Treatment of my Ulcerative Colitis

The Treatment

A period of a month passed whilst I continued to live normally just waiting to see if my Colitis returned.

I was away with work overseas when my Colitis made a return or flared up again. I had a number of beers on a night out and started to suffer afterwards, so back to the consultant again to see what was next.

I was put a course of steroids which fortunately had an immediate affect and calmed down my flare up. The consultant was pretty adamant that the alcohol wasn't the reason for the flare up but I'm not so sure.  I completed the course of steroids then went back to the consultant for the next stage of the treatment.

I was then put on Mazavant 2 tablets once per day and to see how it goes.

I have cut out caffeine pretty much completely, fizzy drinks, and alcohol.  I will have the occasional bit of each but generally avoid them as I can and to suffer for 2 weeks after a drink really doesn't make it worth it.  A hangover may last 24 hours but then it's gone, when you stand a fair chance of 2 weeks of misery then it really isn't worth it.

It's amazing how many people expect you to drink, it has become so woven into our lives, but it really isn't necessary.  It does take a while to get used to, but you get there in the end, and stop craving it.  I've done my fair share of drinking earlier in my life anyway.

So time will tell if all stays calm, the symptoms have generally gone away.  The thing that is worst for me is the periods of exhaustion that I get from time to time. It would suddenly hit me mid afternoon when I struggled to think straight.  I just sure I respond to what my body is telling me and go and rest.  I'm trying to take up running as exercise is supposed to help a lot with that.  

Diagnosis of my Colitis

Diagnosis of my Colitis

My first visit to the GP resulted in blood and stool tests for various things which took a while to be done.

The stool test showed no infections which did not surprise me as it didn't feel like food poisoning to me. I hadn't had any sickness at all.

The blood test however showed a result for inflammation so the doctor referred me to a specialist consultant with other symptoms that I had reported.  The GP didn't like it when I said I'd read around a bit and that I though Colitis was a possibility.

The consultant discussed my symptoms then booked me in for a colonoscopy. The colonoscopy was relatively painless but after the pain I had suffered in what I now know as a flare up, it was definitely worth it.  The colonoscopy also allowed a sample to be taken from the colon for testing.

The sample results showed that I had indeed got Ulcerative Colitis which did not surprise me.  

The next steps... Go off and see if you get another flare up, and it is apparently possible not to ever have another one.

Before I was diagnosed

My Colitis Story

It is time to share my story with Colitis so far in case it provides comfort to others or earlier diagnosis.

I was 44 at the time, and am a generally fit individual, although I do not exercise very much.

My first symptoms, although I wasn't aware it was Colitis at the time appeared around 18 months before diagnosis.

• Terribly smelly wind, and I mean really bad
• Suddenly feeling like I had flu later in afternoons and evening
• Variation in stool consistency

As a man I ignored these things but did think and consider going to the doctor, but as the symptoms came and went I never got around to it.

The flu like symptoms would hit me like train in the evening, so that all I could do was go to bed and sweat like mad, or feel freezing cold shivering as well as having no energy. The next day I'd wake up fine though which was really strange to me. 

This went on for about 18 months when while I was on holiday I became really quite ill with severe diarrhoea and a huge amount of wind. I suffered on day by day, still going out with the family but it was awful in the evenings as I also started getting severe cramp in my colon which was massively painful.  I kept thinking that a trip to A&E would be a good idea but never made the trip as we were staying in a remote place in the Yorkshire Moors.

Food was going through me in 2 hours or so and not being digested at all. I lost 7 lbs in a week which with my build I really can't afford to do.

It was then that I called a halt to the holiday and went home to the doctors.

Before this I spent 5 minutes on the internet wondering what was wrong with me... I cam across Ulcerative Colitis that I hadn't even heard of before and my symptoms appeared to match that amazingly well.