URGENT Help re flare & smoking

Since Wednesday 30 bms day....b & m. I have the urge to go like I'm having a poop but only b & m comes out.

Prior to this was going 5 times a day with some formed stool.

I started smoking on Wed. 2 smokes. Then up to 4/day since. I've never smoked in my life. First smoke made me so dizzy I fell to the ground. 2nd smoke I coughed so much a peed myself!! I had a good laugh.

Spent Thurs in bed...sleeping. No appetite.

Yesterday my mood seemed brighter...was able to sit up & watch TV. I was very encouraged to read about nicotine & felt like there was hope. I was able to eat rice & chicken...therefore passing stool.

Then last night (Friday) after my last smoke I became so nauseaiated. Vomiting since 2 am. Barely sipping water as I'm heaving. Am scared.

In bad flares I've vomited before given the pressure but I think part of this is the nicotine. I don't want to give up on it but don't think I can tolerate it today.

I chose to start smoking first then would switch to the patch. The lowest dose of patch was 14mg & I thought that was too high. One smoke has 1mg nicotine.

What should I do? I can handle the d but can't be vomiting. Worried about dehydration. Should I stop smoking today? Cut back? I felt so encouraged by it that I don't want to fail this.

My IVIG infusion is next Friday but I'm too sick...require more than one to get me out of this. I doubt my GI will grant me more.

Please help!

PS . I think that the bleeding is lessened and my appetite returned yesterday. Hard to say if it's the nicotine but seems likely.

I feel awful. The vomiting is brutal.

Thank you!

If it were me I would quit smoking right away. Like any other treatment plan, sometime it makes you better and sometimes the very same thing makes others worse. I haven't seen much info on non-smokers using this as strategy as a treatment plan.

Going up to 4 a day was a lot for a non-smoker. I remember that when I started as a kid ( I know stupid me but this was really in at that time) some of us could get sick from too much smoking.

If you chose to kept giving the cig a try don't smoke more than 2 a day. There is also the nicotine gum option. And don't chew as mad man follow the chewing gidances.

Most people are sick from their first cigarette, I don't think taking up smoking is much good for you in full flare. My theory is that smoking helps us maybe because of the slight increase in cortisol it produces and possible because of its effects on B2 and its associated bacteria and fungus which is something I have just been researching. Smoking maybe deals with little bits of inflammation - I wouldn't introduce it in the middle of a flare, your body will never have dealt with some of the poisons before.

Do remember that although smoking helps UC, it seems to do just the opposite for Crohns. They say one of the best things that you can do for Crohns is give up smoking. You should ask for some more specialist tests to be sure you have not developed Crohns?

You have not "failed" if you stop smoking right now.

Also, fear will put you in a vicious cycle of tension and may lead you to vomit more, so please try to relax with some gentle nasal breathing. If you keep vomiting, is there an emergency room you can go to?

Hi All,
I appreciate the responses.
My bowel is in spasms, but nothing going out really except mucus. No blood(!)

Nausea is brutal, just brutal...sipping water, no food today, haven't risked taking my oral pentasa.

I'm in a panic & scared. I understand the impact on my overall system, I'm trying hard to breath but the nausea is all I can focus on.

On top of this No power in my neighborhood! No heating pad!

Perhaps in haste to stop a flare I smoked too many at once. I could only find 14mg patches so I thought it too high. No e cigs in Canada with nicotine.

Regarding chrons...u make a good point. Up until 2012 it was unsure chrons or colitis. Then colonoscopy showed UC. But now who knows?

I haven't smoked today. Perhaps I need to sort this bad flare out first.

If I go to the hospital they will insist on prednisone which I cannot take for mental health reasons. I will try & hold out until Monday.

There is also a Canadian ecig forum where you could get info about good suppliers and most liked ecigs as well as knowing the basic of ecig.

Why aren't you in the hospital? Don't try the ecigs. What you need to do is to get in to see a doctor stat. You can't mess around with this. You're more than likely dehydrated.

You need IV right now.

Just seen that you have had c diff before? This violent reaction sounds like what it was for me with C diff, you must get tested again, 4 stool tests in a row is the protocol here to try and avoid all of the false negatives and, if you can bear it, a flexi sig to see if there is any sign of pseudomembraneous colitis. If you are going so much that you cannot leave the bathroom can you not call an ambulance?

Chantrelle99 said...

ByeByeUC said...


I frankly can't believe people are telling you to suck on ecigs.

Sorry I gave out the information. I did not mean today...

And yes I my thoughts were that going to the hospital would have been the best option for today.... But then again I believed we eache know when it is time to go.

New to this forum. Next time I'll kept my inputs to my self because I don't know enough.

I'm just worried for this person because I have been where she is and I believe she needs to get medical attention right away.

Thanks both,

Robartolo, hope you'll fell better soon and you take care of yourself as you should.

I now get that most or some us seem to have a tendency not to take good care of ourself as we should...

I often have to ask myself what would I tell a friend to do in such situation in other to be able to make decisions to take care of my self.