Could this be Ulcerative Colitis?

[Chocol8]

Sorry this is gross, but i am worried and looked online (prob not the best of ideas) and found that most of my symptoms seem to fit UC: different coloured stools which frequently changes but is mostly very loose.
Blood in stools (a lot), if i pass wind, i can pass pure blood but usually mess myself (very unpleasant), stomach churns constantly.
Being sent (eventually) for a colonoscopy to have a look see. Does anyone know what else this could be please? x

Sorry ladies, i wanted to go to the docs today after the problems i had yesterday. After a fashion, i got an appt this morning and saw my own doctor. It appears that my bloods have dropped by only 2 points from 12.3 - 12.1. This is strange considering that since i was 18 i have been anaemic (to the point that the blood transfusion service told me i needed my blood more than they do). I have not been taking any iron tablets as they now make me feel sick.

The doctor said i have had the ESR checked and all appears ok.
I told her what happened yesterday and more recently and she said after taking my blood pressure (i think it was 118/33...?) she would try and get an earlier appt at the hospital. I am to call her secretary tomorrow with my reference number.

If my bloods are ok and as far as she is concerned i have not lost any weight (i lost 6lbs in one week at the beginning of all this and a further 2lbs since), then i am not in any hurry to see the specialist.

I have not received anything in writing for my appt in January, after a week and a half of seeing it online and the doc said that i would definitely be hearing from them by the latest today....

I am going to try and eat myself better as it appears that i am actually ok. At least it won't be harmful to me. Meanwhile she has given me some pessaries to see if it is my internal pile bleeding.

Does all this make sense? I am concerned that regardless of my blood loss, i surely am losing nutrients from the diahhorea.

Sorry, wanted to add that since the age of 3 (i was hospitalised for this) i have been permanently constipated. Suddenly for the past 9 weeks i have only had 3 solid stools, all the rest has been very very loose. Not sure if that helps any.

I am glad your ESR is ok. Your blood count is also ok. However you can have a developing IBD with normal bloods. How many times in 24 hrs are you having diarrhoea and is the blood all mixed in with the stool and slime or is there just a nit of red blood on the paper?

Chocol8 regardless of the bloods, do you feel like you're OK? It doesn't sound like it to me. This level of needing to go to the toilet and the blood are not normal. Please reconsider. If you're acutely unwell you can't eat yoursel better. As cardio said, how much blood is there - lots in the bowl, or just when wiping?

Did the Dr today feel your abdomen and examine your bottom? I am not overly reassured at the moment to be frank.

Eighties, no i don't feel ok in myself. I am still generally stressed but having palpitations throughtout the day.
Sometimes the blood drips into the bowl but generally the blood is mixed in with the stool. There is lots on the tissue and the water turns dark red with the blood and the diarrhoea.
Moaning, yes she did feel my abdomen (she examined my bottom last time) and it was very tender but no abnormal lumps or bumps which i'm sure is what she was looking for.

Chocol8 @(great name, by the way :) ), sorry to hear you are still not feeling well. As I said, my GP basically ignored my UC symptoms, v similar to your descriptions of your symptoms; when I finally made it to the hospital, the consultants first words were 'why didn't you come sooner?!'. It really is not acceptable for you to be losing large quantities of blood from your bottom, lumps or no lumps, and you should not have to wait another 2 months to see someone!!

By your stage, I would see another GP as your one appears to be rubbish, or just queue jump via A&E.

Glad your current blood results/pressure are OK but that does not mean your GP should just ignore heavy blood loss and pain. For two whole months.

Do try Floradix, if you have problems with iron supplements - I found it great and have read lots of stuff online of people who struggle with other iron supplements who get on well with this.

Wishing you better!

Personally, I'm feeling sorry for myself (sorry, just moaning) as am onto 8th week of bad chest/asthma/cough etc - but my GPs have been helpful. Just bored of being ill (and yes, the lack of sleep and stress has brought on my UC too currently :() - hence my slight haunting of the Health board recently...

Awww, thanks Bread, poor you - cor, eight weeks?!! I'm not surprised you're bored! 'Slight haunting of the Health board' - lol!
I'm glad your GP is helpful - and i think you are right about seeing another doc in the surgery - it's certainly worth a try.
The abdominal pain hasn't been so bad the last two days but am concerned about the paleness of my stools - it looks like raw mince (very pink) or cream coloured at the moment. Is this usual?
Did you have to wait long to get to the hospital?
Thanks i will have another go with Floradix, although i hate the taste.

