Never The Same

Meet Brittany:

Hey Guys! My name is Brittany and I am 29 years old. I live in Atlanta, GA. I have had Ulcerative Colitis for 2 years now!

Some more about me:

I have been married for a little over 6 years and we have a one year old child.

Never the Same

I was TOTALLY healthy until I became pregnant 2 years ago. All of the sudden I became extremely ill, throwing up, going to the restroom 25+ times a day, and having extreme pain and bleeding each time I went to the bathroom. At first I assumed it was because of the pregnancy and having miscarried before, I was honestly waiting to miscarrying again. But I was soon diagnosed with C-diff and began taking what seemed like every type of medication in the world.

The C-diff finally went away but I was still having bleeding and pain with my many trips to the bathroom each day. Around the 5 month mark of my pregnancy I was told I had UC. At the time I had no idea how much it would change my life and I assumed it would get better once I had the baby, but of course I was wrong about that. I will never be the same… I will never be the wife I was, I will never be the person who refuses to use public restrooms, the person who could walk for miles down the beach, or lay out for hours (that might be a good thing), or the person who was always on time (nowadays I am seem to be always late due to restroom stops on the way to where I am going).

I now take 4 Lialda every morning and receive Remicade infusion every 7 weeks. Some days I still have trouble with control and I now only go 2-4 times a day which is way better than 25! I also take a B12 each day which help give me the energy I never seem to have. I know things will never be the same for me again, I know I will never be considered healthy or feel as healthy as I used to, I know road trips will now be scary for me, I know I have many embarrassing moments to come, but I also know God gave me this disease for a reason. Each day is different and produces different challenges but I can do it because God says suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope NEVER, EVER, EVER disappoints us (Rom 5:3-4). Each day I am able to get out of the bed (or run out of the bed to the bathroom) is a gift. God has allowed me to wake up one more day and live one more day. “Therefore, I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor 12:10

written by Brittany

submitted in the colitis venting area