Good morning all...
New to the forum, not yet sure exactly what I have. My story-
I was an infant (literally) when I was diagnosed with UC. My family was military and the Navy flew us from Virginia to Loma Linda, CA for consult and treatment, this was back in the 1960's. I clearly have not much memory of these events but I do know from my parents that I was hospitalized off and mostly on for the first three years of my life. I do know that my mother refused surgery that would have caused resectionning of my bowels and a stoma. No surgery, only diet.
My mom had me on a strict diet for my entire young childhood but I have no recall of any severe episodes until I was 18, at that time I had emergency surgery,they bypassed the ulcerated areas of my stomach and left me with a small pouch. I have remained able to avoid all medications with mild to moderate symptoms from that period until more recent. I have had endoscopies and colonoscopies in 1993 and 1997- both times I was told "everything is normal" , even though I had experienced great abd discomfort and loose stools, in fairness to the medical profession, both of these times I was seen by a surgeon for the proceedures and not an actual gastro doc.
I have had several severe bouts over the last three or four years. When I have a severe episode it feels like two sumo wrestlers are fighting in my lower abdomen. I break into a full body sweat, get extremely hot and feel as though I am going to literally pass out from the pain. I have an emormously high tolerence to pain so when I say pain, I am talking a 20. I lie in bed and go from there to bathroom where I feel as though I may leave my colon in the flush and then wait for it to pass. Last time it was so bad that I slept on the bathroom floor as it was from both ends and I didnt have the strength to walk.
The reason for my joining here is my last bad episode was two weekends ago and I thought I was going to die. Pain that was so intense that I almost could not bear it. I also broke inot a full body uticaria, rash literally all over my body like my body was attacking itself. I went to my doctor that Monday and explained to her my symptoms and history, mostly because of the uticaria. She prescribed Prednisone which seemed to halp quite quickly. I had only seen her once prior for a physical in Sept 2010. (I am no fan of doctors as I was traumatized at a young age and have little faith in most of them) she ordered a chemistry profile with electolyes and a CBC. My electolytes were way out of whack and my white count was 19,000. She then referred my to a gastroenterologist for colonoscopy.
I was a little surprised that they scope you prior to a consult but I rolled with the program(only because I did not want to be confontational as I WANT to know what is wrong). I arrived for the test and was seen by the physician only when I was prepped and placed in the proceedure room. I was SO offended by the doctor that I ALMOST got off of the gurney yanked out my IV and left the proceedure room. I explained my early medical history and that I was diagnosed with UC as a child. She then asked me what medication I was on at that time- duh, I was 2 or 3- like I would know. Then she asked what medication I had been on and I explained that I was prescribed Asacol back in 93 or 97 but only took it a very short time as it made me violently ill. She then said OUT LOUD that I had NOT had UC as a child and that I could not possibly have had that type of thing with no medication or surgery. This is prior to her even reviewing my old medical records or seeing my recent lab work. WOW, this is why I stay away, far away from these quacks.
Had she asked, I would have shared that my diet consists of anything easily digestible. Funny, I did not realize until I read some threads in this forum that perhaps my old surgery had saved me. Because I have very litttle stomach I have very little ability to eat fiberous foods. My friends have teased me for years that they have never seen me eat anything heathy. I have never been able to eat fruit, only eat certain veggies and never raw. I craze simple carborhydrates and eat only highly processed foods. I have managed to keep weight on by eating high calorie foods.
The other oddity that I experience is severe nausea and frequent vomiting. Mostly when I lay down at night. I wake up a few times a week because the acid in my throat is coming up into my mouth. Some mornings if I have eaten too late the night before, I am vomiting my dinner from the prior evening, almost undigested. This cannot possibly be normal and it seems as though sometimes nothing gets discharged into my intestines from my stomach. Not sure if this is a result from the stomach surgery in 83 or some kind of intestinal disorder.
Please, does this sound familiar to anyone, does this sound like Chron's????
