Hello, I will share my story with you as this is all new to me and I want to be able to give and receive as much information as possible with my new diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis June 20, 2008. The symptoms first started in September 2006 when I all of a sudden would have a lot of air passing through my body and all of a sudden had the urge to go to the bathroom for diarrhea, but most of the time, nothing would come out except for blood, mucus and air. The symptoms lasted about 1 month before I finally went to the military doctor. The symptoms had subsided by the time I had a colonoscopy done. The Gastroenterologist could not find anything wrong when he did the colonoscopy. There were no signs of anything wrong with my colon. I continued to have the symptoms approximately once every 3 or 4 months and the symptoms would last about two weeks.
Finally, January 2008 the symptoms returned, but the severity worsened over the period of 5 months getting worse and worse. So much to the point to where I couldn't leave my house because I would have to run to the bathroom at a moments notice and I could not hold it in. This was very disrupting to me and my life. I finally broke down and went back to the doctor and said the symptoms had returned and are a lot worse. The doctor sent to me back to the Gastroenterologist once again. This time I got a different Gastroenterologist. She started me on Metronidazole, pending the colonoscopy I just scheduled for 3 weeks in the future. The Metronidazole was supposed to fight any infection I may have in my colon. It did not help. It only made me feel cranky and irritable. I then had the colonoscopy and she started me on Asacol (6 pills per day @ 400 mg for 30 days) and the Metronidazole (3 pills a day @ 250 mg for 7 days) again, pending the results of the colonoscopy and biopsy of the 4 areas of the colon. Again, I was cranky with the Metronidazole, but the Asacol did help with the cramping and seemed to help with the severity of the UC. My cramping wasn't the worse anyway, it was the repeated bowel movements without much warning if any.
Three weeks later I had my follow up with the Gastroenterologist and she diagnosed me with UC. She prescribed me the Asacol for 90 days (12 pills per day @ 400 mg). She also prescribed me to take an enema for 30 days at night time and to follow up with her in 90 days. I have not taken the enema yet. I will because the symptoms have not gone away. They have not gotten any worse. What typically happens is I will wake up in the morning and immediately (not run) go to the bathroom and release air and blood (usually no mucus anymore). Then within an hour, I have a bowel movement that has blood. I eat after that and I have another bowel movement within 2 hours of eating and this is usually a much bigger movement. I am usually good throughout the rest of the day depending on if I eat things that irritate me (pizza, peanuts, ice cream, milk). At night I go to sleep and wake up because I have to go to the restroom and release air and blood (this happens 1 or 2 times per night). This is pretty much the regular for me right now. I want to find something that will totally rid me of the symptoms so I can feel confident to go run or go anywhere without worrying about the symptoms hitting me without warning.
Okay, now to the military part. I am on Active Duty and have been for 20 years. I was already pending a normal retirement before I knew I had this disease. I can claim this disease through the VA, which I will because I do not want to hang around the military any longer for them to tell me that they can't keep me because of the disease. I am not sure how much disability I will get for this disease, but I will keep posting the progress that I make throughout this entire ordeal. I hope by me posting this information, it will help people like the postings before mine have helped me. I may end up trying Aloe. If anyone has any input, please feel free to add your comments. Thanks
