Starting to Have a Flare Up of Ulcerative Colitis

Introduction:

I am a 63 year old female who has been living with UC for the past 29 years. I have 3 grown children and 2 grandchildren.

Some more about me:

I recently moved to Florida, after living in New York all my life. I am still adjusting to living here. I think maybe it was the stress of moving to another state, trying to get a job, and also an apartment, that brought on my flare up.

Symptoms:

I am currently having a flare up now. I have some blood in my stool.

Starting to Have a Flare up of Ulcerative Colitis

Hi Everyone..I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis 29 years ago, after the birth of my son. Through out the years, I have had flare ups and remissions. I have been on various medications, such as Asacol, Rowasa enemas, 6 MP, Predisone. My last flare up was in 2011 and I had been in remission since Nov 2011, but I am currently in a flare up as of April 3, 2013. The medication that I take now is Asacol 400mg..6 tablets a day. I also started taking VSL#3 when I had my flare up in Nov 2011. It is a very powerful probiotic for people with UC. This probiotic has helped me get back into remission. When I first had the flare up I took 6 to 8 capsules a day, then as I was going into remission I took 2 a day, then I was down to 1 a day. So, now I started taking 6 VSL#3 a day. I have been paying for this because my medical plan didn’t cover it. It cost 50 dollars for 60 capsules. But I was very happy to hear the other day that I got authorization from my insurance company that now I can get it with a prescription. But I need to call the drs office and ask for a prescription that says VSL 3# DS…the DS stands for double strength, then I would only need to take 1 capsule a day, because 1 capsule of the double strength contains 900 billion live bacteria, the ones I am taking now have 112 for 1 capsule, that is why I am taking 6 a day. But they seem to be the only thing that is helping me. I will just hope and pray that one day they find a cure for this disease.

Medications:

I take VSL#3 along with Asacol. VSL#3 is not a medication, it is a probiotic but it has helped me to get into remission.

written by Jo Ann

submitted in the colitis venting area