Does anyone else find that each time they flare, their symptoms are different?
I was initially diagnosed with UC and having lots of bloody b/ms and rectal pain during them (due to inflammation of the rectum) but no abdominal pain as the disease was limited to the rectum and part of the descending colon. I think they actually called it proctitis to begin with.
Last year I had a bad flare but it was very different. I was going less frequently (about 4/5 times a day rather than 10-12), but with bad stomach pains and foul-smelling gas, sometimes nausea and a fever, occasional vomiting... and an MRI revealed patchy inflammation throughout the large bowel (but the part that was inflamed before was now clear), so I was re-diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, or possibly Crohn's Colitis as currently the disease doesn't affect my small bowel whatsoever.
I'm now experiencing another flare, and it's oddly much more similar to the one that led to my initial diagnosis of UC! No abdominal pain, gas, nausea or fever - just urgent b/ms that are often just blood. My bowel will feel full but when I go to the bathroom I just pass blood and experience rectal pain/pressure, so I assume that's inflammation close to the anus (the rectum and maybe part of the descending bowel) creating that feeling of needing to go, and the reason for the bright blood (it's coming from close to the opening and therefore not always mixing with stool).
It's strange, the last flare seemed to take over my whole body and knock me out. This time I feel completely normal within myself and just have the issue of dashing to the bathroom several times a day and feeling some discomfort while I'm there.
Does anyone else's IBD seem to change in nature like this? It can be pretty confusing!
I was initially diagnosed with UC and having lots of bloody b/ms and rectal pain during them (due to inflammation of the rectum) but no abdominal pain as the disease was limited to the rectum and part of the descending colon. I think they actually called it proctitis to begin with.
Last year I had a bad flare but it was very different. I was going less frequently (about 4/5 times a day rather than 10-12), but with bad stomach pains and foul-smelling gas, sometimes nausea and a fever, occasional vomiting... and an MRI revealed patchy inflammation throughout the large bowel (but the part that was inflamed before was now clear), so I was re-diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, or possibly Crohn's Colitis as currently the disease doesn't affect my small bowel whatsoever.
I'm now experiencing another flare, and it's oddly much more similar to the one that led to my initial diagnosis of UC! No abdominal pain, gas, nausea or fever - just urgent b/ms that are often just blood. My bowel will feel full but when I go to the bathroom I just pass blood and experience rectal pain/pressure, so I assume that's inflammation close to the anus (the rectum and maybe part of the descending bowel) creating that feeling of needing to go, and the reason for the bright blood (it's coming from close to the opening and therefore not always mixing with stool).
It's strange, the last flare seemed to take over my whole body and knock me out. This time I feel completely normal within myself and just have the issue of dashing to the bathroom several times a day and feeling some discomfort while I'm there.
Does anyone else's IBD seem to change in nature like this? It can be pretty confusing!
