Diane with her grandson!
Introduction:
I love learning and I will research anything for anybody at any time. My dream is to have a PhD. even though I do not use my degrees for income at this time. I call my self the bedroom scholar as I am a certified teacher, psychoanalyst, certified hypnotherapist, and dream analyst. I currently work full time as a kitchen designer for a major retailer.
I love hiking, spiritual dance and chant, movies, cooking and baking, and visiting my grandson.
Current Colitis Symptoms:
I have been on the SCD diet since July, 2014 and it has worked for me. I have firm stools but I know the disease is not in remission because I can feel the ulcers at times, and I have occasional light bleeding and fatigue. Arthritis is also a problem.
Diane’s Story:
My name is Diane and I have what is now known as Ulcerative Colitis. I was diagnosed in October of 2013. I am 54 years old and I can remember colitis symptoms as far back as 15 years of age. Never having been tested or hospitalized, mainly due to the fact that I would stop eating and start dieting at the first signs of distress due to the embarrassment of unbelievably painful cramping and diarrhea, I eventually found a host of triggers to stay away from during these “flares”. This treatment served me well until I was 30 and my bladder became inflamed.
The colitis was forgotten for the next 23 years as I moved through low grade chronic depression, invasive cervical cancer, hysterectomy, skin cancer, and Lyme disease. I was never a candidate for chemotherapy since my cancers where caught early and surgically removed. I had a flare with bleeding during this time but colitis was never mentioned and a sigmoidoscopy showed nothing.
My mode of treatment was diet, mainly the Eat Right 4 Your Type – (from Amazon.com) blood type diet, Bactrim, which is an antibiotic prescribed for my bladder and lots of sleep.
I am now being asked by my doctor to be part of a low dose methotrexate study which will involve weekly injections and the keeping of a journal.
I’m looking for advice as to whether to participate or not. I have been fighting so much for so long that I am confident that the injections could help me but at the same time I do not want to loose the health I have fought so hard to maintain. I wonder if cutting back on stress wouldn’t be a better alternative since I know it has been ever present in my life from a very young age. I also have an elderly partner and mother at the present time. My father is deceased. If you were me, what would you do?
Medications / Supplements:
Lialda: can only tolerate the maintenance dose of 2- 1.2g tablets a day which is not enough to put me into remission or control the disease in general.
Mesalamine enemas nightly.
Vitamin supplements.
Fluoxetine for depression.
Fish oil.
SCD diet.
Glucosamine Chondroitin
for joint pain.
SCD probiotic yogurt.
written by Diane
submitted in the colitis venting area
I am 54 years old. I live in Fayetteville, Pa., I have a companion of 20 years named Robert who is 30 years my senior. We have enjoyed many of the same interests through the years and he is my best friend. I have a 30 year old daughter,Leslie, who is married to Dan, and they gave birth to my grandson Douglas on August 8th, 2014. I work full time as a kitchen designer for a major retailer. I have a BA in Elementary Education and an MS in Psychology.
