I Have Ulcerative Colitis:
This, my readers, is the typical UC story.
I have had my share of tragedy; I lost my first son at my fifth month of pregnancy due to an all-out flare of UC and my body not being able to support a child and deal with the war that was going on in my colon. I have had my share of embarrassment; running out of my last class of 10th grade on the last day of school before summer break, with diarrhea running down my legs (of course I just HAD to wear shorts that day!) because I was too scared to ask to go to the bathroom AGAIN! I have had my share of humiliation; stopping on the side of the road to avoid going in my pants while my high school boyfriend looked out for cars; going camping with friends only to wander out in the middle of the night to do my duty and waking up in the morning to realize that I had not wandered far enough away…… I have had my share of family and friends who say that all I do is complain about my disease and obsess a bout it constantly. I have even been called a hypochondriac by a person who will remain anonymous even though she knows that I actually have things wrong with me! Not only ulcerative colitis but a related liver disease called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (which may or may not eventually kill me by giving me cirrhosis…thank God the odds are good! I have a 50/50 chance of THAT happening) and other non-related UC things. But this story has a happy ending! (at least for now) What started with one child dying has now gone into remission with another child being born. They say that being pregnant can either make your ulcerative colitis worse or sometimes, it can kick it into remission. I am happy to say that I am one of the lucky patients that was kicked into remission by the light of my life, my son. He has not known a world where his mother is constantly in pain, in the bathroom, or panicking because she is away from home and cannot find a bathroom at her time of need. I will need to be on medicatio n for the rest of my life, as I am sure you, reader, can relate. But at this moment in time, 1200 mg of Asacol, three times a day is doing the trick and hopefully will for a long time! I am writing this testimonial as proof that there is life after UC and that it is a happy life! While I do sometimes feel like a phony because I have not been sick in 6 years, I continue to see my GI for my yearly colonoscopies (someday I would like to get a tattoo on my rear that says “What’s up Doc?” for (excuse my pun) poops & giggles) and I will continue to frequent these support sights because the more you read about others’ experiences the more you feel understood. I didn’t have that understanding growing up with UC but I am hoping that by reading this, someone else who has just been diagnosed with this disease will get some hope out of my story. And please, if you take nothing else away from having one of the most humiliating diseases out there, learn to laugh at it and a t yourself because chances are, you will have someone looking at your butt for the rest of your life and that in and of itself, is amusing!
Medications:
Asacol 1200 mg three times daily
-Written by Amber
