Bleeding Ulcers in the Small Intestine

I had a GI bleed two weeks ago requiring 8 units of blood over three days, and a few tests. During a colonoscopy they discovered many ulcers at the bottom end of my small bowl. The working theory at this point is there are more up higher that were bleeding. Treatment is a high dose of prednisone over 6 weeks, in addition to my normal maintenance drugs.

Has anyone else experienced these ulcers, or had one that bleed, and how were they successfully treated? Did they return?

Other than being tired I didnt have any pain or nausea and the symptoms hit all at once. Requiring an ambulance ride to the ER.

In addition to the pred side effects they infused some IV Iron which is making all my joints/bones hurt.


thx

I had a huge problem with ulcers - mine didn't let go all at once though, and the amount of visible was negligible. This was happening when I was on remicade.
I am still on remicade, although I am on imuran at the same time now.

What I think made a difference - at the time I had the bleeding (it lasted over a 3 year period), I was fairly deprived of sleep. It corresponded to the time from about two months before my daughter was born to when she finally started sleeping solidly through the night. That was the biggest difference. I made a slight change in my daily fluid intake from juice to lemonade. Maybe the change in acidity made a difference.

Long and short of it, I really don't know what was responsible for the change. It didn't tie into any of my meds. If you have sufficient insurance, try to make sure you are having your blood work regularly monitored. Otherwise, you need to look for signs of blood loss. Overt signs are blood in stools - you know that one well apparently. Also, the fatigue can be a strong clue. I also ended up with restless or jumpy legs, change in appetite, irritability, shortness of breath. If those all crop up at once, please get checked out.

Hope yours disappears as mine did, but just a whole lot faster!