Almost two decades with untreated symptoms!

Hello, everyone!

At age 17(year 2002) I suffered something very traumatic both physically and emotionally. I will forego the details but say that I ended up having rectal bleeding, hemorrhoids, mucus, and over a week of constipation. Ashamed, I went to the doctor and told them my symptoms but not what caused them. He was unable to help me. After more suffering, waking up in the middle of the night only to poop out a little bit of mucus, I finally went to another doctor. They gave me a week’s worth of supositories, and that made me feel better. I could go again, and the only thing left to deal with was the hemorrhoids.

Years later I tested for STDs via blood and urine and came out fine.

There have been times when I pooped with mucus on it. Or when I wipe and find mucus on the paper. But that was never enough to make me see a doctor for it. Only in 2011 when I had some mucus, and abdominal pain did I finally see a doctor. They scheduled me for a colonoscopy AND endoscopy. They found medium sized internal hemorrhoids were found in the rectum, and Nodular appearance of Cecal mucosa. Biopsies were taken and... The final Dx was: “Terminal ileum - Superficial fragments of small bowel mucosa with mild non-specific chronic inflammation in lamina propria. The architecture of the villi appears normal. No evidence of Whipple’d disease(PAS strain), celiac sprue, or Giardia. Colon biopsy - cecum: Fragment of colonic mucosa with mild non-specific chronic inflammation in lamina propria and lymphoid nodules.”

I believe the word, "Proctitis" was used but I can't remember if that's the case or I had searched it online back then. To make matters worse, I didn't follow up with the doctors.

Fast forward to 2 and a half months ago. I wake up with bad lower back pains. Every morning since I wake up with some degree of lower back pain. It became tolerable but new symptoms like joint pains and random fleeting eye pain as well. 3 weeks ago I began to feel some abdominal pains as well. And finally on Friday I began having rib pain-which let me tell you, if you ever have trouble going to the bathroom, do a google search for things that cause rib pain. Bad enough I had a close relative die of Pulmonary Fibrosis.

And add tenesmus to all that since January 19th. Actually the last two nights I've been awoken by the need to go but nothing happens.

In anycase... I had some blood work done and it turns out my C Reactive Prot is 1.8 H. Doctor called me and said it was "a little high" and that he will definitely be doing a biopsy during my colonoscopy next month. What's worse... from what I read, Ankylosing Spondylitis doesn't even cause a high CRP count, and 1.8 seems small to me.

I fear that I let proctitis turn into UC and UC into ankylosing spondylitis! I'm only 33!!!! I'm not ready to leave earth yet. If I was single then who cares... but I have people that rely on me.

I'm willing to undergo a full colectomy if it would cure all these other things(joint and back pain)... but from what I read... that doesn't always happen.

Someone give me some answers. Any insight. Any hope. Anxiety seems to be through the roof. Actually... I became really anxious when this all began, even before doing all the scary google searches.

Anyway, thank you for reading and please share any and all knowledge.

So from what I’ve posted it seems I do have a inflammatory bowel disease?

What about lower back pains that wake me up at 5:30am every morning? That sound like anything!?

I can not even imagine the stress you have endured over all those years. By all means, encourage your doctor to find out what's going on. It will give you peace of mind and know...there IS something out there to make you better. First thing is a firm diagnosis, then there are plenty of drugs and treatments in your doctor's bag. Good luck and hope you feel better really soon.

It sounds like you are dealing with some health anxiety, your mind is running a little wild, and you're prematurely worrying about things like colectomy-surgery and Pulmonary Fibrosis. Doctor-google is a dangerous thing, and self-diagnosis is often wrong. I'd advise you to stop googling symptoms as it is just going to send your anxiety soaring. Diagnosis is done via multiple diagnostic tests, a process of eliminating other possible causes when symptoms overlap (and often many ailments from the benign to the chronic overlap), and a conclusion is drawn based on all of the above.

Pre-diagnosis, I had what looked like "a lot of blood" in the toilet bowl after each bowel movement and that's pretty characteristic of UC and the predominant reason we seek out a diagnosis as UC patients. I do not see you mentioning blood on stool, on the surface of the toilet water, or on toilet paper when wiping which would be IBD calling-cards.

You could have an infectious-proctitis or an Irritable Bowel Syndrome based on what you describe. Your doctor would need to run some stool tests to check for infectious causes. You might need a colonoscopy with biopsies. Get it checked out.

Wow... thanks for replying but all that is scary stuff.

One would think after my 2011 colonoscopy they would tell me if I had a IBD.

How much of a “miracle” drug are biologics?

Doctor has moved up my colonoscopy to this next week as per my request.

While you are using Dr google, look up physical symptoms of anxiety. The problem with Dr google for me, is if it comes up with 5 different answers, I always pick the worst one. Dr google never says, "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

Trust your real doctor's diagnosis first. Maybe get a second opinion. Keep your google results in the back of your mind as very low probability, or as things to ask the doctor about. Tons of people have back pain. Tons of people poop mucus or blood sometimes. They're not all destined to become crippled or ostomates. If you have UC, the odds state you will have a mild course of it. Don't assume the worst. If you can't stop your mind from running wild, I would suggest therapy and/or medication so you can live life without so much worry.