My name is Sarah, and I have had digestive problems since I was a teenager.
They diagnosed me with irritable bowel syndrome after I told my mother I had had diarrhea for about three months straight. No medication, just told me that is what I had.
I had issues then nothing on and off for years. Then when I was pregnant with my fifth child (no, I am not Catholic. Yes, I believe in birth control.) I started having the bad diarrhea again, and simply wasn’t able to gain weight. All the weight I “gained” was just the baby, so I basically just stayed the same body weight the whole pregnancy. After she was born (healthy, thankfully!), I went to the doc about the issues I was having. Still going with the IBS diagnosis, despite the fact that my brother has UC and had to have surgery (J-pouch) to help him, he told me he’d prescribe me Bentyl, which meant I’d have to stop breastfeeding. I chose to help my child by helping myself, despite the fact I didn’t want to stop breastfeeding. The Bentyl didn’t help. At all. I finally had a colonoscopy that December (2010), with a diagnosis of UC. The doc gave me Asacol.
Well, I’d like to say that everything is going good now, but it isn’t. I know that things are worse when I am not on the medicine, but just the past two weeks have been bad. I honestly don’t think I have stopped this “flare” since it started with my pregnancy, and she is 14 months old now. I am always in the bathroom, and my stomach cramps are tremendously painful. I don’t know what it is like to not be in a flare! Is this normal? Right now I am just seeing a family pracitioner. Should I ask for a gastroenterologist? I am just kind of lost. I am able to work (thankfully I have FMLA for my UC) but when the cramps hit I get short with my kids and my husband, and I don’t want to be a snappy mother who is always mean to her kids because my stomach is hurting constantly. Any advice is very welcome!
-Submitted by UC-Twin-Mom
Medications: Asacol HD three times a day
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