Intro:
Hi, I’m Jen and I was diagnosed with UC when I was 4 years old. I’m now a senior in high school and kind of freaking out about dealing with college and my UC. I am having a colonoscopy this month to check in and make sure my medication is still working.
Some more about me:
Something interesting about me, oh man. Well, I am the editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper and I love to write and take photos (of other people!!). I moved from Cali to Indiana when I was 8 years old, and now I’m VERY familiar with snow. I play Just Dance with my BFF Rachael and my favorite movie is either Grease or The Breakfast Club.
Symptoms:
Currently, I am considered to be in remission, but I still experience a lot of stomach pains and diarrhea.
Jen’s Story:
So, here goes:
I was a troubled baby.
When I was born, I had meconium in my lungs. That must have been terrifying for my mom.
Three days after I was sent home, I went back to the hospital to measure my development. (PS: I was born on 10/28, so I went back to the hospital on Halloween)
There they discovered that I hadn’t gained any weight or gotten any longer.
So they did a spinal tap and a bunch of tests to figure out what was wrong.
Turns out, I endured all of the testing for nothing. I was just fine.
Anyway, when I was 4, or so my mom tells me, I started having rectal bleeding and blood in my stool. This scared my mom, so she rushed me to the hospital, where they did a colonoscopy to determine that I had either Chron’s or UC. We still don’t know which one it is to this day.
The outcome of this was me being started on suppositories, I can’t remember the name. That was truly dreadful (and embarrassing). My mom would do it, my school nurse would do it.
And then there were the doctor’s visits that always included drawing my blood and my doctor sticking his finger up my butt to check for traces of blood.
Ew.
I went on the many different kinds of pills, but I can only remember two of them.
One was so big I had to cut it in half and take both pieces separately.
The other one had a gel casing and was also large, but luckily for me, I was able to break it apart and mix the inside with pudding so I could take it.
I have a lot of bad memories about UC. One of the worst is one time when I was younger, I had a seizure. My eyes rolled back, I shook. I remember being terrified and being told it had to do with me having UC.
Right now, I am taking Asacol, three pills, 2 times a day.
written by Jen B
submitted in the colitis venting area
Hi, I’m Jen and I was diagnosed with UC when I was 4 years old.
