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Posted 4/24/2018 4:36 PM (GMT -5)
Hey guys I'm very new to the UC community, was diagnosed in December 2017! I'm currently taking lialda and am on 10mg prednisone. My dr. says I can stop taking the steroids when my stool is "normal", but what is normal for someone with UC? Most days I will have 1-2 soft BMs (Its usually soft, not runny or watery) and some days I will have 0-1 little hard droppings(very personal sorry). If I don't eat healthy I will have anywhere from 3-4 soft BMs but its rare since I've been trying to stay healthy. I haven't had any blood nor mucus, but there is sometimes pain in my intestines and other days there is none!? What is the consideration of having normal bowel movements?! I want to be off my prednisone but I can not tell if its normal to be so inconsistent. Please help!
Posted 4/24/2018 5:56 PM (GMT -5)
It will be as normal as before you had the condition (:
You will also have to taper anyways, which will take a while.
Posted 4/24/2018 8:57 PM (GMT -5)
I guess "normal " is different for everyone. My normals was 15-25 times a day. I only flared once in my life and had my colon removed 4 months after being diagnosed. I know of people who don't live there life in fear of knowing where the closest bathroom is where I needed to be 5 ft from one at all times. That's not to scare you it's rare to have it as bad as I did so just be prepared and accept for whatever your "normal" is which could be very easy to deal with who knows. Good luck and welcome to the club!
Posted 4/25/2018 2:10 AM (GMT -5)
Normal for me is just once a day in the morning and completely solid. When I'm in remission, my stomach and Stool is completely normal like it was before my condition:
Posted 4/25/2018 7:36 AM (GMT -5)
UC bms are quite variable in form and solidness. Even in a confirmed clinical-remission, I had stools that varied from pre-uc to softer and more broken up, and varying degrees in-between. I'd say as long as your stools are solid, there's no urgency, and frequency is 1-2 a day then you've achieved the gold-standard for a UC patient, and earned yourself an A+.

Will every bm look pre-uc? No, only occasionally will you achieve that.
Posted 4/25/2018 10:01 AM (GMT -5)
My remission baseline is 2 or 3 BM's in the morning and usually 1 before bed. No mucous (or blood). If I didn't take psyllium, I doubt it would be that well formed, but with the psyllium, everything is pretty solid.
Posted 4/25/2018 1:22 PM (GMT -5)
"Normal" with UC or ACTIVE UC?

When my UC is active: I easily go to the bathroom over 10 times a day with watery/runny stools, lots of urgency and blood.

When my UC is hiding: I go about twice a day. Fully formed stools with no blood or urgency.
Posted 4/25/2018 10:40 PM (GMT -5)
Everyone's normal is totally different.

Before my UC diagnosis in 2006, I went poop maybe 2x a week and strained a lot due to how dry and hard the stool was. I had constipation from the time I was small up until my teenage years. Once my disease progressed, I wasn't constipated anymore and was going around 30x a day at my worst (more when c. diff was taking over).

I had a minor flare (not UC thankfully) for 1.5 months this year and was going 4-6x a day. Thankfully, I am in remission again and back to going 3-4x per week. This is with daily laxatives and LOTS OF COFFEE! If I didn't take laxatives, I'd probably be back to my old normal of 1-2x per week. Most of my poops are semi soft and liquidy but some are still pretty hard. It is pretty dependent on what I eat and drink.
Posted 4/25/2018 11:03 PM (GMT -5)
Thank you everyone for your feedback this helped a lot! (:
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