Going backwards

In the last week, things have gone bad again. Curiously, I've been feeling crap most of the days: it's kind of OKish in the morning but as the day goes along if feel progressively worse: really tired, headache, my glands feel somewhat uncomfortable and the blood and mucus in my stools are coming back. I even skipped the gym, which doesn't happen that often, as I just felt I wouldn't be able to do anything. Some days you feel worse than others though: some days you feel particularly ill, others a little better, but still bad. The mesalazine seemed to have been doing OK for gastrointestinal symptoms but not much for the extra-intestinal ones, so much so that I have the feeling they're getting worse. It is kind of difficult to be able to discern between medication side effects and the symptoms of the illness sometimes as you don't know what is causing what: like, what is it that's making me feel ill? Is the colitis, or the mesalazine? No idea.

Anyway, this week I tried some greek yoghurt: apparently dairy products could be problematic for the colitis and on the top of that I have gastro oesophageal reflux and dairy products don't really help but still, I wanted to give it a go, as at the end of the day it's all trial and error. This yoghurt, Total has L. Bulgaricus, S. Thermophilus, L. Acidophilus, Bifidus, L. Casei and I read somewhere that probiotics seem to be doing something good to your guts if you have colitis. You could argue that the amount of bacteria contained in the yoghurt though, aren't enough, and who knows if they'll make it all the way to the intestine alive: I know, in fact I may need something a bit stronger than that: I noticed a few people talk about this probiotic called VSL#3, but it isn't quite clear whether it is available in the UK with or without prescription. Also, there are apparently some side effects to go with it too, because it allegedly has an awful lot of bacteria in it and not everybody can well tolerate that many bacteria. Ah, about the greek yoghurt, I ditched it after the first day. Not sure why, maybe I got scared as the mucus and blood appeared again in my stools: I don't think it's the yoghurt's fault though: I ate out a few days ago and the day after I notice a little mucus, so it may be that. Then a few days later I had salmon with potatoes and a lot of kale, and it looks like kale is something I shouldn't have anymore as the same evening I noticed quite a bit of mucus in my stools and unfortunately some blood.. quite a bit unfortunately. What I don't understand though, is the fact that I'm still on a 4g a day of mesalazine...so how's that possible that I get again mucus and blood?

In a bout two weeks I'm seeing my GP, so I'll mention it to him, and I'll ask him if it is a good idea to take probiotics too. Also, last time I saw my consultant, a few weeks ago, he had suggested that, if the slow release sachet of mesalazine I'm taking now don't do much, I should swap to enemas. And, needless to say, I'm not looking forward to that, but I'll ask my GP that too, and see what he recommends. Can't remember if I mentioned or not, but I will be seeing my consultant again in a bout 2 months.

Finally, I started again with the fish oil, high strength, 1000mg a day, 270mg EPA, 180mg DHA: why, some of you might ask? Well, again, I read somewhere that fish oil might help with controlling the inflammation a little, very little in fact you can read a bit about it here. I've been pretty bad with referencing any claim, I know, I promise from now on I will try to make a note of the things I read and reference them accordingly.

The fight goes on

As the days pass by and the box of pentasa slowly gets empty, I have the feeling that whatever I do to get better doesn't work as well as I'd like it to. The consultant suggested that if the mesalazine doesn't work as well as we hope, it will change my medication, but it looks like I have to be patient for a little longer. I booked an appointment for mid July with him, and till then it's still a lot of mesalazine.

My recovery is full of setbacks. In the last few days I've been feeling slightly better, or so I thought at least. I've seen less mucus and no blood in my stool, which is great of course but that feeling of malaise keeps coming back: my legs, my arms often feel weak, tired almost as if I was just about to get the flu. My joints feel funny sometimes too, but it is difficult to describe: they're warmer than usual, almost tingling. And the darn itchiness comes and goes too. I really don't know if it is directly related to the mesalazine, but I can say that - perhaps I'm talking rubbish - it almost feels like the medication is making me more susceptible to food intolerance, if there is such a thing, I don't know. I still see no rushes, which I guess it's a good thing. The gland is still swollen by the way.

Going back to my guts, I noticed also that I don't go to the loo that often, again, I don't know if it's the medication or the fact that I'm eating less fruit and fibres in general. I suppose that if I don't go to the loo that often it's better for my colon, in the sense that it won't work too hard...am I wrong to say that?

Anyways, let's see how it goes and if there is any news I'll post back.

Moving on

I woke up feeling really tired, with headache and my legs feeling tired and heavy. These are the same symptoms I had before starting the treatment with mesalazine, and unfortunately they've never really disappeared completely, they come and go, for no apparent reasons and I haven't been able to link them to any specific food, despite trying to keep track of what I eat.

A few more things to notice. As I entered my 4th week of mesalazine (pentasa) I noticed that I have what looks like a swollen gland, just on the jaw line on the right side of my face: it’s the size of a pea and I seem to be getting more spots here and there, especially on my face. Also, I began to feel itchy a bit everywhere, but I haven’t noticed any rash anywhere. I have no idea if this is related to the medication or not. A quick search on the internet seems to include those among the side effects of mesalazine. I will continue to take it anyway and see how it goes. Today I've seen again a little bit of mucus in my stools after a few days with no mucus at all

It's a long way out

The first consultant I saw, referred me to the gastroenterologist whom I saw today.

He looked at the test results and confirmed the diagnosis, Ulcerative Colitis.

I asked him whether it was worth following any kind of diet, but he said that it wasn't necessary and that I should eat everything. Still, it feels odd to be able to eat everything, there's gotta be something that could make things worse. I'm taking it easy, and avoiding the food that could cause irritation, like coffee, fatty food, chocolate etc. And then he gave me an extra two months on mesalazine, 4g per day, because apparently it takes some time on this drug before you can see any results. In fairness, I've been taking mesalazine for exactly 3 weeks today, and I have to say, things are a lot better.