My daughter was diagnosed with UC at age 4. Takes Lialda and Imuran, which kept her in remission. She is a teenager now and had her appendix out about 4 yrs ago. She was given a round of Cipro and Flagyl right after because she had a very high fever before removal. She recently had a colonoscopy (10 yrs after diagnosis) as a standard cancer screening. We were told it "looked good" and the biopsy results were also "good". So what does this mean for us now? She had occasional flares before the appendectomy, but not afterwards. I know that appendectomy is often found to improve UC symptoms, if not eliminate them, in some cases. Maybe colon ulceration in UC is similar to stomach ulceration in that it is caused by an infectious agent, which might be able to evade antibiotics in the appendix. The inflammation does start down by the appendix and works it way up, in the case of UC. With stomach ulceration, it is known to be caused by H. pylori. (And the medical community gave the researcher who promoted that idea a really hard time...) Anyway, has anyone with UC tried to go off their medication for a trial period after appendectomy? I'd like to ask her GI doctor if we can do this to see what happens, but I'm not sure if he'd approve. Any thoughts?
Wow thats really good news and quiet intresting, sorry i cant be of any help i have uc and just read ur post and find it intresting, i suffer alot of pain sometimes on my right side aswell, good luck to u both take care
That's exciting to hear, Marie! Not sure if the appendectomy is related but the timing certainly sounds right. I think in UC the inflammation starts at the anus, works it way anti-clockwise up the descending colon on the left side, then to the transverse colon and finally down the ascending colon on the right, where the appendix is.