How about your CRP Chocol8? Do ring the GP and ask if they checked that - if it is raised it points to either inflammation or infection. The cream coloured stools is maybe because a lot of mucous is coming? I hope you saw your diastolic blood pressure reading wrong as 33 is really low and I would hope no GP would let you go home with that.

Really though, do just go to A&E, early morning on a weekday and you should get seen before too long, - people go there for all sorts of minor things and waste time - bleeding so much and not being able to pass wind without blood is not minor! They will run the blood tests properly and will do a stool test to check for infection. I can't believe that any gastro doc would send you straight back home without some proper checks if you tell them the symptoms that you have. You also need their advice on iron supplements as, if you did have IBD, you have to be careful about taking iron supplements

The GP seemingly are not going to be any help until you get so bad you have to go to a&e anyway. I wonder if you are putting on a brave face in there and not being clear about what sort of problems you are having? Have you looked the doc in the face and said - when I break wind, I pass blood, every motion is mixed in with blood and mucous. The seem to be treating you like someone with a mild IBS who is suffering a few loose stools.

Sorry this is happening to you :-( - Please do not think you have to play by the rules and wait to be seen for a clinic appointment, you really are risking getting more ill and ending up hospitalised. Is there someone you can leave your DC with for a day at least?

Eurostar I'm glad you've posted the above. Yes, the CRP needs to be checked. Mine was in the hundreds by the time I got into hospital.

chocol8 I'm not sure what else I can say, but I will repeat one more time that I think you really need to get seen about this asap and that unfortunately means going to A&E. Do not bother trying to get in to see different GPs. If they take this at all seriously, they will actually tell you to go straight to hospital and get treated immediately - that was, as I said, what my GP said on my second visit to them (the first time they asked me to do samples, tests etc and were still waiting for the results). I know you have said the pain has lessened, but I repeat: this is not normal, you will not just get better on your own without treatment, and you cannot wait another two months for that treatment and go on like this.

Please, please listen to the posts on this thread. Eurostar is right that you will probably get seen fairly quickly in a morning at A&E. If it came to it, you could sign yourself out (even if against medical advice) at the end of the day to go and get your son, but at least someone would have seen you by then.

I agree with everyone else - CRP would be really useful, I would be very surprised if it is normal at present.

I would have thought they would refer you within the 2 weeks for possible cancer screening, given the persistent change in bowel habit and blood loss. Not because it sounds like cancer - I feel an inflammatory bowel problem is much much more likely, simply that your symptoms should qualify for an expedited referral IMHO.

I suspect they would want to do an endoscopy of the lower bowel to start with, then further tests when that has been done.

Re - your last appointment - to me, it doesn't quite add up. Your symptoms and very tender abdomen but they have given you something for bleeding piles? Bleeding with piles tends to be different to what you are having, generally. And they don't explain your abdominal tenderness.

Please go back - see another GP and ask them to admit you. Or go to A and E if they refuse. Please don't leave it any longer.

Esp agree with what eurostar said about being very frank with them. Forget feeling embarassed - tell them exactly what happens like you have told us.

Just want to add that GPs can admit you on the day if they want/ need to. They ring the on call at the hospital. Then you go the the admissions ward and they assess you do bloods and x rays and the consultant sees you and makes a diagnosis and a plan .
Agree with posters above with very sensible advice.
Also agree bleeding piles don't cause tenderness.
The Health service can be difficult to navigate sometimes but the priority is how sick you are. If you are becoming more sick and the diarrhoea and blood is persistent and increasing, there is nothing to be gained from delaying.
If it does turn out to be inflammatory bowel disease it is easily treated in the early stages but becomes dangerous if left too long.
There have been articles recently in the BMJ stating that severe colitis is a medical emergency which many Drs fail to recognise.
But we have told you this already and it's not clear to me now what's going on. Did the Dr think there was a bleeding pile? I agree with the two week rule for colonoscopy for malignancy and don't know why this hasn't happened yet.
When did the Dr refer you and when is your appt?

Good luck chocol8 - if you're reading this, hopefully you're making arrangements for some childcare so you can get to A&E tomorrow. Don't be scared - UC is usually perfectly treatable, ad much better to be diagnosed than continue as you are. Colonoscopy if required isn't nice but a necessary evil - no less nice than what you're going through anyway.

Hope you're feeling no worse. Fingers crossed for you. :)

sorry didn't mean to sound curt, wrote that earlier on my i phone when you can't proof read it easily and it hadn't posted.
It doesn't sound to me as if you are worryingly sick atm but at the same time these are worrying symptoms that should be acted on promptly to rule out serious stuff.

