The nitty gritty... In 2000 I was taken to the ER by a friend of mine after I had spent the better part of a month on the toilet pushing bloody D. That put me into a weak state and finally they forced me to go. I am not one to go see a doctor no matter what the condition...as you will see..lol. They did tests including HIV and all came back negative. No one said a thing about any IBD. I had insurance at the time so I made an appt with my primary and he told me to see a GI. I did so and that was my first colonoscopy. The results...wow...I had "hundreds of grape like pylops all throughout my colon." the GI said. This caused me some concern but what can you do? They tested me for a condition called FAP or (Familial adenomatous polyposis: is an inherited disorder characterized by cancer of the large intestine (colon) and rectum). The result was negative. This was a genetic test and took 4 weeks to complete. Diagnosis...unknown.watch for any new symptoms...eat lots of fiber...yeah.
SO i did...was eating truckloads of fiber and for the first couple of years everything seemed to be ok. No new symptoms presented accept those that I was already accustomed to and really didn't bother me that much...uncomfortable feelings after eating, slightly bloated feeling, and of course fatigue.
2006. In the spring of 2006 I had another spell of D that started ok...I thought that it would go away on its own kind of the way the episode in 2000 resolved itself. Well, 4 months later and progressively deteriorating health i was dog/house sitting (four months of bloody watery D.) for a relative and it was the weekend. Saturday I started vomiting and by Sunday I was vomiting probably every other hour as anything that built up in my stomach could not wait to get out. It was, to say the least, a very horrifying ordeal. By 3 am I had had enough. I drove myself to the ER. Explained my situation to the admitting nurse who interviewed me and took basic vitals. She called me stoic and said I was a typical man. Well, ok. I didn't care. I just wanted it to stop.
They wheeled me into the triage area and took an xray of my gut and shot me up with dilaudid 3mg ....wow..first the nausia then the ahhhhh then pass out completely. GREAT. RELIEF!
I underwent my second colonoscopy at the hospital the following tuesday. I remember very little of my stay as I was sedated with dilaudid the majority of the time 3mg through an IV injection every 3 hours on the dot. When they did let me go I do recall the diagnosis was Ulcerative Colitis. I now had new meds...(i dont ((didn't)) take any pills prior to this...not even for pain or whatnot..it was rare that i took anything at all.) Asacol...12 pills a day...4 x 400mg X3. A little overwhelming for someone who doesnt even take aspirin.
Pretty much in complete denial about having something serious I took my medication for the next four years as I thought I needed it. This was only during a flare which I would get maybe twice a year usually in the winter and early spring. I became a student of UC trying to learn as much about it as I could...details...technical details...and yeah the disease Crohn's was mentioned quit a lot along side the UC...but I really didn't pay too much attention to that disease as I had Ulcerative Colitis...and THERE IS A CURE! Granted that involves removing your entire colon...which on many occasion I thought ..why the hell not? Get rid of the damn thing and be done with it! And not to mention that is a very very complicated operation and a major major change in the digestive behavior of the body...but hey there was A CURE! I hung onto that...somewhere down the road if need be there was a cure...i could be over this and that would be that..yeah my life would be different but everybody goes through changes...afterall that IS life.
On a side note I found out that i am allergic to wheat. LOL WEEEE! That is a whole other story and wow, yeah, life style changing event as well. gotta laugh!
I would ask my GI during a flare if he could just remove the colon. He would laugh in a sanguine manner that I think all doctors that are borne in India have and say...."No no Mr. Lynx, we can not do that right now. We shall see if the medications begin to work." Of course I would grumble.
"Your not the one who is _____________________ "(fill in the blank...anything you find repugnant about our affliction.) I would say. Of course this was under my breath as I know its all been said before.
