Intro:
UC Since August 2012
Symptoms began right after Invisalign treatment started.
Nothing angers me more than hearing a doctor state the following – “We don’t know what causes Colitis, but we know diet has nothing to do with it.”
Some more background info:
Hobbies have turned into beating UC.
Symptoms:
Full blown flare currently. 7-10 bathroom trips per day with blood and mucous and not much solid.
TJV’s Colitis Story:
Here is a breakdown of my UC adventure:
8/1/12 – Invisalign Started
8/3/12 – Horrid smelling poop and mucous in poop
8/10/12 – Blood in poop
8/14/12 – Call Dentist to see if this is a potential side effect
8/15/12 – Of course Dentist never heard of anything like this
At this point I stop using Invisalign and get the brackets taken off. I have blood in my poop and it is a real disaster. Change eating habits, rest, drink tons of water and nothing seems to help.
Seek medical attention
9/10/12 – Initial Appointment with GI
GI Starts diagnosis process, blood tests, stool tests, etc.
Everything is golden.
Colonoscopy/Endoscopy reveals Colitis symptoms
Schedules additional MRI type testing to confirm
Prescribed Asacol in October 2012 after rigorous testing…
Asacol kind of works, but not great. Makes me tired, gain weight, thinning hair.
Find that eating soluble fiber helps quite a bit. Gain more weight.
The rat bastard pharm company changes to Delzicol right before the patent runs out on Asacol.
Delzicol seems to not work as well. Start getting depressed, losing hope, and become addicted to food.
2/1/14 – First son was born a few months back and realize I have to beat UC and live long enough to get him to the point where he is a functional member of society. I start doing tons of research, take charge and start asking questions to the GI. I now refuse to see my GI. How can there be absolutes with a disease they do not know the cause of? Total red flag. Stop taking Delzicol. Research other ways to deal with UC.
3/1/14 – Begin juicing. Do a couple 3 day fasts here and there. Decent results. Same, if not better than doing asacol/delzicol. Eat perfect, no crap (candy bars, sweets, sugars, etc.)
9/1/14 – Decide I want to end this shit once and for all so I do a 30-day juice fast. Incredible results. Everything back to normal.
11/7/14 – Get sick (cold/flu), flare starts creeping up, go on a trip to Wisconsin for Bears/Packers. Eat like crap, don’t get sleep and remain sick for weeks and back to square one. Very deflating.
Do some more juice fasts. A few 3 day and 5 day fasts. Symptoms controlled.
Creep back into horrible eating habits. Can’t quite seem to stay on track with the diet.
3/15/14 – Things start going haywire again. Eating like crap. Having a hard time juicing this time around and as much as I know it helps, I just can’t stay on track.
Present Day – Full blow flare and losing hope. Falling back to more research and looking to find another GI. Research has led me to this site and I found a most interesting recommendation to smoke 3-5 cigarettes per day?
A few months before the Invisalign incident I quit smoking and have not smoked since.
In other research I have found maybe I have Candida/Fungus? Plausible since after a juice fast I am in great shape for a while until I relapse and become addicted to food again (sugars feeding yeast/fungus).
I am hoping maybe someone has a similar experience and can maybe expand upon what I have experienced thus far.
Medications Right Now:
Currently not on any medication
Most recent success was juice fasting.
written by TJV
submitted in the colitis venting area
UC Since August 2012
Symptoms began right after Invisalign treatment started.
Nothing angers me more than hearing a doctor state the following – “We don’t know what causes Colitis, but we know diet has nothing to do with it.”
What types of vegetables or juices were part of your juice fasts in the past?
Also, have you ever watched through the video that is posted on this site called the “colitis flare beat down party”?
I created that several years ago for people to use to see first hand what I did to help control a minor flare all with diet changes. Anyways, might be worth a watch if you’re interested. here’s that link:
https://ihaveuc.com/the-colitis-flare-beat-down-party-getting-out-of-my-flare/
Also, I personally would not be eating lots of fruits while dealing with active symptoms such as bleeding, cramping and urgency. Lots and lots of sugars in mosts fruits, and those can make it difficult for some UC’ers to gain the upper hand in controlling flares. At the same time though, it sounds like you were able to stop flares in the past with this technique. I myself though, would got the opposite route in the short term and darn near eliminate carbs including carbs from fruits.
Best of luck to you T, and thanks for sharing your timeline with us.
Adam
Thanks for the response and the advice!
The juicing regimen was on the militant side. I used mostly greens like Kale, Chard, Bok Choy, Spinach, Cabbage, which are high on the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI). I used vegetables like Cucumbers, Green Peppers, Zucchini, Beets, Carrots which round out the additional vitamins necessary. As for fruits, I used fruits like Granny Smith Apples which have been proven to raise beneficial gut bacteria, Pears and various Citrus fruits. I also drank macadamia nut milk, cashew milk and almond milk at least once per day. Overall, the juice didn’t taste great, but did the trick. It was a long 30 days, but by day 3 I saw improvements and by day 20 I had regular poop once per day like clockwork and the poop was not narrow like most people experience with UC. The one drawback was the weight I lost, which in my case was welcomed, but I lost 40 pounds during the fast which is about average (1 to 1.5 pounds per day during a juice fast).
The problem is I cannot stay on the straight and narrow. As long as I don’t drink alcohol or eat sweets, I am fine. Occasionally I can have a beer or eat a piece of cake at a birthday party, but anything past that presents consequences. Easier said than done for me because I have fat guy tendencies unfortunately. So the dumbass I am keeps testing limits and it finally caught up to me again.
So this is where I stand. For the short term I am looking to get things under control, but more than anything am searching for a cure or an end to UC. Wishful thinking, I know…
Wow TJV, quite an impressive program you were on. Amazing.
Read through the stories in the “happy stories” section, some good stuff in there. https://ihaveuc.com/category/happy-stories/
I LOVE this post!
You, my friend are going to be just fine, because you have a TERRIFIC sense of self and humor!
I will not take meds. Asacol actually made my symptoms worse for 15 years! Doc said it was the UC. I finally got strong in the brain and now take a good probiotic and L-glutamine, All is well.
I actually can eat anything (except real whole shredded wheat…seems to make me bleed) but I do not drink alcohol, nor take advil (ibuprofens). Those two things actually cause gastro intestinal bleeding.
Bottom line is…I think our good bacteria has been lost or compromised for whatever reason and we have to replenish it (which takes time) and then continue to maintain it.
Cheers…your post was a joy.
Wow…you have some history…but then I got down to the part you quit smoking. It has been discussed on here that some people that quit smoking end up developing UC. Maybe that was your trigger? Was it here or in the paper I read that they are finally using nicotine patches with success? Good Luck!!
Yes, I also never had UC until after I quit smoking. I also took Accutane 4 times. I also had my appendix out shortly before I first had symptoms. Used a lot of antibiotics as a young child with bad tonsils. Had allergy shots for a few years when I was about 8 years old until we moved to a drier climate.
I think that any of these things on their own could have contributed to the UC. For me, food does not seem to matter, but I do believe that it can and does for others.
What a clusterf^^k this all is, huh?
my son had total colitis diagnosed a few months after quitting smoking. he also had moved in [ and out again ] with a girl , lost his Gran and a lot of stress. he had a flare last year [ steroids soon kicked it ] and happily at the moment is fine. he is on 6 g mezzaliline a day. drinks and eats what he likes , but of course this disease is I=unpredictable . he is a spray painter [ ?toxins ? ].I believe environmental toxins may be partly to blame . C
I also was diagnosed with colitis after quitting smoking. Did have some problems before. Seems like smoking kept it at bay.