Meet Erick:
I had my colonoscopy January 2013. The pathology report confirmed my worst fear, Colitis. I have left side colitis(28 CM). After getting the news, It was a relive to hear that it was not cancer or a life threatening condition. I was actually relived to know what it was that was wrong with my digestive system. It took a year to get to this point–the colonoscopy–and i had been told it was all sorts of things, IBS, Gluten Allergy, Hemorrhoids( I still think I also have internal Hemorrhoids). Not having insurance, while in college made it more stressful than it should have been. I am new to the UC community and truly amazed to read about varies people that have been through the same situation as I have. I hope to meet some cool people and get some support. Thank you.
Some more about me:
I am 24 years old, and married. I graduated from college last year. Currently studying for the LSAT and will be applying to Law School in the upcoming months. I was born in Mexico and raised in Los Angeles California. I mostly enjoy exercising, reading, and hanging out with family, and occasionally some Call of Duty(PS3).
Symptoms:
At this time, symptoms include.
-Bloody stool
-Mucus
-Occasional urge to quickly go the restroom.
-One or Two false movements per day(mainly gas and mucus).
My UC Story:
Getting diagnosed with UC has been terrible. Mainly because I do not have insurance, thus the process of getting diagnosed has been very, very expensive. Also, I can honestly say that UC was a huge distractions from my daily college life. Going to the bathroom and seeing blood can scare the S*** out of you, literally. Stress made the symptoms worse. For the majority of my college life I drank coffee often and had bad eating habits. Part of the reason that I eat very unhealthy was my mission to gain weight. I have been a slim and tall kind of guy for a long time. During my good days before any symptoms I was 175lb. Today I am 149lb, by the way I am 5, 11”. I have a very fast metabolism.
I use to get headaches two times per week before the systems of UC started. As a result, I consumed large amounts of Excedrin pills. It is my hypothesis that Colitis was a long term effect (7 years of consuming Excedrin pills on the weekly basis). My dad also consumed a lot of Excedrin, he stopped because Excedrin was taken of the market for some reason. He has been recently diagnosed with GERD and also got kidney stone(small). I think there could be some connections.
My family has been very supportive. They have listened to my somewhat obsessive concern with my symptoms and diet.
I am currently feeling confused. The GI told me that Colitis is a life long disease yet cannot explain why I have it?
Also, my social life has truly suffered. I am scared to eat unhealthy food and touch alcohol, it makes sense to me that these two things have to bad for Colitis right?
The most frustrating thing has been not knowing if the bleeding is only from colitis or also from hemorrhoids. My first visit to the GI I got an anoscopy and was told I had internal hemorrhoids. When I received the colonoscopy the GI said the rectum was to inflamed to see any hemorrhoids. It is frustrating because it is hard to know if the colitis medication is working since sometime I know when I follow a low fiber diet and need to push hard to pass those hard stools, I bleed a bit. But sometimes I just bleed alot with out having to push, I think this bleeding without pushing is the colitis symptom.
My question is how should my diet be since fiber tends to irritate UC but it helps Hemorrhoids, which I think and have been told I have(internal).
Medications (And my questions)
For the last three weeks I tried free samples of ASACOL but they did not do much, still kept bleeding, although my stools are more formed now. Before my stool was broken up and loose.
I pressured my GI to give me some samples of CANASA suppositories. It made sense to me that suppositories would be more effective since I have left side colitis. He hesitated because he said they are very expensive and probably could not offered them. But he nevertheless have me 6 day of samples. They have worked pretty good. I have minor bleeding and probably only bleed because of my low fiber diet and the hemorrhoids. However, I only have 3 days on CANASA.
Since I am a broke student, I have been looking into buying the Canada version of CANASA from NorthWestPharmacy.com, do any of you have any advice for me as far as attaining affordable medication.
Doctor would much rather have me on Prednisone but I would rather give suppositories a chance. I also got two big bottles of Sulfasalazine for free form the community clinic, however, I am hesitating to take them.
written by Erick
submitted in the colitis venting area
I had my colonoscopy January 2013. The pathology report confirmed my worst fear, Colitis. I have left side colitis(28 CM).
