Anyone had treatment for proctocolitis? Did it help?

It is possible to have IBS along with inflammatory bowel conditions.  I was diagnosed with IBS in May and was also tested for Crohns and Colitis which came back negative.  However, I don't know enough about proctocolitis so it is best to wait for the results of your bowel procedure.  It does seem positive though that diet changes and medication have helped your symptoms.

Hi Hazel. I have colitis, ibs-d, fructose & bile acid malabsorption(bam) all largely controlled now by meds & diet. I used to have your symptoms + rectal bleeding & rectal tears (fissures) due to urgency of diarrea & spasming of the anal/rectal muscles in addition. Once my colitis was clinically controlled (confirmed by colonoscopy) i was still getting the same symptoms as you minus the bleeding. my gastro consultant suspected bile acid malabsorption which is often overlooked in people with other bowel disorders like ibs & colitis. I was sent for a sehcat scan which was positive & put on meds which dramatically improved my symptoms of urgent diarrea, constantly sore rectum/anus, & stomach churning/pain within weeks. I think you should ask for this simple test if not for elimination purposes. Also i have to stay away from most fruit/veg & fibre as bizarrely fibre makes my diarrea worse as my dietician says people with bowel disorders often have problems breaking down fibre properly. switching to white bread, limiting myself to 2cups of coffee a day, switching to decaf tetley teabags helped. i am also on a liquid probiotic (clinically proven by kings college hosp to help people with bowel disorder like ibs & colitis) this has also helped make daily tummy activities a bit more stable & less discomfort & bloating after 2.5mths being on it. veg i was advised to try was root veg family like carrots, parsnip, turnip, swede in handful amounts which i am ok with, but i cant tolerate fruit really due to the fructose problem as well! so i take vitamins. regarding steroids, i did use liquid & foam enemas & suppositories as well as oral steroids at times. probably the easiest if you are sore is the foam enema, but the liquid ones go further round your bowel, but the liquid ones harder to administer if you are sore. in conjuction with oral steroid prednisolone ( i was upto a max of 35mg) they did used to calm my flares down within a few weeks & then gradually reduce dose of oral steroids. so to summarise, if you are sore with the proctitis which i expect you are, the foam enema in conjuction with oral prednisolone was best combo for me . talk to your specialist. hope you get your sigmoidoscopy soon as that will confirm things. hope this helps x

Me too -I could eat anything i wanted, i cant even it salad leafs now as they wont digest & give me diarrea! its amazing what you miss when you cant eat it anymore. my trouble started about 4yrs ago, cannot link it to anything in particular. i too get worse when under extra stress. try not to worry about the sigmoidoscopy. i've had several & colonoscopies. ask for sedation if you can it makes it more bearable you are still awake, but sedation blurs the discomfort. if you have sedation you'll have to have someone pick you up & take you home though. it isn't too bad, most uncomfortable bit is after when you have some air trapped inside you-just go to the ward toilet & yes- let it out! you will feel ok after that - the nurses are used to it! take care x

They are used to it & make you feel at ease, but i know what you mean, dignity & so on. i think it was something like medazaline (not sure of spelling) they gave me-it just makes you sleepy for about an hour & dulls the discomfort. you may feel a bit tired for a few hours after it wears off x

thats the name of it hazel, i knew i was something like that! x