Hoping someone has some experience of or can help explain this? I had a sigmoid flexiscope last October whilst very I'll in hospital they took biopsies that confirmed ulcerative colitis. In February my gi requested a full colonoscopy to see how far the inflamation went , on this colonoscopy no inflamation was seen and biopsies did not show anything. Since I have had no treatment but continue with symptoms, I am currently on holiday in turkey and had to see a gi here urgently as so ill who has started me on mesalamine based on my history. Does it sound like I do or do not have UC ? and if so how is it possible for the first biopsies to confirm UC but the follow up be clear? Any thoughts/ explanations much appreciated.
Ulcerative colitis is a type of inflammatory bowel disease. One fo the characteristics of the disease is a pattern of dormency (ie normal life) and flares (ie all hell breaking loose down there). If the flexible sigmoidoscopy occured during a period of flare it would confirm UC on biopsy. If the same test occured during a period of dormency then you may, or may not find a positive result on biopsy.
If a biopsy said you have UC, there's a 99% chance you have UC, it is a common condition with very tell tale biopsy features.
Some GI people like to confirm the disease has lowlevel activity even in quiet times before treating as for some lucky people it is just a one off. But now that you've potentially had a secund bout they'll likely re-investigate you when you get back to the UK.
Good luck Seb, I hope you get some enjoyment from the rest of your holiday.
Thank you so much for your response Hurricane, it's reassuring to know that the biopsies that confirmed UC to begin with should be fairly accurate as I was worrying about taking the mesalamine the Turkish GI prescribed in case it isn't really UC! Do you know how long it would take for the tablets to kick in as I still feel really rough?
You're welcome Seb, the good news is that mesalamine has a high affinity to your the walls of your colon so it targets the ideal site well, it also has realtively few system side effects so you wouldn't put yourself at risk taking them. the family of drugs which mesalamine is from are commonly used to treat flares in the UK, though they are not 100% effective and the time frame to reduce the flare is hard to predict, from a f ew days to maybe even a couple of weeks in tough cases, but they are often used first as they have far fewer potential side effects than the other available flare treatments. You're going to feel rough mate, but stay hydrated, keep ontop of your medication and you'll pull though just fine!
Best to avoid the anti-diarrhoeals though if I'm honest. Met one person who couldn't go to the loo for a week and got rushed into hospital after trying to use them to control their UC!