Introduction:
I am a 20 year old college guy in Missouri, United States. I am a biology major, so understanding the science of UC is really fascinating to me.
Some more about me:
I play classical music, work in my school’s greenhouse and love plant biology. I’m from Kansas City, Missouri.
Colitis Symptoms:
I was diagnosed with moderate UC last May. The doctor said my Colitis was on the more severe side of moderate. Since then, I’ve gotten on a couple steroids (Prednisone, and currently Budesonide) that have helped a lot. Currently I have about 5 stools a day, all in the morning or early afternoon. formed but somewhat painful with some blood, but not much.
Nicotine Therapy for Colitis
I’ve been suffering with Ulcerative Colitis since last March, but since being on steroids my symptoms have been alleviated quite a bit. It still affects my life a lot. I am limited in physical activities and my grades have started to suffer.
I tried the SCD diet for 3 months with very little success. Currently, my doctor wants me to try Imuran to get off the steroids and keep me in remission. This is great, but I am concerned about the risk of T cell Lymphoma. I normally would not care, because the risk is so low, but I am a young adult male, and for unknown reasons being my sex and age group greatly increases chances of developing this rare type of T cell lymphoma on this medication.
So I have decided to try nicotine as I have read multiple studies on pubmed.com that state that nicotine may have a better success rate than many of the conventional therapies for UC.
10 days ago, I started using an e-cigarette and smoking approximately 20-30 mg nicotine/day. Within the first week I was feeling much better, and had the best 3 consecutive days I have had in a LONG time. However, I tried a new flavor of nicotine oil which contains clove oil 4 days ago. CHAOS ENSUED. 2 days in the bathroom in and out and feeling very nauseous! After this incident, I looked online and found that clove oil is a powerful inflammatory agent! Just my luck!
Now I have resumed smoking the other flavors (pineapple and lemon) that did not bother my guts.
I am back to my normal 5 stools a day, with very small amounts of blood. I am feeling about the same as I always have on Budesonide: Normal, with about 5 stools in the morning and some nausea throughout the day.
My question is this:
If the nicotine does work for me, how quickly will I know? I need to know relatively soon to determine whether or not I will need to supplement my treatment with Imuran (which scares the shit out of me, pun intended.)
Thanks for any answers you can give me, or just words of encouragement. Sharing any experiences with Imuran or Remicade you have had would be greatly appreciated as well.
Colitis Medications and Treatments:
Currently : Budesonide 10.5 mg/day. 2 probiotics a day (Digestive Advantage: gas defense formula). Nicotine started 10 days ago at about 20 mg/day.
The good: Budesonide and probiotics
The bad: SCD diet. Almost no change in symptoms and made it impossible for me to eat with people!
The ugly: Mesalamine related drugs (Lialda, Sulfasalazine). I have an awful reaction to them which is 1 part Influenza, 2 parts nightmare, and even made my UC WORSE temporarily.
Many thanks,
August
submitted in the colitis venting area
I am a 20 year old college guy in Missouri, United States. I am a biology major, so understanding the science of UC is really fascinating to me.
