be checked for a c-diff infection - also surprised they sent you home -

you should have responded by now - something is not right -
Posted 2/9/2017 3:41 PM (GMT 0)
Stomach pains started about a month ago along with joint/muscle pain and then around 2 weeks ago the bloody watery stool started. They've checked for infections including c-diff and also checked for gallstones which were both clear.

I can't understand why the steroids aren't doing what they should be - they did last time (despite horrible other side effects).

Whilst I'm able to deal with the symptoms I'm having at home, I'm not able to go out or go to work etc so I'm really stuck for what to do. the IBD nurse is meant to be getting back to me today about the possibility of upping the mezevant dosage and adding in some steroid enemas... I just have a bad feeling about whatever is going on and am not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel sad
Posted 2/9/2017 4:14 PM (GMT 0)
Has a colonscopy or flex-sigmoidoscopy with biopsies been suggested to see exactly how severe your inflammation is and how far it extends?

At 2 weeks the steroids should be kicking in. You could always suggest another emergency rescue med like IV remicade or IV cyclosprine.
Posted 2/9/2017 6:08 PM (GMT 0)
Hello, this sounds very similar to my recent flare. I was hospitalised a week before christmas with abdominal pain, bloody water stools 10+ times a day, urgency and vomiting. They put me on IV steroids which didn't seem to do very much. Then they did a flexible sigmoidoscopy which only showed mild inflammation so they were happy to discharge me on 40mg prednisolone. But I still felt awful and my symptoms only got worse at home so i decided to go back to hospital a few days later - and i was right to do so as my bloods were worse than the first time i was admitted. The steroids only seem to help me a little bit and they take a while to have an effect. My symptoms only started to significantly improve when they gave me humira - it felt like a life saver.

It seems that steroids are also not very effective for you. I think you should go back to hospital before you symptoms get worse, they might be able to start you on a different treatment. I used to be on mezavant too but it actually made my symptoms worse so I had to stop it. Have you considered starting infliximab or humira?
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply