Hi all,
So here is my story: I'm 25 and in the best mental and physical health of my life (except for my guts...) I have a long history of anxiety/depression/autoimmune issues starting from childhood. I had an organic form of fibromyalga at 10 years old that went away on it's own (after a year of physical and talk therapy and seeing a billion doctors). I had severe acne in high school only solved by acutane...and I have always been extremely sensitive to stress. My cousin has severe UC (diagnosed when she was 2 years old). She has never had surgery, but has been hospitalized multiple times and is not very compliant with her 6mp. I have watched her suffer and when I was training for a half marathon this year and got sick after almost every run (basically vomiting out of my butt), and my beloved iced coffees were going right through me...I was very alarmed. And that was BEFORE I started seeing blood mixed in with my stool or sometimes just on the toilet paper...sometimes a drop and sometimes a significant amount. I went to my primary and she pretty much told me that I was fine, it was probably stress, the three UTIs I had had in a 6 month period (hello immune system crash!), hemorrhoids, etc. I just didn't feel convinced. Even after she did the "inflammation blood test" and it came up "negative" I still felt very skeptical. So I ended up seeing a GI and doing a colonoscopy and small bowel follow through. She found inflammation on the right side of my intestine and on my rectum. She prescribed canasa suppositories which seriously helped the inflammation/mucous and there was almost no blood. I felt much better. I also eliminated caffeine (back in July), alcohol (it's been about a month and a half), sugar, processed foods, meat (minus fish about once every week and a half), dairy (except the occasional dabbling-no more than once a weeK), white bread/potatoes/most gluten (again without being militant about it) and now drink green juice/smoothies and green leafy veggies are a HUGE part of my diet. In addition to a full time job I also teach yoga twice a week and practice 3-5 times a week. I have been feeling low energy so just recently started a regimen of probiotics, iron, and b12 supplements. After my upper GI series happened the bleeding came back a little-probably from the irritation of the barium (I'm talking extremely minimal...but still there...likely caused by inflammation at the end of the rectum), but stools have been solid since I cut out caffeine. They look really healthy except sometimes my first one is coated in mucous. I just started the asacol regimen this weekend 9 pills a day...feels extreme but I am hopeful.
So overall, I am very fortunate that I haven't experienced major pain/cramping...have never been hospitalized (I think the fact that I saw blood and got freaked out probably saved me from a hospital episode), and have a responsive doctor who is pretty confident that the asacol will do the trick. Being a young woman just figuring out how to cope with this has been challenging. I want to believe things will get better and I will experience full remission. I am extremely disciplined and willing to do everything necessary to get well. I believe a positive attitude and alkaline/clean diet are definitely a huge part of this process.
I guess that's it...just wanted to say hi.
So here is my story: I'm 25 and in the best mental and physical health of my life (except for my guts...) I have a long history of anxiety/depression/autoimmune issues starting from childhood. I had an organic form of fibromyalga at 10 years old that went away on it's own (after a year of physical and talk therapy and seeing a billion doctors). I had severe acne in high school only solved by acutane...and I have always been extremely sensitive to stress. My cousin has severe UC (diagnosed when she was 2 years old). She has never had surgery, but has been hospitalized multiple times and is not very compliant with her 6mp. I have watched her suffer and when I was training for a half marathon this year and got sick after almost every run (basically vomiting out of my butt), and my beloved iced coffees were going right through me...I was very alarmed. And that was BEFORE I started seeing blood mixed in with my stool or sometimes just on the toilet paper...sometimes a drop and sometimes a significant amount. I went to my primary and she pretty much told me that I was fine, it was probably stress, the three UTIs I had had in a 6 month period (hello immune system crash!), hemorrhoids, etc. I just didn't feel convinced. Even after she did the "inflammation blood test" and it came up "negative" I still felt very skeptical. So I ended up seeing a GI and doing a colonoscopy and small bowel follow through. She found inflammation on the right side of my intestine and on my rectum. She prescribed canasa suppositories which seriously helped the inflammation/mucous and there was almost no blood. I felt much better. I also eliminated caffeine (back in July), alcohol (it's been about a month and a half), sugar, processed foods, meat (minus fish about once every week and a half), dairy (except the occasional dabbling-no more than once a weeK), white bread/potatoes/most gluten (again without being militant about it) and now drink green juice/smoothies and green leafy veggies are a HUGE part of my diet. In addition to a full time job I also teach yoga twice a week and practice 3-5 times a week. I have been feeling low energy so just recently started a regimen of probiotics, iron, and b12 supplements. After my upper GI series happened the bleeding came back a little-probably from the irritation of the barium (I'm talking extremely minimal...but still there...likely caused by inflammation at the end of the rectum), but stools have been solid since I cut out caffeine. They look really healthy except sometimes my first one is coated in mucous. I just started the asacol regimen this weekend 9 pills a day...feels extreme but I am hopeful.
So overall, I am very fortunate that I haven't experienced major pain/cramping...have never been hospitalized (I think the fact that I saw blood and got freaked out probably saved me from a hospital episode), and have a responsive doctor who is pretty confident that the asacol will do the trick. Being a young woman just figuring out how to cope with this has been challenging. I want to believe things will get better and I will experience full remission. I am extremely disciplined and willing to do everything necessary to get well. I believe a positive attitude and alkaline/clean diet are definitely a huge part of this process.
I guess that's it...just wanted to say hi.