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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 4/30/2018 9:17 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone!

I have had UP for about the last 3 years. It's been manageable. I wanted to "upgrade" my probiotic life, even though the Culturelle I was taking was working fine. I started first with VSL#3.

I started the VSL#3 for about three weeks, working up to 1/4 teaspoon of the powder for the last week. It gave me constipation(!)rectal pain and bad tenesmus. Those symptoms went away when I stopped. Then I, when the coast was clear, tried the mutaflor for about a week and all the old symptoms came roaring back and worse.

The tenesmus is gone now, but since the mutaflor, I have had the most terrible rectal pain I have ever had. Seriously, even before diagnosis, when I was bleeding and incontinent, I didn't have pain this bad.

Thankfully, no bleeding or left side pain and my appetite is OK. Just the feeling of a sharp instrument pressing on full rectum and like someone is trying to push a rock back into my rectum from the outside. (If that makes sense.)

I am guessing that the probiotics triggered some inflammation. I started using the Canasa every day and cut out caffeine. I will make an appointment with my doctor.

I have 2 questions: if I had an anal fissure or a hemorrhoid, I would see bleeding, right? I tried a hemmie cream and that made the irritation in the area feel worse.

My second question, do I dare re-start the Culturelle? Everything was working fine with that supplement and I got greedy that expensive was better.
Posted 5/1/2018 1:10 PM (GMT 0)
Correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation. I'd wager that your dabbling with probiotics had nothing to do with the inflammation. Tenesmus, rectal pain, and constipation are all signs of rectal inflammation. Untreated UC inflammation tends to slowly simmer, buildup, and spread and we are often very unaware of that occurring. Once there's significant enough inflammation, a tipping-point is ultimately reached, and then we do notice the symptoms of it.

Fissures and hemorrhoids involve pain and blood, very bright red blood.

Try whatever probiotic you want, is affordable, as I do not believe it to be related to your worsened symptoms.
Posted 5/1/2018 2:42 PM (GMT 0)
Could be something else going on like ipoop said. If you have an open fissure, hemorrhoid, ulcer, abscess etc, it could be that the probiotics "sting" the area or cause irritation. Also, if you were constipated, your rectum may not be healed enough to handle solid poop and pushing. I would have your rectum scoped to be safe. I've had a fissure that did not (noticeably) bleed.

When I had similar pains I found sticking to something along SCD/paleo was helpful. I noticed that as soon as I would have starches like pasta or rice, the next day would burn like hell. I can't give you any scientific reason on why. May or may not help you...just my 2 cents.
Posted 5/5/2018 1:21 AM (GMT 0)
It's official...or should I say it's offissure. My doc diagnosed a fissure, likely from the VSL#3 which constipated me so badly I was pushing until I was blue in the face. (Yes, I expect a Guinness Book award for being the only person on Earth to become constipated by VSL.)

I agree with you, Uniform Charlie, that a Paleo diet is very helpful. I went off Paleo this semester because of a stupid level of stress at work that had me self medicating with sugary and starchy foods.

I think, for me, the starches and sugars feed an unhelpful bacteria that give me a burning when they exit. Experimenting with the probiotics changed the environmental flora and the mucosal content. So when the poop exited....it's like a fissure plus diaper rash sensitivity.

Thanks to both of you!
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