2010. The course of the disease as far as I could tell was not getting any better but by no means was getting any worse until July. I started a flare. Unusual because it is the summer. I really didn't think twice about it and started taking my asacol again, ramping up to my maximum dose of 4 pills three times a day. It didn't help the situation though. By the end of August I was in severe pain and still having progressively worse bloody D. The nausea started in the beginning of September. The weakness sneaks up on me. That is something that I have noticed..it is not a gradual thing but almost an overnight deal. I wake up and I have no energy, couple that with a steady vomiting routine along with the bloody D and not being able to get any nutrition and you have the perfect storm.
SO i did...was eating truckloads of fiber and for the first couple of years everything seemed to be ok. No new symptoms presented accept those that I was already accustomed to and really didn't bother me that much...uncomfortable feelings after eating, slightly bloated feeling, and of course fatigue.
2006. In the spring of 2006 I had another spell of D that started ok...I thought that it would go away on its own kind of the way the episode in 2000 resolved itself. Well, 4 months later and progressively deteriorating health i was dog/house sitting (four months of bloody watery D.) for a relative and it was the weekend. Saturday I started vomiting and by Sunday I was vomiting probably every other hour as anything that built up in my stomach could not wait to get out. It was, to say the least, a very horrifying ordeal. By 3 am I had had enough. I drove myself to the ER. Explained my situation to the admitting nurse who interviewed me and took basic vitals. She called me stoic and said I was a typical man. Well, ok. I didn't care. I just wanted it to stop.
They wheeled me into the triage area and took an xray of my gut and shot me up with dilaudid 3mg ....wow..first the nausia then the ahhhhh then pass out completely. GREAT. RELIEF!
I underwent my second colonoscopy at the hospital the following tuesday. I remember very little of my stay as I was sedated with dilaudid the majority of the time 3mg through an IV injection every 3 hours on the dot. When they did let me go I do recall the diagnosis was Ulcerative Colitis. I now had new meds...(i dont ((didn't)) take any pills prior to this...not even for pain or whatnot..it was rare that i took anything at all.) Asacol...12 pills a day...4 x 400mg X3. A little overwhelming for someone who doesnt even take aspirin.
Pretty much in complete denial about having something serious I took my medication for the next four years as I thought I needed it. This was only during a flare which I would get maybe twice a year usually in the winter and early spring. I became a student of UC trying to learn as much about it as I could...details...technical details...and yeah the disease Crohn's was mentioned quit a lot along side the UC...but I really didn't pay too much attention to that disease as I had Ulcerative Colitis...and THERE IS A CURE! Granted that involves removing your entire colon...which on many occasion I thought ..why the hell not? Get rid of the damn thing and be done with it! And not to mention that is a very very complicated operation and a major major change in the digestive behavior of the body...but hey there was A CURE! I hung onto that...somewhere down the road if need be there was a cure...i could be over this and that would be that..yeah my life would be different but everybody goes through changes...afterall that IS life.
On a side note I found out that i am allergic to wheat. LOL WEEEE! That is a whole other story and wow, yeah, life style changing event as well. gotta laugh!
I would ask my GI during a flare if he could just remove the colon. He would laugh in a sanguine manner that I think all doctors that are borne in India have and say...."No no Mr. Lynx, we can not do that right now. We shall see if the medications begin to work." Of course I would grumble.
"Your not the one who is _____________________ "(fill in the blank...anything you find repugnant about our affliction.) I would say. Of course this was under my breath as I know its all been said before.
2010. The course of the disease as far as I could tell was not getting any better but by no means was getting any worse until July. I started a flare. Unusual because it is the summer. I really didn't think twice about it and started taking my asacol again, ramping up to my maximum dose of 4 pills three times a day. It didn't help the situation though. By the end of August I was in severe pain and still having progressively worse bloody D. The nausea started in the beginning of September. The weakness sneaks up on me. That is something that I have noticed..it is not a gradual thing but almost an overnight deal. I wake up and I have no energy, couple that with a steady vomiting routine along with the bloody D and not being able to get any nutrition and you have the perfect storm.
