Ulcerative Colitis is Kicking My Butt

Introduction:

Hello I’m Charlie 43yo 190lbs diagnosed with UC May 21, 2013.  I enjoy eating out ( not fast food ) , going to movies and checking out the local Jazz Music Scene.

Some more about me:

I live in Tacoma ,WA I enjoy Snowboarding in the winter & kayak in the summer , I live alone & have two wonderful Weiner Dogs..Dickie & Kittie (blind) , We enjoy walks in the park , please forgive me as im not a writer but I want to share my story as I have no Health Insurance & it seems like a lot of people just go see a GI to get help .

Symptoms I’m Dealing With:

My symptoms are bloody mucus 10-15 times a day accompanied by sever gas cramps ,its worse in the mornings & starts around 3am and will last though the day , I also have bad back pain now.

Ulcerative Colitis is Kicking My Butt

It all started about 3 month ago , I was battling diarrhea , the worst I ever had it went on for 30 days!

I thought I had food poison or something , there was no blood just horrible diarrhea , So I was on Imodium 2 pills a day & all I could eat was soups. Things started to get better my stools were now paste & dark , that lasted for about another 2weeks then I had some normal bowel movements.  I was happy, but noticed some blood on the paper.  I thought I must have torn something from all the diarrhea so I didn’t concern myself with it , well the blood just got more & more and I felt like my butt was swollen.  So I did some research & figured I had a hemorrhoid.

I stared using prep H suppositories , this felt like it was helping the swelling feeling subsided & at times the blood would decrease , however after 3 weeks of using the PrepH I was not seeing improvement still bleeding .

I was getting worried this” hemorrhoid” had to go. I have no health insurance haven’t seen a doctor in 25 years , I had to do something so I made an appointment with a local GI doctor to have my “hemorrhoid” banded , the cost for this is $480 . So I go in & doctor does the examination & says Charlie there is no hemorrhoid! I was shocked , Doctor says I need a colonoscopy to find whats going on. So I left paying $250 bucks for a guy to stick his finger in my butt!? what the hell!

I found out I was going to need to come up with

$1800 for the colonoscopy,

so I sold a car & some other stuff to get the cash,

made the appointment & went in. 

After I woke up they said I have “ulcerative colitis”.  

I was just glad I didn’t have cancer. I told him I can’t afford prescriptions drugs, but he insisted I try Canasa Suppositories (4) of them for $88 bucks.  After the 4 days the bleeding had stopped , cool I’m healed :)….WRONG!

The blood came back in a couple days.  Whatever… I can live with a bit of blood on my toilet paper.

Then my first REAL FLARE ..OMG!  The gas cramps came on, very painful.

My diarrhea quickly turned to just bloody mucus.  I have been in this state for 3 weeks now.  I’m eating scramble eggs for breakfast , homemade chicken soup for lunch (tired of this ) & baked skinless chicken breast for dinner.  You would think I’m just drinking blood cause that all that comes out of me. I can’t just go see my doctor.  It will cost me a lot of $$ I need to find a way to fight this without big money drugs . I read stories of people that can just go see there doc for different Med’s to try ,I can’t do that as my budget won’t let me . I’m really starting to fall apart & not sure what to do next.

Medications:

I’m taking a Super Probiotic ,Omega 3 , Turmeric & vitamin D3, I have been taking these for the last week or so, I have seen no improvements

written by Charlie

submitted in the colitis venting area