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

Another one left by NHS in pain and bleeding
Mines been slowly getting worse over 3 years
My GP has always fobbed me off with IBS without doing anything other than blood tests!!
I don't think it's UC as CPR has always come back fine.
Constant diahorra of varying degrees and colour and oh the pain is horrible. I now have right side pain, bleeding, mucus and feel full all the time. It took for me to sit in my GP office and refuse to move, in floods of tears before he would refer me I too had to wait months for an appointment but there was no way to push is forward but it's now only 4 weeks away.
I have a number of signs of bowel and overian cancer but I'm certain it's not, but very angry at GP for dismissing because I'm young and haven't lost any weight
Hope your appointment goes well choc

Lisa, that's unforgivable, to make you wait years :( :(

I've got a follow-up colonoscopy on Tuesday. Got the clear-out drinks to start tomorrow and I'm really not looking forward to them! I'm only allowed to eat white bread, cheese, eggs, potatoes and rich tea biscuits today.

Fuzzywuzzywozabear I'm glad you are OK, my auntie had her bowel out last year but no chemo as it wasn't 'necessary'. I'm feeling pretty drained atm as no food sticks around long enough to digest. Goodness knows why I am putting on weight but I am up a 1lb or so every few weeks

lisad123 poor you - I hope it gets sorted soon. I am the right age I think & I got an appointment no sooner.....private medicine here I come!

So how are we all this evening?
Chocol8
breadandbutterfly
EightiesChick
spiderlight
Fuzzywuzzywozabear
lisad123

I think I have you all but if I forgot anyone I'm really sorry. I'm not feeling so good today

Hey Katie, this thread has gone to show how many people are suffering like us - some a lot worse.

I'm the same as you today, i went out with my family and was in and out of every sodding loo in town - just as well i carry spare knickers, pads and tissues - as there was no loo roll in a lot of them.

I have actually been in pain tonight, which is unusual, but have written a list of my symptoms for the hospital tomorrow. I really hope they do something for me soon - as i do for all of us.

I have an incredibly stressful week next week - one of the worst for a long time - so this has certainly played a part in feeling so bad.

LisaD, it's shocking that you had to resort to doing that - but can understand and i would do the same if i felt like you.

Fuzzywuzzy, well done on your all clear - that's amazing. You have really been through it eh? Did you get diagnosed quite quickly?

Spider, good luck with your follow up colonoscopy hun.

Let's hope we're all feeling a little better tomorrow eh?

Good luck at the hospital tomorrow - are you scared or hopeful?

I have a new pain high on my rightside towards the back & a fair amount of bowel pain - but it's my own fault I ate roast beef

I'm full of cold so not eating a huge amount other than lemsip and soup, so bowels arent too bad today, but 3 lots of diahorra in one day is good for me.
I'm tired as always but I'm used to that now too.
Good luck tomorrow I really hope it goes well. I think my gastro appointment is the only appointment I have been excited about, but only because I feel so pants
I have a holiday before hospital so hoping to destress before hand. Am a lite worried they said I should wear lose and comfortable fitting clothes that day

No eating is good isn't it - much better than the alternative

Hope you've had a productive appointment today, Chocol8. Thinking of you!

Starving! Starting the Kleen-Prep in 2 1/2 hours

Just had my first glass of kleen-prep. Ye Gods.

Is it awful? Mine apparently I mix with cold water & it heats up

Thinking about you Chocol8

Thanks ladies, i went to the lovely hospital early to have a cup of tea and was called early from the restaurant by a nurse to come and see the consultant... 10 minutes early!!!

He took the details, which i had written down, asked some questions and then said ok, we'll have a little look-see now and you can find out what's wrong with you today....!!!!!

I wasn't prepared for that, but he put a little camera up (after filling with some air/gas) and took a look. He said it was very inflamed and that he would do a flexible sigmoidoscopy next Monday!!! I was in shock.

He diagnosed me on the spot with Ulcerative Colitis.

I seriously wanted to cry! He gave me a prescription for 30mg (6 tablets a day) of steroids to get started on. I was out (after completing forms and having MRSA swabs) in about 50 minutes clasping my meds.

It feels so good to have an answer at last! I was in absolute agony this afternoon and really bad diarrhoea, i guess cos of the gas/air?

I did ask the consultant if the bleeding was due to my internal pile but he said no, it was definitely the UC.

Oh no, poor Spider, is the Kleen-Prep really bad?

