My journey began back in early July of 2016. I did not have a “typical” build up of symptoms that is associated with UC. And to complicate matters I was in the middle of trying one of those green cleanse drinks that was popular that summer. You remember the ones that you bought from your friends who were selling the stuff all over Facebook? I knew several people personally who were using the stuff and raving about it, and wanting to shed a couple of pounds I too jumped on the bandwagon. It was an almost perfect storm of coincidences that would prolong, confuse, and make me question everything I thought was going on.
The first week was about what I expected. The mix was suppose to clean you out, so trips to the bathroom were up but it wasn’t anything too terrible. The next week though I started to notice that I was going to the bathroom at least 5 times a day. I was slightly concerned as none of my friends were going that much, but I shrugged it off to the fact that I just had a lot more that needed to be cleaned out. But the first time I noticed blood in my stool, I freaked and immediately Googled it. AHA hemorrhoids! It made sense in my head. I had been using the bathroom way more often in the last two weeks, and my body was pissed off at me. So I stopped drinking the cleanse figuring in a couple days, maybe a week I would be back to my normal self.
Instead the bathroom trips got more frequent. I found myself in the bathroom upwards of 8-15 times a day. A new symptom popped up as well, a sudden and urgent need to go. I was running to the bathroom all day and night. I was lucky if I was sleeping more than 2 hours at a time. I had all but stopped eating because the less I ate the less there was that needed to come back out. Yet I still wouldn’t go to the doctor, I was too embarrassed. I had convinced myself that I had done this to my body and eventually it would all go back to normal.
By the end of August I was reaching my breaking point. I had lost about 20 pounds and had no appetite. I was barely sleeping, maybe averaging 3-4 hours a night. And my energy levels were none existent. I would go to work and make it through the day on pure grit and determination. However the second I got home I would lie down and not be able to move. I wasn’t living at the point, just surviving. It still took me not being able to make it the 30 feet to the bathroom one August morning to finally admit that I had a serious problem. That is the most humiliating feeling in the world. You feel like your body is giving up on you, everything is giving up on you. In tears I finally called my doctors office.
Luckily they had an opening, and while it was with a Doctor I had never met (My primary Doctor had no openings that day) I was relieved when the nurse told me that he had quite a bit of experience in dealing with diarrhea and gut problems. Dr. S was a nice man, who at the time reminded me a bit of what Santa Claus should look like. A big smile and lots of bright white hair and beard. He patiently listened to me as I told him story, and showed him the product I was convinced was somehow responsible for all my pain and suffering.
“You never had any symptoms before this?” He asked me and at my blank look of confusion he continued, “Never a couple days of diarrhea and blood in your stool in the last few months or the last year?” I assured him that aside for the occasional bout of diarrhea here or there in my 29 years I had never had blood in my stool before. Or the complete loss of control of my bowels. He pretty quickly dismissed the cleanse after reading the ingredients. I was in complete shock. I was so sure that something in there had started all this, and there he was telling me that it was all some sort of sick coincidence? That was the only thing in my life that had changed, and everything had gone wrong after I had started that cleanse.
Dr. S could tell that I didn’t believe him, and to his credit he was extremely patient with me. He didn’t tell me I was wrong, but gently told me again that as far as he was concerned what I was describing was more serious than what that cleanse could cause. Add in the fact that I had stopped the cleanse weeks before and the symptoms had gotten worse not better. That night I had blood work done, a kit to take a sample of my stool, and a prescription for prednisone. I was still skeptical, but at least I felt like I was on the path to getting some answers.
Two days later I was back sitting with Dr. S. I’ll be honest I don’t remember exactly what he said when it came to what the tests meant. Certain things were high, my body was fighting some major inflammation, and what it all came down to was that I needed a colonoscopy. Not what I expected to hear, but I did want answers and if that was how I needed to get them then I was sticking a camera up my bum. We went ahead and scheduled the colonoscopy for the following week at my local hospital. I’ll do a more detailed post about colonoscopies at some point in the future. For now just know that they really aren’t that bad. The doctor who did my colonoscopy came in after the procedure and told me flat out that my colon was so inflamed that he only went about a third of the way before stopping because every time he touched my colon it would start to bleed. “You need to see a specialist, but I am almost positive that you are suffering from Ulcerative Colitis.”
I wondered how I had never heard of this, and why I hadn’t come across it before. Looking back it’s because I hadn’t looked hard enough. I had been so certain that the cleanse was the culprit. Reading what I could online I was torn. Yes my symptoms fit, but at the same time every account I read talked about how there had been a slow build up of symptoms over months or even years. Still a bit lost all I could do was wait until my appointment with the specialist in September.
Meeting with my new Gastroenterological Doctor was basically a repeat of my first doctor appointment. Doctor B. listened as I explained my timeline of symptoms, agreed with Dr. S that the cleanse had nothing to do with what was going on (I was still skeptical even at this point), and told me flat out that while she wanted me to do another colonoscopy. Since my colon was so inflamed however, we were going to wait a few months with the hope the medications would do what they were suppose to and lessen the inflammation. However looking at the pictures of my colon she was comfortable in telling me that I did have an Irritable Bowel Disease. Whether it was Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s was the next hurdle. An MRI a few weeks later showed that it was just my colon that was being affected so that ruled out Crohn’s, which affects the whole digestive tract. By the end of September 2016 I finally had my official diagnosis: Ulcerative Colitis.
While I had an official diagnosis that was just the beginning of what has become a roller coaster of a ride. Until I could have a full colonoscopy we didn’t know how much of my colon was being affected or how severe it really was. My symptoms were actually considered mild so there was hope that we could get it into remission pretty quickly. The prednisone seemed to be helping, but being a steroid it’s not something you want to stay on forever. She prescribed Sulfasalazine, which she stated wasn’t her ideal first choice as it can be a bit harsh on some people. However it was the first medication that is usually prescribed, and the one that my insurance would cover. I still was a bit confused and overwhelmed, but I had a diagnosis and a plan.
To this day I’m still not 100% sure if that cleanse had anything to do with jumpstarting my UC. Every doctor I have talked to since agrees that while it was strange timing, nothing in it has been linked to UC. I don’t think it caused my UC. I’m fairly certain it’s been lurking behind the scenes for a long time, but part of me still wonders if it didn’t speed things up drastically. In the long run I would have still ended up here, as someone who has a chronic illness.
This post ended up being longer than I intended (Sorry!), but looking back I went through a lot to get to this point. Next time I will try and bring you all up to where I sit currently, and then after that start tackling some other things that I’ve had floating around in my head.
Until next time
XOXO Becky
PS: If you have any question, comments, or topics you’d like me to discuss please leave me a comment.
