Ulcerative colitis

[Kittypickle]

I wonder if MNetters with this could help me . My brother had a colonoscopy last night and has been diagnosed with this (he's been extremely unwell for the last week )- he's awaiting results from a biopsy as well. He's been ill on and off for years going back to when he was about 18 and was really really unwell for about 6 months, so it's a relief in a way to finally know what has probably going on.

He's been prescribed 40mg of prednisolone and another drug which I can't remember the name of (something like asalone). I was wondering when you get an attack, how long generally for the steroids to start kicking in ? And also I'd be really interested to know how this has been affecting your lives - he's well aware that he needs to make some major lifestyle changes (he's single and 31, stressed as he's in the middle of setting up a business and drinks too much whilst out with his mates!) I'm also a bit confused what exactly a biopsy will show . Many thanks.

[lou33]

hi kitty, i have had this on and off for about 5 years, and it's not nice when you have a flare up. I think the drugs you are talking about are asacol?

I found that the drugs started to kick in fairly quickly, but took a few weeks to settle down properly.

The worst attack for me lasted about 6m, and it got to the stage where i was worried about leaving the house, because i couldn't guarantee i could make it to a bathroom in time. It was v painful and i lost a lot of weight v quickly. Interestingly, changing my diet was discounted, as the doc said it didn't seem to make any difference.

The colonoscopy will have been done to show how far the colitis has spread. Sometimes it can be limited to the rectal area, other times it can spread further and further inside. The result of that will decide if any further treatment will be needed.