Ambling said...
So, eating something and getting diarrhea is a flare for you?
And taking some fiber and probiotics, and the diarrhea stopping, is remission?
I wish it were so easy and simple for everyone.
I never said this was a flare, I was describing symptoms that if not addressed would morph into a flare. The Pseed with probiotics are part of a maintenance program that so far has kept me in remission. (I learned about
psyllium seed from other posters here who have described its effectiveness.)
I have experienced several flares over the past 11 years and from what I could tell my symptoms were just as bad or worse than most I have seen on this forum. My first flare was the worst with severe abdominal pain, drenching night sweats, and bloody diarrhea 10 to 15 times a day. Serious eye inflammation, skin lesions on my arms and legs and crippling arthritis to the point that I had trouble climbing stairs.
Also had trouble making a fist but it was interesting that one day the pain would be in my right hand, another day I couldn't make a fist in my left hand. My blood work was so fouled up that I was referred to an oncologist to check for lymphoma. My heartbeat was over 110 bpm day and night, even when first waking up in the morning.
At first my GI tried to prescribe low level treatments. Several attempts at taking 5-ASAs such as Colazal and later Asacol quickly caused nausea, severe flu-like symptoms, and pleurisy. I even suffered a fit of nausea after inserting a Canasa suppository.
But I had to do something because my stomach pain was becoming unbearable, especially after eating. I was losing 5 pounds a week for over 50 pounds. My GI then prescribed 40 mg of prednisone. But for me another flaring symptom was that for some reason my fasting blood sugar spikes from around a normal 85-95 mg/dl to 110-120 mg/dl, into the prediabetic range. I knew my flare had to end but I was reluctant to take the pred. I have diabetes in my immediate family and I was afraid pred would push me over the tipping point into full-blown diabetes. There are many accounts here of people who ended up with diabetes after taking pred for their UC. I did not want to be another casualty.
Luckily I also developed a very painful perianal abscess. I say luckily because my doctor then prescribed a three week course of antibiotics for the abscess. That jump-started me out of my flare and into remission. Shortly afterwards all of my symptoms including skin lesions and arthritis quickly disappeared. My blood work was back to normal, no more elevated blood sugar and rapid heart beat. Later a scope showed that my intestines were clean.