Ulcerative Colitis...still bleeding

[Missy]

I’ve been doing the Intro Diet for 2 weeks and I am still having bleeding with bowel movements. Although, I do believe frequency and urgency of BMs have decreased. I’m wondereing if anyone else has had experience with this. So frustrated at this point....

[esther]

Are you on the introductory diet?

[Missy]

Yes I have still been following the Intro Diet.

[esther]

That is long enough for the intro diet. The intro diet should be done for 2-5 days (recommended 5 days maximum). You should start to slowly introduce some new SCD foods. The stages chart can help with the gradual addition of foods. see http://pecanbread.com/p/how/stages.html It is a good idea to try and track frequency and urgency of bm's and other symptoms. It can help you figure out which foods are good and help decrease symptoms and which foods you may need to wait a bit longer on before introducing.\n\nAlso, the schedule of when you eat may help decrease urgency and number of BM's. Try to eat more food earlier in the day. By this I mean of the food you generally eat in a day try to make your earlier meals (breakfast, snack and lunch heavier than supper) You may find eating smaller, more frequent mealsandsnacks (5-6) better than eating 2 or 3 large meals. Eating infrequent, large meals can put more work on a compromised GI system. As you heal you may be able to return to a more normalized meal size. With regard to timing if there is a lot of urgency and number of bm's, completely stopping eating (including broths) after supper can often help reduce the number of late night, during the night and early morning bowel movements. Digestion (and enzyme production) is at its peak early in the day and decreases as the day goes, so that food eaten in the evening isn't digested as well as food from the morning. Normally this isn't a big issue but when someone is in a flare eating after supper can aggravate or prolong the flare-up of symptoms. \n\nWith respect to bleeding, bleeding is often the last symptom to recede. Once the frequency and urgency decreases, it can allow the intestines to heal and stop bleeding. \n\nI hope this is helpful,\n\nPlease let me know if you have any questions or need clarification,

[Missy]

Thank you for responding. I suppose I need to be more patient but the bleeding is so worrisome. I appreciate the support!

[Yum]

I too was very discouraged when after being on the diet for a month, I saw absolutely no improvement in terms of diarrhea or bleeding, both of which were at the worst I had ever experienced when I started the diet, I am glad I stuck with it because 6 weeks later, improvements began to appear and two weeks after that there was no bleeding at all, and it was such a relief, because the bleeding is so frightening. Take heart, you will be back to normal soon.

[SFCL]

You didn't get sick over night and it takes time to heal. I know it's hard to be patient when you want to feel better NOW! Be kind to yourself. Keep at it.

[chronicmomlife]

It took me about 5 months of scd for the bleeding to stop. It’s definitely disturbing, I hear you!