how much blood is too much?

hi folks! So here is where I am currently- 8-10 bm's a day, mostly all blood & mucous, very little actual stool. I am on 40 mgs/ pred, started at 60 & have been tapering 10mgs per week. The bleeding started in earnest at around 50mgs pred. I have a remicade infusion scheduled for Oct. 15, my 4th, & we are going to double the dose as it has stopped working. I have a surgery consult scheduled for next week(!!!), as that will be my next step if the remi doesn't start kicking butt again. My deal is this- I'm bleeding a lot, bright red blood just dripping into the toliet. I'm taking iron supplements to avoid anemia again. I think I can hold out 'til the 15th, 'til the infusion. For those of you who've been through similar situations, how long were you able to hold out while bleeding? The docs do not want me to go back up on the pred becasue I've already had a serious infection once which landed me in the hospital for a week, due to the immune suppressants. I figure that after I talk with the surgeon, it's 2 weeks 'til the remicade infusion. Then, you usually know if that's going to help pretty quickly. So I'm going to give it another 2 weeks or so post infusion, & if nothing changes I'll be heading to surgery sometime in November. I just don't know if the bleeding is anything to really worry about- I know it always looks like it's more than it is, so....

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diagnosed '02

meds-

Asacol- 8 tabs/day

Remicade infusions

Imuran- 100mgs/day

Prednisone- 60mgs/day

Any changes in bleeding or frequency, when reducing prednisone, should be communicated with your GI. I suggest you call him or her.

Sue

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dx proctitis in 1987

dx UC in 1991, was stable until 1998

1998 started prednisone, asacol, pentasa, nortriptylene, ativan, 6MP, rowasa enemas and suppositories, hydrocortisone enemas, tried the SCD diet, being a vegetarian, omega 3s, flax, pranic healing, yoga, acupuncture, probiotics

2000 lost all my B-12 stores and became anemic

2001 opted for j-pouch surgery- now living life med-free

I was doing that too, tons of bleeding, it got so bad i was throwing up it hurt so bad..ended up in the hospital a week very dehydrated. I was worried about the amount of blood loss but it never was an issue. I was sure i was going to bleed to death. Anyway after a week in the hospital being pumped full of steroids and fluids I was somewhat better. That was a month ago, i still have diareah but very minimul bleeding.

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Lori

37/F

UC diagnosed 1991

Asacal, zoloft,levoxyl, prednisone 60,50,40,30, 25,20,15,10