OMG what a positive experience

WOW

Oh Chocol8 - so glad you've had such a productive appointment and you finally have your answer. The steroids tend to work really quickly. I was started on IV because I was an inpatient and my joint pains were gone within the day and the diarrhoea calmed right down within 48 hours. Really really pleased that you've got a decent consultant - onwards and upwards now :)

The kleen-prep tastes VILE. Truly truly vile. I've drunk 3 litres of it since 4.00 and my bum has turned into a power hose. The leaflet says 'stay near a toilet' - I interpreted that to mean 'don't attempt the school run' but it actually means 'don't bother going downstairs'. I have never run so fast in my life as I did when it first kicked in!! I've had a very indignat four-year-old huffing about going 'It's ALL the hospital's fault. WHY do they want you to have diarrhoea, mummy?' I'm a bit scared to go to bed now, and I have to get up at 5am to drink another litre of it!! Ah well, it'll be worth it if the ulceration has calmed down tomorrow - part of me is quite looking forward to seeing how much difference there is after 6 weeks' treatment.

thats wonderful news :) well not really but you know what i mean
Hope your all doing well today (as you can)

just as we thought.. glad you are on treatment

Back from my colonoscopy. It was fine - I didn't have sedation so I was able to watch it all on the screen and chat to the doctor as he went round. It was an odd sensation but not even remotely painful. The offivial verdict is 'quiescent pancolitis' - it's all healed really well and there's lots of scarring and pseudopolyps but no inflammation so I've just got to carry on with the Pentasa. Just had a pile of sarnies and a huge cream cake :) For some reason they've given me photos of the inside of my colon to take home I've threatened to put them on facebook.

How exciting Spiderlight; MN is probably not the best place to post them

I had a big lunch & I'm paying for it

I have so much anxiety about it, you really wouldn't believe

Thanks girls. I started the steriods this morning after eating breakfast in the car - had an important meeting to get to - then took my tablets.
I limited my food intake to small and plain today and it has helped a bit...!

Spider, well done gal! Would LOVE to see your pics up on FB!! Lol!
Your description of your day made me laugh, especially your 4yo!

I will only have a local so i can have a look on the screen too - i don't like gore, but would love to see where my sun don't shine!! Heh heh!

Hope the steroids kick in really quickly for you. They might give you a raging hunger though!! And a face like a chipmunk, but it does go down eventually.

I am a bit mortified. Had a text from a really good friend earlier asking how the colonoscopy had gone and was I still at the hospital, to which I replied that I was 'Waiting outside the pharmacy, trying not to fart' (they inflate your colon for the camera and what goes in must come out!) Fast-forward to school pickup time and I get a text from my little boy's new friend's mum saying she'll look out for me at the school to sort out a time for them to play at the weekend. I replied saying that my OH was picking him up because I'd had to fast for 24 hours for hospital tests and I was a bit tired....except that my predictive text remembers recent words you've used, so just as the message was going, I realised that I'd told this very nice mum who I barely know that I was tired because I'd had to fart for 24 hours. I may never be able to show my face in the playground again!!

Oh Spider!!! Sorry, but that was so funny!!! Poor you, did you explain to her? She probably laughed too.

The severe pain i had yesterday must have been to the inflation of the colon, cos bloody hell i was doubled over and crying. Not looking forward to that next Monday, but hey, could be worse. At least i know it's a possibility and can take some painkillers straight after the procedure.

Oh, so glad the appointments are happening and going well. Chocol8 - not at all surprised you got diagnosed so quickly with UC - your symptoms sounded so like mine at the time, and like you, I was checked and diagnosed immediately. Your consultant sounds on the ball - not nice to be labelled, but at least you can then start dealing with it. At the time I was diagnosed, I was at my parents' house and the only medical dictionary there was one from the 1920s and under colitis, it basically said it was incurable, and people with it gradually wasted away... - not quite what i wanted to hear! - and not true either. :)

Hope your colitis resolves itself/is resolved speedily with help.

Hope everyone else is feeling better today.

I have had a slight breakthrough with my asthma - I've long suspected it might be connected with mould, my main asthma trigger, probably in our house, as we've not lived here very long, but had a small flood from a bathroom leak recently which may or may not have been fixed and I suspect there is a leak in the roof. Following a thread somewhere on here, I bought a cheap humidity meter and confirmed that our house is v v humid so next step is a dehumidifier - as the only times in the past I've had bad asthma have always been in the presence of mould, and very humid atmospheres breed mould. Don't want to move - it's a rented house, so can't do major work to fix it myself - but now suspect I may be allergic to my house. Oh well. Rather that than an internal problem I can't 'move' away from. So grateful for small mercies.

I've been having nightmares about today/tomorrow:

1. I can't drink the medicine; I throw up
2. I'm so ill from it I end up in A&E
3. When they do the colonoscopy they find a tapeworm/a piece of lego/the bit of my brace I swallowed/ a small tree growing (from all the pips/seeds I swallowed )
4. They decide it's just IBS & I wasted all that money
5. Something horrible

Which combined with a lot of pain last night has made for a very uncomfortable night's sleep & I feel quite ashamed of myself

Oh Katy :( The medicine is horrible, unfortunately, but it'll be worth it to get some answers. Just keep your fluid levels up and you'll be OK. I'm a massive wuss and I managed it. I'm not a doctor but I'm fairly sure they won't find a tree in there! Lego's a possibility though, I guess! I hope it's not as bad as you fear.

I'm not terribly good with food/drink anyway

I'm a terrible wuss