Worse Outbreak in my life at 45! Advice? Thoughts please

Hello Newbie member here, so I've been on Lialda/Canasa for years for my Ulcerative Colitis and for years I led a normal life. If I slipped on my meds I might see red, but then once back one them the red would go away and that was my life with UC.

Since January 2017, I have had red everyday, I avoided the Dr for the first 2 months but then it escalated to beyond red to include immediate urges for red diarrhea and discomforting gas, and the gas I had was not the type you could not "release" without a bathroom trip.

Since then I was first given PROCTOCORT suppositories for 6 weeks (twice a day) but I could never "keep it in" long due to my explosive gas. I then cut my food intake down to avoid having to "go" as much. Long story short, the PROCTOCORT did nothing for me. My Dr said he has never seen anyone not respond to that.

So he put me on my current drug PREDNISONE pills 40mg per day. I am entering week 3 then I will start to taper down. I will say I feel slightly better, there is less red and the diarrhea has stopped, the rapid urge has lessened but still present. Many days I feel normal, as if I finally will not see red when I wipe, then........ the let down comes when I do. I have never gone more than 2 days without seeing red since January.

Is this normal? Should the PREDNISONE have worked already? and should I already start guessing what the next step? Do I feel better or am I just used to it? Confused and sad with my military wife on deployment, its been a rough year. My Dr said the next step may be to send me 3 hours away to UNC Hospital, which is scary to hear.

Any advice, comment, or thoughts are greatly appreciated.

I will say some of the Fiber threads in here have helped and I don't feel as blindfolded.

I had a sigmoid done in NOV, which was normal. I had somewhat of a traumatic event in January, next my wife left for deployment in Feb. Much of all this I internalize I guess, I don't want her to know that I am having a UC "flare", what can she do but worry. My hope is that its all gone by the time she returns in Sept/Oct time frame.

I also had a colonoscopy 2 months ago, in which he said its a small area effected about 3 cm. Felt like 3 feet lol. Stool tests eh? I'll bring that up on June 7th at my appt.

Im thinking that there's not a rapid end in sight to this...

It's likely that lialda and Canasa are no longer strong enough to keep up with your UC progression. You could ask for 4 lialda a day (if you're not already taking the maximum) and a nightly rowasa enema (4.0 grams compared to 1gm canasa).

Yes, ask for a stool test to rule out infectious xauses like c diff. Standard issue for any flare.

If increasing the lialda and adding rowasa isn't sufficient tgen it's time to try stronger meds like immunomodulators (imuran/6MP) or biologics (remicade/humira).

First, Id like to first Thank each of you for taking the time to reply. Id like to return the favor to the UC forum community when this is over or I gain more knowledge.

I do not have the results anymore....sadly I throw them away afterwords. I was fine and was looking forward to my next one in late 2017.. #regret

Yes similar boat jkingfrt, I feel fine now, I have very little urge, but it does feel sensitive deep down in my colon at times or is it in my head? Either way all hope feels lost when I have a bowel movement and I see red in the stool and when I wipe, its like a reset back to zero.

Some days I do not have a bowel movement and it feels like a victory...a false victory I need to learn. I feel partially because I do not eat much and partially because of the Metamucil. Either way it is better than diarrhea.