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Colonoscopy made me feel better?!

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 2/1/2010 12:33 PM (GMT -5)
Hi all,

Thought I would share this with everyone as it is a fairly strange observation (or perhaps not, depending on what everyone else has observed!).

Background:
Have been flaring for a while - nothing too major and I suspected mainly inflammation near the bottom end of the colon, and not that far up the left hand side. Bowel Movements were 2 to 4 times a day, fairly bloody and pretty painful as they were somewhat formed so it scraped against the inflammation as it came out (not pleasant and apologies for the gory detail!).

Treatment:
Tried a dosage of Pentasa to start off with (was on Asacol and 75mgs azathiaprine - had been fine on this for nearly 2 years) and increased the azathiaprine to 150mgs. This did nothing. Went on to prednisone for nearly 2 1/2 months. This did nothing either, although the bleeding did decrease slightly. I was getting worried at this stage as before hand pred seemed to be this magical elixir which sorted me out entirely, and to all of a sudden stop working really scared me. I went back to my doctor, after finding this site on the web and reading a lot of the articles and asked for some rectal meds (Quincy your insistence upon rectal meds and your 'treat from both ends' mantra really made me get off my (broken) backside and ask my doctor for some - had been fairly (irrationally) scared of them given it's not my standard operating procedure to put things up my backside before nodding off to sleep, but am thoroughly glad I did!). He prescribed me 1g Pentasa Enemas which pretty much stopped the bleeding over night. Thank you kindly to Quincy for your insistence that they work wonders as I am now an ardent believer in them!

Observation:
Anyways, I had a colonoscopy about 2 weeks ago, and I had the usual laxatives before hand to clear me out etc. Went through with the procedure and ran through the results. As expected, the inflammation was at the bottom end of the colon and a little bit around the kink on the left hand side of the colon (hopefully that makes sense?). The doctor also said that he could see where the enemas were affecting the inflammation and was reducing it which was great to see. I went home and carried on using the enemas. However, I observed over the next few days that I felt a lot better and a lot lighter! It was very strange. It felt that I was emptier and lighter after I cleaned out my bowels with the laxatives, and this somehow seemed to improve my colitis!

I was therefore wondering if anyone else has seen this same effect? Has anyone ever experimented with taking laxatives every few months to clean themselves out (or do a colonic irrigation (or whatever they are called!)) to try and improve their colon? I would imagine it can't be great to start messing with your colon with these sorts of things, but then again, could stool that has sat in your digestive track for too long also start to cause problems?

Sorry for the long essay - hope to hear from anyone out there that has experienced anything similar. And also thank you very much for hosting this site, it is brilliant. Oh and thank you again to Quincy for opening my eyes to rectal meds!
Posted 2/1/2010 5:36 PM (GMT -5)
Hi..you're welcome re: rectal meds...lol...although you're not on a very high dosage, you can always up either the frequency to twice daily or the amount per dosage (which requires another prescription).

I wouldn't ever consider laxatives or a cleanout for keeping the colon healthy or for use by a UCer. Our colons are overreactive to keeping itself clean when it's inflamed. Hence the insistence to use meds.

Over and above the meds, eating as healthily and normally as possible is a must, causing it to work properly rather than like a spoiled brat. Fibre supplements can help with that process as well as antispasmodics. Higher dosages of probiotics will help keep the intestinal flora balanced. The fibre supplements will help the protiotics work better and induce proper healing of the mucosal lining.

So, NO on the clean-out....do it with good food, fibre and probiotics.

The colon will become very lazy and its behaviour can be changed with consistency of it having to "work".....

My take on it anyway....

quincy
Posted 2/1/2010 6:44 PM (GMT -5)
This is called colonic lavage. The prep washes everything out, also kills bacteria due to wash out and osmotic destruction, plus

entero toxin removal.

There is evedience that people have gone into remission just from prep, this I would guess depends on the health of your colon.

Please also note that people can get inflammation from irritation due to the prep, especially phosphate of soda.

Old Mike

UC 1980, and I am getting real old.

Posted 2/1/2010 9:17 PM (GMT -5)
I have on an occasion or three, decided to clean out my colon with warm water enemas. At those times, I was feeling so poorly, spending so much time in the bathroom etc. . . I figured it couldn't be any worse. My reasoning was the same as yours Jonathan101, if felt so good after the prep and colonoscopy, same should be true at other times. I did end up feeling better for a few days.

As for laxatives generally, that is soooo not my problem that I don't even go down that isle in the drug store - more like the cork isle. LOL

Kevin
Posted 2/1/2010 9:38 PM (GMT -5)
did you do the magnesium citrate prep? I have found that magnesium helps me.
Posted 2/1/2010 10:20 PM (GMT -5)
I have felt better after my colonoscopies too. Doesn't last long though. lol... My last scope was a sigmoidoscopy and I used the citrate of magnesium prep. It must be something in the prep that helps us. It does make you wonder, doesn't it? Each time, I have used a different prep. I have thought that getting all that food out of my system made me feel better. It may also help the intestinal flora for a little while. I have wondered the same thing though, that perhaps once a month I should drink a bottle of citrate of magnesium. lol.. I wonder if anyone has ever asked their doctor about this:?
Posted 2/1/2010 10:41 PM (GMT -5)
Maybe you have proximal constipation due to inflamation low down. I did in the early days - serious backlog of stool as the inflamation was so bad nothing (except blood + mucus) could get through. Maybe after clearing yourself out you get temporary releif?
Posted 2/2/2010 6:54 AM (GMT -5)
Thanks for all the comments.

@Cfromutah - I believe it was magnesium citrate. I took 10 Senna tablets as well as 2 sachets of magnesium citrate (or potentially sodium picosulphate, not too sure). This seems to be the standard procedure in the UK (I live in London) before a colonoscopy. I had one done in the Middle East and it was very different. Had to drink 4 litres of fluid (am assuming it was the same sort of stuff) instead of just the tablets and 1 litre in the UK.

I emailed my doctor about it and he had no idea as to why I would be feeling better due to the preparation.

I think it is down to the fact that it empties everything out of you. You feel lighter, thinner and by not eating for a day before hand you completely clear yourself out.

Also I think Clicky may also be correct. I have felt like it is slightly blocked up there (feeling sluggish and a bit bloated) and this went away after the colonoscopy.

Either way, am on the Pentasa suppositories and they seem to be working better than the enemas... Will hopefully get this under control as its been nearly 4 months since I first started bleeding (my three other flares since diagnosis in 2007 were cured in about 2 months by starting a course of pred as soon as they started).
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