anybody else with these symptoms?

[mary455]

I have had severe abdominal pain that can last from 2 to 9 hours, relieved with bowel movements that end up bloody and mucousy, with heartburn and vomiting along with this.  I have had many tests and colonoscopies, only once showing ischemic colitis, and the next time I had one it was gone.  This has been happening for about 15 years, but seems to be more frequent.  If I go 3 months without an attack I feel lucky.  The gastro guys can never put a real name on it, and have tried everything, different medications, blood work, tests, etc.... but I still feel like I am the only one with this type of THING!   I swear it is as painful as having a baby, as I have had two!  Sometimes I think it is ruining my life, I miss many days of work due to this.  HELP!!

[CalGal]

Ischemic colitis is a condition that can 'come and go.' But it means that you have an area in the vasculature of your bowel that is being affected. If you have a 'sudden' shutdown of blood to that are, it will trigger an 'attack.' It can happen if you have a sudden drop in blood pressure, or if you get dehydrated. It can also occur depending on the meds you take, if any. If you have ischemic colitis, the diagnosis is ischemic colitis. Because when the blood stops flowing to the area of bowel, that portion of the bowel starts to lack oxygen and nutrients, and it 'screams' in pain.

If that's what's going on, then the vasculature of your bowel needs to be examined and the doc needs to determine whether or not they can fix the blood vessels, or if they have to do a resection of the bowel. They would take out the area affected so that lack of flow would no longer cause the problems.