Oh poor you; I am sat here feeling sorry for myself as I've been bleeding for 2 weeks & I can't get a consultant appt until early January & they told me it would be a further 6-8 weeks before I get my colonoscopy

Yours is so much worse than mine & I hope it gets sorted soon

Bloody hell, two of you - what has happened to our NHS recently that people losing blood through their bottoms for weeks on end are being told to wait 2 months + to even see a consultant?! Clearly recent Tory cuts are having a big impact on the service - far, far worse than when I was diagnosed 15 years ago - it 'only' took me 4 weeks to see a specialist AND have a colonoscopy. (Which in itself was 4 weeks of extreme agony too long.)

Hope you're not feeling too bad, KatyMac.

They might as well pulp all those NHS leaflets warning people about bowel cancer and the need to see a doctor immediately if you have any of the following symptoms... as your GP will just ignore them anyway.

Makes me really cross.

Not to say yoyu have bowel cancer, by the way, probably 'just' UC - but according to all their own materials, these symptoms should be checked out immediately. Just clearly not happening. :(

I know B&B I am taking action

But I'm not in extreme agony; just underlying painful tummy - my bleeding has stopped

I am worried about Chocol8 tho' she hasn't been on since

I'm eating less each day

Appointment Thursday am only 18 days after my initial appt with the GP.....did I mention I went private

Hi Ladies, apologies for not coming on sooner - i checked in a couple of times and missed the replies at the end (cos i wasn't concentrating properly).

I'm ok, i went to the docs last week and she gave me pessaries for the internal pile. Of course, i looked at them and promptly lost them!

Anyway, the good news is, i called the NHS booking line on Sunday to see if there were any cancellations and there wasn't. I had spoken to my Dad about being unable to get an appt with the hospital (which is about 3 minutes drive from where i live). He said to go to another hospital if necessary and he would help with collecting my son (i didn't want to ask as he is unwell).

I asked about appts at a hospital about 8 miles away (which is a private and NHS hospital) that was listed as one of four recommended hospitals and they made an appt for Monday 28th November!!! It's very posh - and free parking too!!! That lifted my mood on Sunday, i can tell you!

So sorry you are having problems too KatyMac - have you lost weight due to eating less? I have only lost 8lbs since this started but eat only small meals now as large ones cause problems with pain and feeling overly full and bloated. Good luck for Thursday, please let us know how you get on.

Bread, yes i agree they may as well pulp the bowel cancer leaflets and posters - i am a member of my surgery's patient panel and they were saying last week that they couldn't get hold of any posters about bowel cancer. I pointed out that they used to have a big poster in waiting room 2 with a big toilet seat on it and 6 warning signs to look out for. I bought this problem up with my gp about a year ago as i was constipated at the time but still experiencing bowel changes etc and she dismissed it immediately.

I remembered that i have had an endoscopy a few years back as i remember taking the pessary and as mentioned in one of the posts, you practically spend all day on the loo.

Thanks for all your support and words of encouragement Ladies - had i not been able to get an appt last week i would have gone to A&E as was experiencing abdominal pain, but feel better knowing that i have an appt in a fortnight. Knowing my luck it will all clear up before then and they won't do anything for me!!! Lol.

Glad to hear you've got an appointment not too long away, and at a hospital that sounds nice. Hopefully they'll sort you out soon.

Hope you're not feeling too bad, katymac - you sound like you have enough health problems to contend with without this as well - hope the private hospital appointment is worth the cost...

Not a good year to be ill. :( Clearly what we need is a major top-down reorganisation of the NHS and a load of American profit-making companies taking over hospitals. Not.

Glad you have a soon(ish) appt Chocol8; I hope it's all OK for you

The consultation is £165 and tbh either

• he will think my symptoms bad enough to get a colonoscopy so I'll get one on the NHS or
• he will reassure me enough that I believe I don't need one or
• at the very least that I don't need one until the NHS one in March

Sorted

breadandbutterfly - could I PM you what I have written to take to the hospital? I am hoping it is clear enough but am worried it is a bit mixed up

Chocol8 glad you are (relatively) OK. I had been wondering if you had gone to the hospital. I'm very glad you have a faster appt coming through but please do go to A&E if anything worsens. Fingers crossed that the posh hospital are able to help you.

KatyMac glad too you are being seen. It is frankly disgraceful that given your symptoms you have been told January for earliest appt! What is going on?

Mind you, my DH has just (last week)seen his consultant (for a different chronic condition, not UC) who said he wanted to see him again at the earliest available appt. Yesterday it came through: it's the 28th June next year. What was it Neil Kinnock said, 'I warn you not to fall ill...' under a Tory govt?