Hi all, not posted for a while but thought my latest experience may serve as a warning.
Following a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis about five years ago I was treated using various steroid and other medications, all to no avail as a year later I had to have my entire colon and rectum removed. Following the procedure it turned out that all had not been stitched up properly and I was leaking poo internally which led to an emergency 14hour operation to open me up and clean everything out. This led to about the worst time in my life as recuperation from this was long and horrendous. Following on a year from this was my reversal operation to get rid of my stoma and more poor stitching was then discovered which led to an intracutaneous fistula from small bowel to front of waistline. 18 months from then this was finally surgically reconnected and I thought I was done with everything (apart from a persistent and painful anal fissure).
Anyway that is the history but basically the above took me from a strong 17 stone weight lifter to an 11 stone wreck of a man who felt sorry enough for himself to have seriously considered and even planned out his own suicide.
I have since fought back, got back in the gym and built myself back up to 16 stone and although not as muscular as previous I am now as strong as I was if not stronger on some lifts.
Problem now is I have been warned to stop weight lifting as following on from some back pain an X ray had shown up sacroiliatis and osteoarthritis. My doctor believes that the root cause of this is probably the medications I was prescribed at the start of the whole process..
I am refusing to give up on the weights without a fight and have completely overhauled my whole training programme to something that does not load the spine as much and also purchased an inversion table to try and open up the joints.
Whole point of my story is to advise others to think more about future outcomes when discussing treatment plans as I know that the here and now is often all that is considered at the time.
Following a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis about five years ago I was treated using various steroid and other medications, all to no avail as a year later I had to have my entire colon and rectum removed. Following the procedure it turned out that all had not been stitched up properly and I was leaking poo internally which led to an emergency 14hour operation to open me up and clean everything out. This led to about the worst time in my life as recuperation from this was long and horrendous. Following on a year from this was my reversal operation to get rid of my stoma and more poor stitching was then discovered which led to an intracutaneous fistula from small bowel to front of waistline. 18 months from then this was finally surgically reconnected and I thought I was done with everything (apart from a persistent and painful anal fissure).
Anyway that is the history but basically the above took me from a strong 17 stone weight lifter to an 11 stone wreck of a man who felt sorry enough for himself to have seriously considered and even planned out his own suicide.
I have since fought back, got back in the gym and built myself back up to 16 stone and although not as muscular as previous I am now as strong as I was if not stronger on some lifts.
Problem now is I have been warned to stop weight lifting as following on from some back pain an X ray had shown up sacroiliatis and osteoarthritis. My doctor believes that the root cause of this is probably the medications I was prescribed at the start of the whole process..
I am refusing to give up on the weights without a fight and have completely overhauled my whole training programme to something that does not load the spine as much and also purchased an inversion table to try and open up the joints.
Whole point of my story is to advise others to think more about future outcomes when discussing treatment plans as I know that the here and now is often all that is considered at the time.
