Meet Kelly:
I was just officially diagnosed 3 days ago with UC via flex sig but apparently I’ve been in a severe flare for almost 6 months. This is my first flare and man does it suck. At this point were not sure how much of my lovely colon is affected because my inflammation and ulceration went beyond the reach of the scope.
Some more about me:
Hey I’m Kelly and I’m 27 yrs old. I live in the Big Puddle (aka W. Washington). I’m a stay at home mom of 2 amazing little girls, one is 5 and in preschool, the other is a wee devil at 19 months. I love being outside, camping, hiking, playing disc golf, puddle jumping with the kids, spending lazy summer days at the lake or heading to the mountains to find snow. I was in the Army when I was younger and got to do a lot of awesome stuff and go to some really cool places. I have an awesome and supportive family and some great friends so I guess you could say I’ve got it pretty good.
My Colitis Symptoms RIGHT NOW
Ugh! Rectal bleeding, urgency, severe abdominal pain and cramping. In the bathroom 20 to 30 times a day. “Hold on honey, mommy’s going potty again”! Gas, super sensitive gag reflex and vomiting (is that normal?), awful lower back pain, diarrhea, weight loss, tender and distended stomach.
Am I A Broken Mommy From Colitis?
My symptoms started back in early September 2012 shortly after I quit smoking.
Correlation?
It started with a bit of bleeding and I thought nothing of it since I had experience with internal hemorrhoids that occasionally bled. Flash forward to November. The bleeding was getting worse and accompanied by some nasty, foul smelling gas, increasing abdominal discomfort, and my poo started changing from normal and formed to soft and squishy and about 3-4 times a day.
By mid December I was in pain pretty much all the time. It felt like I had a big gas bubble in my tummy or gut and I was running to the bathroom about 15 times a day. I hadn’t gone to the doctor yet because I didn’t have insurance (still don’t) and I kept hoping the issue would resolve itself. Obviously that wasn’t happening.
Once January hit I had quit drinking coffee, was only eating bland soft foods and life pretty much sucked for me. I haven’t slept for a whole night in months, I was in the bathroom 20-30 times a day, if I wasn’t near a bathroom I would have accidents, it hurt to pick up my youngest because it would press on my tummy, I was scared to pick up the neighbor boy and drive him and my oldest to preschool 10 min away, my house was getting neglected and I was so exhausted I couldn’t keep up with everyday chores like laundry and dishes and I couldn’t remember the last time I had a normal poo.
Finally went to the doctor 2 weeks ago, got referred to the GI, had a consult then came back for my flex sig the other day. And here we are – ulcerative colitis!
My family has banded together and pretty much relieved me of all parental duties and housewifely duties and right now I’m stuck between my bed, my couch and the porcelain god. So my doctor is really great! She’s been really patient with me and explained everything and is really nice and I think I got lucky with her. Instantly she prescribed me medications, went over everything in detail, called me later that first night just to check on me, called me again yesterday to see how I was feeling and how I was reacting to the meds. Fortunately I haven’t gotten anemic yet or had to go into the hospital but my doctor did warn me that if I wasn’t improving by my 2 week follow up she is going to admit me. Lets hope that doesn’t happen.
Colitis Medications
I’m currently on Prednisone taper starting at 40 mg, Flagyl 3 times a day at 500 mg, Ciprofloxacn 2 times a day at 500 mg, Tramadol 50 mg as needed, Vicodin 5 mg as needed and OTC Tylenol 650 mg as needed.
written by Kelly
submitted in the colitis venting area
I was just officially diagnosed 3 days ago with ulcerative colitis via flex sig but apparently I’ve been in a severe flare for almost 6 months.