Thanks so much in advance for any help-
New to the forum, not yet sure exactly what I have. My story-
I was an infant (literally) when I was diagnosed with UC. My family was military and the Navy flew us from Virginia to Loma Linda, CA for consult and treatment, this was back in the 1960's. I clearly have not much memory of these events but I do know from my parents that I was hospitalized off and mostly on for the first three years of my life. I do know that my mother refused surgery that would have caused resectionning of my bowels and a stoma. No surgery, only diet.
My mom had me on a strict diet for my entire young childhood but I have no recall of any severe episodes until I was 18, at that time I had emergency surgery,they bypassed the ulcerated areas of my stomach and left me with a small pouch. I have remained able to avoid all medications with mild to moderate symptoms from that period until more recent. I have had endoscopies and colonoscopies in 1993 and 1997- both times I was told "everything is normal" , even though I had experienced great abd discomfort and loose stools, in fairness to the medical profession, both of these times I was seen by a surgeon for the proceedures and not an actual gastro doc.
I have had several severe bouts over the last three or four years. When I have a severe episode it feels like two sumo wrestlers are fighting in my lower abdomen. I break into a full body sweat, get extremely hot and feel as though I am going to literally pass out from the pain. I have an emormously high tolerence to pain so when I say pain, I am talking a 20. I lie in bed and go from there to bathroom where I feel as though I may leave my colon in the flush and then wait for it to pass. Last time it was so bad that I slept on the bathroom floor as it was from both ends and I didnt have the strength to walk.
The reason for my joining here is my last bad episode was two weekends ago and I thought I was going to die. Pain that was so intense that I almost could not bear it. I also broke inot a full body uticaria, rash literally all over my body like my body was attacking itself. I went to my doctor that Monday and explained to her my symptoms and history, mostly because of the uticaria. She prescribed Prednisone which seemed to halp quite quickly. I had only seen her once prior for a physical in Sept 2010. (I am no fan of doctors as I was traumatized at a young age and have little faith in most of them) she ordered a chemistry profile with electolyes and a CBC. My electolytes were way out of whack and my white count was 19,000. She then referred my to a gastroenterologist for colonoscopy.
I was a little surprised that they scope you prior to a consult but I rolled with the program(only because I did not want to be confontational as I WANT to know what is wrong). I arrived for the test and was seen by the physician only when I was prepped and placed in the proceedure room. I was SO offended by the doctor that I ALMOST got off of the gurney yanked out my IV and left the proceedure room. I explained my early medical history and that I was diagnosed with UC as a child. She then asked me what medication I was on at that time- duh, I was 2 or 3- like I would know. Then she asked what medication I had been on and I explained that I was prescribed Asacol back in 93 or 97 but only took it a very short time as it made me violently ill. She then said OUT LOUD that I had NOT had UC as a child and that I could not possibly have had that type of thing with no medication or surgery. This is prior to her even reviewing my old medical records or seeing my recent lab work. WOW, this is why I stay away, far away from these quacks.
Had she asked, I would have shared that my diet consists of anything easily digestible. Funny, I did not realize until I read some threads in this forum that perhaps my old surgery had saved me. Because I have very litttle stomach I have very little ability to eat fiberous foods. My friends have teased me for years that they have never seen me eat anything heathy. I have never been able to eat fruit, only eat certain veggies and never raw. I craze simple carborhydrates and eat only highly processed foods. I have managed to keep weight on by eating high calorie foods.
The other oddity that I experience is severe nausea and frequent vomiting. Mostly when I lay down at night. I wake up a few times a week because the acid in my throat is coming up into my mouth. Some mornings if I have eaten too late the night before, I am vomiting my dinner from the prior evening, almost undigested. This cannot possibly be normal and it seems as though sometimes nothing gets discharged into my intestines from my stomach. Not sure if this is a result from the stomach surgery in 83 or some kind of intestinal disorder.
Please, does this sound familiar to anyone, does this sound like Chron's????
Thanks so much in advance for any help-
