Intro:

Hello everyone, I am currently enlisted in the Air Force and had a flare start up about a month ago. so I contacted the military GI and he had me come in right away. once I got there he sat me down, asked about my symptoms and proceeded to change my medication, told me to give it a week. It has been almost a month, some days are better than most but today is terrible. I had to have my wife take our dog to the vet so I could stay home in case the mood strikes me to run to the toilet. I would hate to have to take the dog in with me or go outside and do my business in dog potty area, ha!

My story:

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis back in July of 2010 by an off base GI that I had to pay out of pocket because the military wouldn’t refer me. I started to have the symptoms, puss and blood back in March of 2010. I thought maybe food poisoning, hemorrhoids from weight training. I was too embarrassed to say anything to my wife, family, or co-workers. Then I had the sensation to use the bathroom multiple times a day, which poses a huge problem for me cause I train Airman on filed combat operations, so we are out in the field all day, lucky to find a nasty, dirty porta-potty some days. so I started to use pepto and Imodium just to get through work and trips like plane rides and car rides. so I finally broke down and saw my primary care manager because he has to give me a referral to see a GI on base. he suggested that all I had was hemorrhoids, I argued the fact so he sent me to get lab work done and gave me what looked like a paint can to poop in to determine if there was any blood. I told him it was ridiculous, there is definitely going to be blood! About two weeks after my visit I got a referral to a general surgery doctor, not a GI. I had to see this doctor before I could get a referral, I was a little upset but what the heck, I thought this would be a step in the right direction. The general surgery doctor decided to examine me for hemorrhoids, which he determined I might have a small one, I thought to myself it must be all the visits to the toilet! so I tried to explain my symptoms and tell him it was more, all he did was brief me on a high fiber diet, etc. I left and immediately called my primary doctor, pleading for an appointment to a GI, which he denied, telling me to give it more time. At that moment I knew i had to act on my own and find a civilian doctor. I found one near the house and after having a consultation he scheduled me for a colonoscopy. he diagnosed me with UC and put me on Lialda which helped immediately. I then took the results back to my on base doctor showing him my results, in turn he tried to scold me for going over his head, behind the military’s back by seeing another doctor. Finally with results in hand, he scheduled me an appointment with a GI. I saw the on base GI and he immediately initiated a medical board and took my off world wide and deployment status. he also took me off Lialda because the military pharmacy doesn’t carry it and switched me to Apriso which seemed to help until this last month. so now my flare is back and medication switched with no results. I figure I’ll probably go back this week but I know he’ll put me on steroids. I’m thinking about going back to the off base GI since he is the one that originally examined my colon, the on base GI has only made assumptions from their report. Luckily I am on my wife’s health insurance so the copay isn’t too expensive. Does anyone have any suggestions? good luck to everyone out there, take care!

Medications:

Asacol 400MG (12 pills daily)Canasa 1000MG (2 daily)

**the first story written by T-Bone34

T-Bone34′s story is now entered into the 2011 Ulcerative Colitis Writing Contest!!! you Can Join too, click here for details