New diagnosis: beginning of UC journal

Hello everyone. New to board.

September 2016 - started with flat bms, nothing else, GP diagnosed as hemorrhoids
December 2016 - flat bms with a little blood and constipation, GP diagnosed as hemorrhoids
January/February 2017 - went to specialist after going through most of January 2017 with full on constipation, blood, and mucus while passing gas every morning with mild/light diarrhea, but no other symptoms. Flare would calm down by 8ish every morning. Bad mornings.
February 7th, 2017 - Colonoscopy points all signs to UC
February 14th, 2017 - Biopsy results confirm UC, mild case, UC only

Prescribed Prednisone right away with taper over 6 weeks (40mg/30mg/20mg on two week intervals). In addition, after getting biopsy results today, Dr wants me to start Rowasa enema. I also started the SCD meal plan on February 11th.

Male, 39, BMI-26, no previous health problems, no food allergies, extremely stressful job.

February 7th, 2017 - started Prednisone, tapered, 6 weeks
February 11th, 2017 - started SCD meal plan, will try strictly for one month
February 14th, 2017 - started Rowasa (haven't picked up RX yet, so don't know duration)

So far symptoms seem to be calming down. Down to one bad bathroom experience per morning, rather than 2-4 per morning. Prednisone symptoms seem to be isolated to light swelling/sore feeling in hands and hamstrings. I've lost about 12 pounds since colonoscopy prep. That is probably due to being a little scared to eat a lot and SCD lifestyle.

I will try an update weekly, or when I have a really bad day.

Prednisone is only temporary. Start taking rowasa and likely a prescription oral mesalamine as well like lialda, apriso, or delzicol for best results, as these are your maintainence meds.

quincy,

I'm new to all the terminology so I'm going to write down findings from colonoscopy. I'm still studying the anatomy of the colon.

Mucosa: Localized erythema and ulcerations were noted in the distal sigmoid colon and rectum. Erosions and erythema were noted in the sigmoid colon.

Protruding lesions: Small external hemorrhoids were noted. Small internal hemorrhoids were noted.

Addtional findings: The terminal ileum appeared normal.

Picture captions: Erythema and ulcerations to 28 cm from anus.

Obviously I'm not shy in regards to answering any questions on my particular case. I also tremendously appreciate all the feedback, advice, support, and education any of you can provide me based on information I post. I was told by doctor this is a mild/moderate case, but if you folks think otherwise, please let me know. I really have no point of reference in regards to information posted above. I feel by the time I have my follow-up office appointment in a month I'll be much more educated on UC.

Moderator,
Don't hesitate to tell me I'm straying on this particular thread. If I begin to discuss in detail say the SCD diet on this thread and there's already an SCD diet (or general diet) thread that would be more applicable, let me know.

Post Edited (faa) : 2/14/2017 2:21:03 PM (GMT-7)

Thank you for that break down iPoop.

Last night was my first night using Mesalamine. Followed the instructions. Really didn't have any issues. Full retention all night. Seemed like there was some air squeezed in at first.

I keep being told that I'll start to see results fairly quickly with Mesalamine, which makes me question if I should continue SCD. During the really bad months of Dec16/Jan17 I adjusted my diet various times (eliminating various things, diary, alcohol, red meat, caffeine, less fiber, more fiber, etc.) and symptoms were exactly the same in severity. I am almost 100% certain my UC is stress related (job has been absolute nightmare since Oct16). I've never had a diet/food issue/allergy or have a "trigger" food that causes indigestion, nausea, acid reflux, etc....

Either way, I will continue SCD as part of the healing process.

Quincy,

Oral mesalamine in addition to enema? Why so?

I don't see my doctor again until March 6th.

Yes, I'm taking probiotics (Garden of Life, Raw Mens).

Once again, thank you all for feedback/input. I'll take it all.

Medicine:
So I've been on Mesalamine enema for a week and now starting tapered down dose of Prednisone.

Diet:
As far as SCD, I have not (due to my lack of discipline) been able to follow it super strict. I have completely cut out refined sugar and drastically reduced pasta/white flour based foods. I will treat myself to a flour tortilla with a smear of avocado every couple of days and have gotten back (small portions) on oatmeal/whole grain bread (which is not allowed on SCD). I also have a couple sips (literally) of dry red wine with dinner. I was definitely not eating enough post diagnosis, but I'm close to getting back to normal serving sizes. I'm no longer over-eating, AT ALL. Very scared to eat until I'm stuffed. Only eating until I'm no longer hungry.

Symptoms:
Bleeding/mucus/gas/diarrhea stopped after 2nd day on Mesalamine. I would say stool is 5 on Bristol Stool Chart. Only one BM a day, and had two days (non-consecutive) w/o a BM (which I blame I still being a little scared to eat a lot). Hemorrhoids are back. I'm at about 60 oz of water per day. I will drink a little extra to see if that helps.

Lifestyle:
I am still doing an extremely poor job at managing stress (at home and work). I'm still trying to do everything and not allowing myself time to just RELAX!!! When stress levels get high, I literally feel/hear sound coming from lower GI system like my body is threatening me with a UC attack. I'm trying to stretch every morning and evening, walk during my lunch break 3 days week, and I'm starting to read up on how to meditate (haven't started yet). I need to stop internalizing work related stress, it's beating me up.

faa said...


Diet:
As far as SCD, I have not (due to my lack of discipline) been able to follow it super strict. I have completely cut out refined sugar and drastically reduced pasta/white flour based foods. I will treat myself to a flour tortilla with a smear of avocado every couple of days and have gotten back (small portions) on oatmeal/whole grain bread (which is not allowed on SCD). I also have a couple sips (literally) of dry red wine with dinner. I was definitely not eating enough post diagnosis, but I'm close to getting back to normal serving sizes. I'm no longer over-eating, AT ALL. Very scared to eat until I'm stuffed. Only eating until I'm no longer hungry.

I would say that you didn't try SCD at all if you are eating flour/pasta/whole grain bread at all, which is totally fine because it's a strict diet and up to you completely. However, it's important to differentiate between trying the diet and not doing it at all because you really can't say that this specific diet did not work. From my experience and others that are on SCD (I was on the listserve for many years so based on hundreds of anectodal reports), folks seemed to get results when they followed it strictly and did the intro diet and then gradually introduced foods according to the stages online. Most people don't follow it correctly at first and don't know about the stages or follow the intro diet. It also takes time ( sometimes 1-3 months to see results), depending on how sick you are and other factors. I was lucky and got results quickly.

Anyhow, the diet may not be a good investment for you and you may get better results with the stress angle you are referring to, but the takeaway should not be that the SCD diet did not work for you.

Jane974, soynomore,

I completely agree. I tried it strictly for one week and that's all. Combine my "one week only" SCD effort with medications and it is impossible for me to give any opinion on the impact of the SCD lifestyle.

Thank you for the feedback and advice. I'll take anything information you have available.