Am having a bad MC flare

[JoAnn]

Hi Andi, just answering your last questions. I am an elementary school teacher. I taught 6th grade for 15 years specializing in math, and then I decided to make my life easier and switched to 2nd grade while I put in my last few years before retiring. I wondered if I could really go to that younger grade and be OK. It turned out to be the best thing I could have done for myself. I didn't realize how burned out I was getting dealing with behavior and attitude issues. 2nd graders love to learn and they love their teacher. As far as coping with mc and teaching, it's been an experience. About 2 years ago, I began having what seemed like a multitude of health problems all at once and the dr I had at the time zeroed in on my thyroid. I didn't know I had mc at the time and so all my symptoms were attributed to my thyroid. Fortunately, I had a regular screening colonscopy due the following summer. When I went in (as I laid on the table) I mentioned to my gi that I was experiencing a lot of D and no one knew why. D can be a symptom of too much thyroid medication. He said he would take some biopsies and see if something else was going on. Bingo-he diagnosed the mc. However he treated me with Asacol which made me sicker and sicker. I was quickly spiraling downward with thyroid and mc problems and ended up taking medical leave to try to sort things out. I also found the pcp I have now. Before the leave, all I could do was survive with immodium. To make a long story short, I found this board while I was on leave and they are the ones who educated me about diet and the connection to mc. My gi had put me on the Pepto Bismol treatment when the asacol didn't work, but that didn't do anything for me either. He mentioned a drug called Entocort, but sounded like it was a last resort. I learned from this board that it really was the preferable treatment and eventually ended up on that. By the time I returned to school, I was managing things pretty well with diet and entocort. I'm fortunate though, that there is a bathroom right next to my classroom on those occasions when things go awry. When I look back I'm so glad that I mentioned the D to my gi because at the time we thought it was due to the wrong dosage of thyroid medicine. I'm so glad he did the biopsies or who knows where I'd be today. All my care now is handled by my pcp who is an amazing woman. Well, that's probably way more than you wanted to know. Hope things are going well for you. JoAnn