New to Ulcerative Colitis – Diagnosed June 12, 2012

Bio:

I am a 30 year old female living in Western Australia. Just recently diagnosed with UC June 12th 2012 after only really noticing symptoms March 2012

My Story:

Just recently diagnosed with UC and what a shock that was! I hadn’t really noticed any major symptoms and then upon my return from an overseas holiday in March I was suddenly having to run to the bathroom, it started out once a day and then slowly got worse and worse until I was getting strange looks at work for how often I visited the restroom. Of course I just assumed I had picked up a bug and so did my Dr but after the usual blood and stool tests showing nothing I was quickly referred to a GI. Within 3 weeks I was in getting the unfortunate probing and pretty much got an answer there and then seeing as my whole large intestine is affected. I must say I was incredibly relieved that things were moving quickly as I was in the middle of a very bad flare which meant that ‘accidents’ were happening quite often. And my are they mortifying!! it has really affected my life. I am stressed out and anxious about going anywhere, I absolut ely have to know where a bathroom is and will sit and plan the quickest route to it. Luckily my family and close friends are incredibly supportive which has been a huge help. Have a great GI who just started me on Prednisolone which is slowly being tapered down over 5 weeks and also taking 4gm of Mesalazine, so far so good (touch wood) but I still have the constant worry in the back of my mind wondering when the next flare up will hit, if at all, and what will happen when I stop the Prednisolone. I am also worried about side effects of the steroids, I have heard so many horror stories, if anyone has info to share that would be great.

Where I’d like to be in 1 year:

Symptom free and not chained to a toilet :)

Written by: Zoe

submitted in the colitis venting area
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