Strangest flare ever

At the end of September I got the flu, chills, fever, body aches, runny nose, all the classic symptoms. Of course this sent my UC is a bit of a spin so I started using enemas ever other day on October 4 when I started to see an uptick in mucus, frequency (from once a day to 3 times a day), and the most intense tailbone pain I have ever experienced. I saw my doctor on the 15th and he suggested I use them daily until I see no bleeding for two weeks. Bleeding was generally minor, in mucus with some little streaks on the stool itself. The intense pain is gone, my frequency is back to normal, but I am still having bleeding, perhaps even a bit more. I have never had bleeding get worse while other symptoms improve, it is usually the other way around for me. I decided today that I will cut my curcumin in half to see if that helps, I have been taking 3 g a day and I know it can make bleeding worse. The strange thing is that I feel fine, no pain, no excess gas, normal looking stool, just stupid bleeding. I also got my period 3 days ago which is when the bleeding picked up, and I am certain the blood is from my colon! I am currently taking: 4.8 g of 5ASA (shire's generic lialda) and 1 hydrocoritsone enema at night because sfRowasa is out of stock for 2 more weeks, VSL#3, and 1.5g of curcumin.
Does this happen to anyone else or should I call my doctor back on Monday? You would think after dealing with this disease for 5.5 years I would know by now!

There are times when I have blood in stool and otherwise no pain/other ills. However always ends up in my case to be a sign of inflammation. I'd definitely revisit your Doc. Likely s/he'll do a scope to see first hand. Good luck!

It sounds mild but definitely don't let your guard down. The cort enemas are a good plan. Hopefully those keep things in check until you can get back on the rowasa. Can you use canasa? There are also uceris foam, but the cort enemas are probably more effective.

and sure, I'd call the doctor if I wasn't feeling like progress was being made. Maybe you will feel better before then.

Thought I would post an update:
On Halloween I went from feeling pretty normal with crazy bleeding to running to the bathroom 5 times, blood, mucus, skinny stool, etc. Luckily my doctor was able to see me on 11/1 and he took a look, said I have some serious bleeding in the rectum, but things didn’t look bad near the end of what he could see. He put me on a low dose of 20 mg a day of pred (boo) because I am already maxed out on lialda and using colocort nightly. So for the last week I have seen blood reduce by 90%, frequency is back to more normal 1-2 a day and the night time blood/ mucus that I had for a few days wasn’t there Tuesday or Wednesday night. Last time I was on pred (3 years ago) it took almost 10 days to see any change so this has me floored that it worked so quickly. Here’s hoping I get off pred in 6 weeks and this flare up doesn’t come back. Side note, sfRowasa is now going to be available in December, but I’m not holding my breath because a month ago I was told it would be available now.

I bet you flared because of the absence of your Rowasa. I think Rowasa works better than steroid enemas and I bet the change upset things. I hope you can get the sfRowasa before the pred weans off.

I've been surviving on Canasa suppositories which don't have sulfites. I am down to my last dozen or so sfRowasa enemas, which I am stretching out and using only occasionally. I tried a regular generic rowasa and it burned like fire going it. Supposedly the sfRowasas will be available later this month but I am not holding my breath.

Sounds like your inflammation has been limited mostly to the first 10 cm, so a suppository may help. I've checked very carefully and I am pretty sure that Canasa suppositories do not have any sulfites. They are easy to use and work well for me, even though I technically have pancolitis (has been mostly left sided since original diagnosis).