Intro:
I’m a 22 year old female and I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis a few weeks before finals in the Spring of 2009. I’m a recent graduate from the University of Montana and I’m currently working as a freelance graphic and web designer.
One thing you should know about me is that I absolutely LOVE to travel. I studied abroad in Mexico the summer before I was diagnosed in 2008. At the very end of my travels, I had a severe case of Montezuma’s revenge for an entire week. I thought I was going to die, I had never been so miserable. That was the first time I became well acquainted with the porcelain throne. Little did I know we’d get to know each other even better less than a year later. The reason I’m telling you this little story is because my mother’s convinced this is where it all started. I think it was the water. She thinks that maybe some parasite started this whole thing.
Currently, I take lialda twice daily and 6MP.
Meds:
Lialda once daily – relapsed a week later
Prednisone – worked well after I was released from the hospital the, but my face swelled up, I couldn’t sleep for more than 4 hours every night, and I was hungry all the time.
Lialda twice daily + 6MP + probiotics – has been working for me the last year, but I don’t want to be on anything anymore. HELP!
Here’s My Problem:
I don’t want to be on any medications. I’ve heard of people controlling UC through probiotics and diet. The thing is, I’ve also heard that if you go off of 6MP you’re likely to relapse. I don’t know what to do! Has anyone gone off of this drug before successfully?
My thing is, I want to be able to travel without worrying about having a flare up in a non-English speaking country. I want to be able to drink alcohol and not have to prepare myself for diarrhea the next day even though I know I shouldn’t drink on 6MP. I want to not worry about being hospitalized and having to pay hospital bills for the rest of my life. I want to have a child within the next 5 years and not worry that it will have a birth defect because of my medication. There’s so many things that I want without worry, if only I didn’t have UC, or if I could at least control it in a way that wouldn’t do more harm to my body than it does good.
I was diagnosed in the Spring of 2009, right before finals (that I missed) during my Junior year in college at the University of Montana. After three ER visits, a one-week hospitalization, Lialda, Mesalamine rectal suppositories, Entocort, (and some Hyoscyamine, Loperamide, and Loratab to ease the pain), a relapse a week later (2 weeks in the hospital this time), Prednisone, Lialda and 6MP, I am now (pretty much) symptom free. I graduated from the University of Montana in May of 2010, and I’m currently working as a graphic and web designer. I want to go OFF of Lialda and 6MP and live my life as a normal person.
