Hi all, first off really pleased to find what looks like an active forum for IBD, looking forward to reading and learning
Around mid October I noticed blood in my stool, or just wiping and having bright red tissue, along with a few instances of becoming so painfully bloated I looked like I was pregnant. One particularly bad day I almost couldn't get into my motorcycle trousers to ride home, my tummy was so big it was pushing into the tank, it was nasty.
After several visits to the doctors where they realised the bleeding wasn't going away, I had a colonoscopy - which really wasn't as bad as I was expecting, doctors and nurses were wonderful (and the painkillers were amazing!), the prep on the other hand was abysmal as I'm sure many people here can relate.
The bleeding has gotten to the point where I am losing blood every time I go to the toilet. Often I go to the toilet just to release blood and white lumps. I was surprised when my blood and stool tests came back OK as I expected to have some sort of deficiency.
They suspect I have UC and the photos from my colonoscopy show inflammation in the rectum, this was a few weeks ago and I'm just feeling in a strange limbo place where I'm still waiting to hear for sure what I have or receive any treatment or medication, or any advice from a medical professional. (All I've had is advice on the colonoscopy itself, nothing going forward)
I've been trying my best to be pro-active in any way I can, but it feels as though there isn't much I can do at this stage.
I've been keeping a food diary which I think has identified gluten as an issue, so I'm attempting to be gluten free. Overall it seems to have helped, I've not had any more huge bloating, but still having the blood loss/frequent toilet visits. The family dog died recently and I ate like crap when that happened which probably didn't help!
I've made some other changes to my diet, I'm taking Bio-Kult probiotics every day, including making my own kefir, I've been taking a seaweed capsule which contains iron as I had been pre-empting an iron deficiency. I'm also consuming tumeric capsules in the morning as an anti-inflammatory.
I have learned recently I have a cousin on my mothers side with Crohn's disease, and a cousin on my fathers side with UC. I'm surprised to be half way into December now and not much wiser than when I first noticed symptoms, really hoping to see a specialist soon.
Around mid October I noticed blood in my stool, or just wiping and having bright red tissue, along with a few instances of becoming so painfully bloated I looked like I was pregnant. One particularly bad day I almost couldn't get into my motorcycle trousers to ride home, my tummy was so big it was pushing into the tank, it was nasty.
After several visits to the doctors where they realised the bleeding wasn't going away, I had a colonoscopy - which really wasn't as bad as I was expecting, doctors and nurses were wonderful (and the painkillers were amazing!), the prep on the other hand was abysmal as I'm sure many people here can relate.
The bleeding has gotten to the point where I am losing blood every time I go to the toilet. Often I go to the toilet just to release blood and white lumps. I was surprised when my blood and stool tests came back OK as I expected to have some sort of deficiency.
They suspect I have UC and the photos from my colonoscopy show inflammation in the rectum, this was a few weeks ago and I'm just feeling in a strange limbo place where I'm still waiting to hear for sure what I have or receive any treatment or medication, or any advice from a medical professional. (All I've had is advice on the colonoscopy itself, nothing going forward)
I've been trying my best to be pro-active in any way I can, but it feels as though there isn't much I can do at this stage.
I've been keeping a food diary which I think has identified gluten as an issue, so I'm attempting to be gluten free. Overall it seems to have helped, I've not had any more huge bloating, but still having the blood loss/frequent toilet visits. The family dog died recently and I ate like crap when that happened which probably didn't help!
I've made some other changes to my diet, I'm taking Bio-Kult probiotics every day, including making my own kefir, I've been taking a seaweed capsule which contains iron as I had been pre-empting an iron deficiency. I'm also consuming tumeric capsules in the morning as an anti-inflammatory.
I have learned recently I have a cousin on my mothers side with Crohn's disease, and a cousin on my fathers side with UC. I'm surprised to be half way into December now and not much wiser than when I first noticed symptoms, really hoping to see a specialist soon.