My name is Jason and I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in June of 2009. Earlier that year in February I had taken antibiotics which destroyed the healthy bacteria in my colon. I then developed a condition called CDIFF (Clostridium difficile). This was a very difficult thing to live with and had taken my doctors by surprise because it is not very common in people my age. After 4 months of treatment on numerous antibiotics the CDIFF was gone from my system. I was told by several doctors that the strain of CDIFF which I had been infected with was very aggressive and resistant to antibiotics. The medicine which ultimately killed the bacteria was vancomycin the strongest antibiotic you can be on outside the hospital. After 1 month of no symptoms from the CDIFF I was struck with horrible abdominal pains, extreme diarrhea, rectal bleeding and the constant urge to always go to the bathroom. I returned to my gastroenterologist to undergo my third colonoscopy to check if the CDIFF had returned. That was the day which has ever since changed my life. After the procedure I was talking with my doctor who had told me that I developed Ulcerative Colitis and he believed it was from the CDIFF infection that I had been dealing with for the past 4 months. It has now been 15 months since I was diagnosed with this disease and still have no signs of a normal life. On a near constant basis I am dealing with stomach pains, loss of appetite, diarrhea, the sudden urge to use the bathroom, weight loss and headaches from the medicine. In 15 months I have tried numerous courses of medicine and still haven’t found anything which will work for me. This condition has almost become impossible to live with, but I try so hard to lead a somewhat normal life. I have explored several options for this disease but as every doctor will tell you there is no cure for Ulcerative Colitis all you can do manage the disease. I will say, one of the hardest things about living with UC is having to explain to the people around you what you are going through. For the average person they can’t understand the feeling you have when you get an attack, when you must use the bathroom, when you have stomach cramps so bad you need to lay down. Part of my life is now planning where the bathroom is, and when people around you don’t understand it makes it very stressful to deal with. This emotionally takes a toll on you because you have to come to deal with all the symptoms, all the medications, the change in diet and the people around you not understanding what you are going through. The medications that I am currently on are Asacol to treat the colitis, Spacol to treat the cramps and inflammation of the colon and Tequin to treat the infection which comes and goes inside my GI track. I will say besides my family I have two very important people in my life which are very supportive to my condition and very understanding which makes me very comfortable when I experiencing what I call an attack. I hope that in time, like most people with UC it will go in remission and I then can get off all the medicine which I am on now. But for the time being I am just trying to lead a somewhat normal life, deal with my symptoms and manage my medications.
submit your ulcerative colitis story and questions here just like Jason did
Information about the Ulcerative Colitis Diet called SCD which stands for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet
