Having first bad flare, concerned it's something more

[motomoyo]

I was diagnosed in March 2012 after a colonoscopy/upper GI series after about 3 months of on/off bleeding that doctors blamed on hemmorhoids. The doctor that made the diagnosis was a colorectal surgeon.

My timeline went something like:

Tuesday: lots of BMs, normal shape/size and no blood, some mucous, but WAY more than usual (6-8 times a day)
Wednesday: OK in the morning, started stomach cramping in the evening, went home from work, had soft BMs, some blood. Got kept up all night with passing abdominal cramps that came and went every ~30 mins.
Thursday: Took the day off work, about the same, cramps every ~30 mins to one hour, no appetite.
Friday: Tried to go to work in the morning, had diarrhea and blood, went home at lunch. Same as above for the rest of the day.
Saturday: Went to an after-hours clinic because the symptoms weren't stopping, doctor was very cranky with me for not going to a GI doctor, but prescribed 1 week of prednisone and told me to follow up with a GI doc.
Sunday: Appetite is mostly back and pain is gone, but I'm still bleeding a lot and having diarrhea.

Is this normal for a flare?? A lot of places I read say that prednisone should stop the bleeding pretty quickly, and I can't get it off my mind that the colonoscopy could have missed something more serious and I might actually have cancer or something. I'm in my upper 20s and this whole thing with this disease has been scary - I was perfectly healthy until getting this last year.

I need to go see a GI doc, I know, and I will as soon as I can.

 

[kikidee1994]

Hi
When people have ibd there flares are very different
like mine has been on going for 5 months atm and I'm struggling to even keep water down some days

 

[Cross-stitch gal]

Hi. I'm afraid that flares can be pretty scary sometimes. Especially when you don't know what's happening to you. Here is some more info to help with your above questions. Also, if you get the chance, our forum wiki is a great place to check out as well. Hope things start working better for you soon. Take care.

www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/ulcerative-colitis/digestive-diseases-ulcerative-colitis

 

[2thFairy]

I'm one of the smaller group of people that actually bleed more on prednisone. Prednisone helped me with pain, but didn't slow down the diarrhea and made me bleed more rather than less. It doesn't happen like that very often, but it does happen.

 

[Jim (POPS)]

It sounds like a flair to me, but prednisone does talk longer than a few days to stop the bleeding sometimes.

I would say go to the GI asap. Call them and tell them that you have blood and they should get you in faster.

JI hope you get better soon.

Jim (POPS)

 

[sickinlk]

hi and welcome to the forum,
after your dx did your GI not prescribe anything else? like pentasa or asacol? pred is ok when you are flaring but you need to be on a maintenance drug all the time.
you should give them a call and talk about a med regime.
regarding flares. I started out with proctitis and I bled everyday for 18 months, then I stopped the asacol and I went into my 1st real flare. going up to 16 times a day with bloody diarrhoea, cramps and mucous.
it was hell . pred did nothing for my flare. I went through 2 courses at different times. all it did was bring me more troublesome side effects. but like every1 else has said we are all different with our flares and our response to drugs.
My GI stated that if you haven't noticed a difference in the 1st week at the highest dose, he doubted it will improve as you taper to the lower dose.
so best of luck. I hope you get sorted soon.
ju