Hello everyone. I’ve been on this group after a hospital trip to the ER back in July this year and informed me about a condition called colitis. They really didn’t explain much about it and only offered two IV bags since I came in extremely dehydrated. I didn’t know what was going on inside me. It all started after taking a family vacation to Laughlin NV that same month. I had a stomach ache that wouldn’t leave and the urge to use the restroom but was feeling completely constipated. I figured it was due to the food we ate at a restaurant called “Casa Serrano,” (worst Mexican food to this date). The second week after our trip I just couldn’t get out of bed. I called my manager and explained how I was feeling, it was a bit embarrassing to say the least but the pain was getting worse and worse. Soon after that I took my first hospital trip in which the CT Scan was performed. I got released same day and symptoms progressed worse overnight that I ended up going to another hospital in hopes to find some solution. All they offered were Tylenol pills and requested I leave a stool sample. Nothing else was done. By this time the diarrhea was now getting out of control. My mom offered to take me to a clinic and they game me pills to decrease the diarrhea and stop the pain. It helped out tremendously but by this time I was already three weeks out of work. I started feeling hopeless and just wanted to get right back into work since I hate being home.

After about a month of rest, I went back to work and went a month a half without feeling any symptoms. I was able to move freely, no urges to use the restroom, ate what I pleased. It was around the month of October that I started to feel symptoms come back in much harder than before. At that point I just couldn’t handle it anymore that I left my job. I tried searching for a gastroenterologist but their earliest appointment given to me was for January 2023. I was furious. Luckily my folks found a specialist in TJ, Mexico that was able to tend to me the day after they made the call. When she looked at me she was furious herself that no one in the states was able to see me any time soon.

After two months of driving back and forth from CA to TJ Mexico, I had my first colonoscopy done there and confirmed my condition for ulcerative colitis. My doctor tried out a few meds to counter my symptoms I was having before even having a colonoscopy done. Yes, they helped but it wasn’t putting my inflammation to rest. On Dec 3rd, that’s where things took a turn for me. My body was shutting down, my skin looked pale after all the blood I lost. Once we reached my doctors office she immediately urged us that I needed to be hospitalized and supervised due to my condition. I was hospitalized in Mexico for 11 days. I even had a blood transfusion done since my blood count was extremely low. They pumped me with vitamins, electrolytes, painkillers, and meds to reduce the inflammation in my large intestine. In the end, everything they pumped into me was given to me in pills in high dosage to keep the inflammation down and control the bleeding. A strict Fodmap was given to me to follow a diet for the time being after a future colonoscopy is set to be done to see how the ulcers in my large intestine have healed up.

As of today, I’m still unemployed, living with my folks cause the rent in Cali is just ludicrous, and going day by day taking my pills as instructed while following a diet. My medical was just approved and hope to get seen by primary doctor in order to refer me to a gastroenterologist ASAP now that I have my diagnosis. Do apologize for long this is, but I really wanted to share my story after encountering this horrible desease. Hope all of you have an amazing day.