Wow, this a cool place!

Hey everyone, I'm Paul and I have UC. Usually when I'm well - I'm well, and I live pretty normally except certain foods and the urgency in BMs, I seem to be dealing with it okay.

I'm pretty positive and I'm thankful for the way UC has enriched my life, brought me closer with family and a greater appreciation for small things, (even if it's only an empty stall just at the right time).

I was hospitalized a little more than a year ago and now I'm on Remicade every 8 weeks. That was going well, except I've procrastinated and didn't send in my notice of assessment into the insurance, I missed two weeks so it ran me to ten. Believe me I've been kicking myself in the arse repeatedly. I'm not sure witch disease is worse, my UC or my procrastination.

I suppose that's why I'm here, for the most part I've done enough research for now and if life is normal, move on with that. Now I'm feeling grucky and it brings it all to the forefront right?

I've got a new symptom and was wondering if anyone else has had this: I've got rather dry skin on my face and shoulders and ears?! and dry, red blotches on my arms, and a strange stinging sensation occasionally at random parts of my body, like a pin on the surface of my skin - there goes one now on my bottom and another on my forehead.

That's me. Hi everyone!

Hi Paul and welcome to the family. I'm glad you found us and agree that this place is cool.

I'm sorry about your insurance probs with Remicade. I'm a bit of a procrastinator too. Are you taking any other drugs atm? I am only on Remicade. It seems to work really well for me, too.

The new symptoms that you mentioned may or may not be what I deal with every once in a while. I was diagnosed half my life ago with psoriasis. Then eleven years later, psoriatic arthritis. I don't know about the little stabs of pain, but the skin probs sound familiar. These auto-immune diseases often go hand in hand. Just a thought. *shrug*

Hi Paul and welcome, I'm glad you found your way here I'm sorry you're having troubles right now though.

Anytime someone with IBD mentions dry skin (or many other symptoms heheh) one of the first things to pop into my head is vitamin and mineral deficiency. While not as common with UC as Crohn's, people with IBD need to be very careful about their vitamin and mineral levels. We've been working on a vitamin and mineral database and while not finished, you may want to peruse it. It's pretty well sourced and your symptoms are commonly caused by low amounts of a variety of vitamins and minerals. Finding which you're low in can be a bit of a chore, of course.

I wish you all the best and again, welcome

Yah, just the remi for now. I dropped immuran a while ago as I was having trouble with fatigue, the GI suggested we try and it helped a lot. What exactly is psoriatic arthritis (man that's hard to spell)?

I've attached some links if you're interested in learning about psoriatic arthritis. It's pretty rare.

Here's a definition:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/psoriatic-arthritis/DS00476

These are the symptoms:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/psoriatic-arthritis/DS00476/DSECTION=symptoms

And Causes:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/psoriatic-arthritis/DS00476/DSECTION=causes

Hey thanks David, I'll check it out. I've been gobbling omega threes and lots of water (well more than usual).

Thanks Jessi, I've seen mention of it many times, too lazy to look it up

Hope the remicade keeps it at bay!

Omega 3 is really great. You may also be deficient in B12 and magnesium, among others. Also D3 is vital! It's an disease fighter.

Hi Paul and welcome! I am glad you are doing well on Remicade, but I am sorry to hear about this dry skin issue. I would certainly keep an eye on it and bring it to your GI's attention if it gets any worse. Also, as my friends above suggested, you may want to be sure you don't have a vitamin deficiency. A quick blood test will do the trick.