Introduction:
I’m 24 years old. College student, was supposed to graduate in May but was to sick to finish school. Played 4 years of college basketball. Diagnosed with UC in December 2011.
What My Symptoms are Like:
once in awhile i have bloody stools, cramps.
My Story:
Like i said in my introduction, i was a college athlete and a very active college student. I was entering my final semester and was due to start student teaching in February. I found out i had Ulcerative Colitis in mid December. Prior to that, i was about as healthy as one can be. I was put on prednisone and apriso and did okay for about a month. I was still able to workout and be active. However, when February came around i noticed my symptoms were getting worse. I found myself leaving my classroom more often to use the restroom. I had less and less energy as the days went on. Things got bad enough that I was unable to lay down to sleep at night or go to school during the day. I called my GI and he decided to put me on Remicade. After the first two Remicade treatments my symptoms did not improve. I had gone from a basketball playing athlete weighing 215 pounds to a person hardly able to move and weighing 180, all in 3 months. I started having breathing problems towards the end of March, and an emergency room visit had me finding out that i had a large amount of good sized blood clots in my lungs in addition to being anemic. That had me flown out to another hospital where i was kept for 2 weeks. The doctors there determined that my UC had gotten bad enough that it caused my blood to coagulate, and due to my inactivity, they got stuck in my lungs. Obviously, hearing that was scary to me as it would be to anyone. I lost so much strength that I am now having to go to physical therapy 3 days a week. My doctor has talked about getting me to speak with a nutritionist about finding a UC favorable diet that will help me gain strength back as well. I am on about every medication you can take for UC (prednisone, asacol, remicade, imuran. all that in addition to warfarin and Iron.). It has been a long 7 months. It is just hard for me to understand how i could go from beeing in such good shape to such bad condition in that short amount of time.
Thank goodness i found this site! It is good to know that I am not alone.
Where I’d like to be in 1 year:
I would like to be back in the shape i was before i was sick. I want to be able to travel places with my friends and family without having to worry about my next trip to the bathroom. In other words, I want to feel normal again.
Colitis Medications I’m taking:
I take Prednisone, Asacol, Imuran, and receive Remicade infusions. While I still have bad days once in awhile, i think they have all helped because i feel way better compared to 5 months ago. The problems I deal with now are beeing on the toilet for an hour every morning straining which tends to drain my energy. Usually that is the only time i have a BM. Then I will have some days where it seems like I can’t stay out of the bathroom. All in all, I say the medicine is working, but who knows?
written by Damon
submitted in the colitis venting area
in addition to be one super cool amigo and new writer on iHaveUC, our boy Damon is a 24 year old College student, was supposed to graduate in May but was to sick to finish school. He’s played 4 years of college basketball. He was diagnosed with UC in December 2011.
