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I've been diagnosed with UC in march 2018.  Active UC in rectum and inflammation in sigmoid colon.  I take 4 Lialda per day, 1 canasa suppository during the day, a 4 gram mesalamine enema at night, a probiotic, 300mg of ranitidine for gerd and 20 ml carafate oral suspension.  I only ever saw blood once but mucus was a major problem at the beginning.  I had previously been diagnosed with IBS after an initial colonoscopy that showed no inflammation in 2012 but prior to march 2018, my bowel movemets were completely normal - possibly bordering constipation. Everything seems to have subsided except when I have a bowel movement its way too soft and messy.  I go maybe 2 to 5 times a day.  I let my job go when I first got diagnosed and the idea of having to deal with this at work stresses me out.  Does anyone have any suggestions for having a more "regular" movement?

Reply posted for charbs.

I can assure you 2 to 5 times per day for me is not normal and if you saw the state of it, you'd agree.  Most of my BMs happen within 2 or 3 hours of waking up. it is also accompanied now with lower intestinal discomfort and gas.  It  is very unpredictable so it makes it difficult to do things when you're going to have the runs hit you out of no-where 5 times during the first few hours of the day.  Thanks for your super helpful response though i rate it a 10/10.

Reply posted for dogmomto2.

dogmom - i'm happy for you!  i have an appt next week with my GI, i'm putting mesalamine into my body constantly with not much results so i may air this with the dr and see what they say.  Maybe its the mesalamine thats giving me the runs fml.

Reply posted for KatsandGuts.

4-7 sounds like a lot to me.  at my worst i guess i was going maybe 10 times a day with diarrhea for maybe a month and a half straight.  shit was bad - no pun intended.  It kills me that before i got UC, i went once or twice perfectly per day. 

what did you do about work - were you able to work a full time job?

Reply posted for KatsandGuts.

Kats - thank you, i appreciate you for that!

Reply posted for owlburt.

Hi Owlburt, please keep me posted. I am curious about biologics but also afraid since I am in my lower 30s and don't want serious side effects or cancer.  I hope it does well for you and I look forward to hearing about your progress!

Reply posted for jlennox.

I have Crohn's with occasional UC, I feel your pain. Pooping is hard. I've taken Entocort, Azathioprine, and supposititories before and am still currently on Humira. I was in remission for most of last year, but even in remission my poops were not average. I had 4-7 a day, they were soft but I couldn't pass them. It is the most annoying and frustrating thing ever. Keep fighting the fight, and I'm sorry I don't have advice. Just know you're not the only one. :)

Reply posted for jlennox.

My IBD specialist took me off Lialda because it was causing me to have very, very loose stools.  I'm on a biologic now (Entyvio) and my stools have started to firm up.  It's totally unbelievable how happy that makes me!

Reply posted for jlennox.

Two to five times a day is pretty normal. Two to five times an hour isn’t.

Reply posted for owlburt.

I have the exact same syptoms.  Previously I had been taking azathioprine and asacol for less than a month and prednisol for a few months before that.  They had to many side effects so i had to quit them all a few months ago.  They all produced 4-5 semi soft bowl movements a day.   Soon I hope to start remicade.  I am hoping it will produce regular movements, i will let you know what happens.  It is my understanding that remicade is a biological drug that works at a molecular level instead of a physical level.   It should not have the physical side effects that the other drugs have,however, any side effects it does produce could be very serious considering its mode of operation. We shall see.