The main symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis are -

• Very Frequent Loose Bowel Movements – can be over 30 a day
• Possible blood in stool – can be lots
• Abdominal Pain and cramps which really hurt
• High urgency to have a bowel movement – you may not be able to get to a toilet in time
• Weight Loss – you can loose a lot of weight very fast
• Fever, Tiredness, feeling wiped out

Secondary Symptoms

• Lethargy and feeling achy
• Joint Pains
• Back Pain
• Liver & Kidney problems – can also be caused by medication side effects

How can you tell if you might have Ulcerative Colitis Symptoms ?

• Diarrhea that has gone on for more than a week
• Abdominal Pain
• An urgent need to do a poo
• Blood in your poo
• Mucus in you stool
• Unusual Weight Loss

If you think you might have Ulcerative Colitis you need to be properly diagnosed by a medical Doctor. They will normally do this by either a sigmodoscopy or colonoscopy, which don’t worry isn’t nearly as bad or painful as it may sound.

I was seen within a few days by a Gastroenterologist, in a hospital clinic, and after a brief chat he initially performed a sigmoidoscopy – where they have a look up your bum at the last bit of you colon – Surprisingly it’s not as painful as you would think, and was over very quickly, although it was a somewhat awkward experience.  Then I was sent for an abdominal X-Ray.

Anyway with all that out of the way he confirmed the diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis, and I said – Well what on earths that?! He explained that my colon was partly inflamed and ulcerated, the ulceration was causing the blood loss and he showed me the X-ray which showed my colon to be half empty, the explanation being that the inflammation was causing my body to hold my poo back from part of my colon, and then when it had to expel it, things were being pushed through a high velocity, and there was no chance for a stool to be formed – hence the diarrhea and pain.

So my next question was obviously – What has caused it ?, and that answer was – err, well were not really sure, it could be genetic, and  its thought to be an autoimmune disease, but no one really knows for sure ! But it’s not life threateninng except in extreme cases and we have a treatment plan that should get it under control. Oh and they wanted me to go back for a full colonoscopy as well.

I mentioned that I had some food intolerances, which had been previously identified by an igg antibody test, and that I wondered If diet may have an effect on the condition. The doctor advised that food wasn’t though to have an effect on colitis, but that dairy products could sometimes aggravate things in some people, so to avoid milk.

The doctor then prescribed steroids (prednisolone) and pentasa, he said I should be feeling better in about a week, which was to be honest a great relief to hear, although I was rather shocked when I asked how long I had to take the drugs –steroids for 9 weeks- that’s not too bad- but Pentasa for LIFE !

I was shocked, I’d always been a healthy person, the thought of being on medication for life was almost inconceivable to me, and quite undesirable. But at the time I didn’t have any other options, so I went Home hopeful of a speedy recovery.

To begin with I thought I had a tummy bug, it was a bad one with awful diarrhea and stomach cramps, but I assumed it would pass. Only it didn’t…. and I was bleeding when I had what I would loosely describe as a poo.

Now I’d had piles for a few years and they bled occasionally so I wasn’t unduly worried.  But I thought it best to go to the Doctor after a couple of weeks. In fact I was in such a state when I did finally get around to calling the doctor that initially he asked me to just provide a stool sample and that he would see what the results were first.

The stool sample took over a week to arrive and in the meantime the Doctor prescribed some anti biotics, which was probably a mistake with hindsight but at the time I was desperate for anything that might help. By now I was up to about 15-20 poo’s a day (night time as well) and in agony for a large part of the day, literally doubled over in pain. I was also losing weight fast. The only thing that gave any relief was not eating, which isn’t a great long term plan!

When I finally went to see the doctor in person he said he suspected colitis and duly referred me to a Gastroenterologist urgently. Relived to know what was wrong with me and hopeful of a speedy recovery from whatever colitis was I waited to see the next doctor.