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Ulcerative Colitis Personal Stories
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Sarah's Story
I am a 24-year-old female and was diagnosed with
Ulcerative Colitis in April of 2004. Right now I am
only coping with the disease. This all started when I
was suffering from a week of diarrhea. I had gone to
the doctor, but was misdiagnosed for a
gastro-intestinal irritation. A few days later my
parents decided to take me into the emergency room. I
was sent home the same day because they thought it was
only acute diarrhea and possibly food poisoning. A
few days passed, and at this point, I was on my 12th
day of bloody diarrhea. I was sent into the hospital
again, but this time I had to stay for eight days.
Believe me, I was in a serious amount of pain. Not
only did I get stomach cramps, but my bowels were
cramping because they were exhausted from the many
days of diarrhea. This kind of pain is awful because
you feel it in your back and it hurts too much to even
stand up straight and even lie down. They found that
I was very dehydrated and my potassium was low.
During my stay in the hospital, they had me on a
liquid diet. They also ran a lot of tests including a
Sigmoidoscopy. It is similar to a Colonoscopy, except,
they don't go as far deep into the colon. Sure
enough, they found that I had mild ulcerative colitis.
I was annoyed when I found out that there is no known
cure for the disease and that no one is sure of its
origin yet. But I was relieved to find out that this
condition is fairly common and treatable. The guys in
the lab were very cool because they went step-by-step
on how the procedure is going to go for the
Sigmoidoscopy. They put me to sleep and when the
procedure was done, they showed my "swollen colon" on
the screen and gave me a copy of the photos they took
to help me understand what I have.
For two months I was on medication. I had to take six
Asacol pills and a hydrocortisone enema. Taking
medicine is no fun, but eventually it helped... I
think. My medication was very expensive and in
addition, I have no medical insurance. So each
refill, with all the medication combined, came up to
about $200. After two months, my doctor said that I
can come off the medicine but was warned that I might
get flare-ups. If this happened, I have to continue
the Asacol pills only. I don't want to return to the
pills simply because they are expensive, and also, it
made my hair fall out. Imagine, a 24-year-old girl
and thinning hair? I'm supposed to be young, healthy,
and invincible! I also had a very strange side
effect. My eyes would get swollen sometimes. I have
no idea if it might be related to the medication, but
I've never had this problem before I started on the
pills.
I am off the medicine now and I am trying natural
remedies. My hair stopped falling out and my eyes
don't get swollen anymore! I'm only learning how to
change my diet, it may not work for you, but I'm
giving it a try. This is what I include in my diet:
fish oil pills, flaxseed oil pills, aloe vera juice,
multivitamins, antioxidant pills, green tea, and
chamomile tea. I haven't had a serious flare up yet,
but every day is a struggle. I'm always running to
the bathroom and I get frequent stomach aches. I cut
out a lot of things in my diet such as seeds, nuts,
popcorn, corn. I read that these scratch your insides
and are hard to digest. I also cut out the dairy and
use soy products instead. I gave up coffee because I
noticed that it gives me stomach aches, as well as
spicy and greasy foods. I made a lot of sacrifices
with my diet but I don't want to end up in the
hospital again. You should talk to your doctor and
see what works for you. My doctor said that a UC
patient can eat whatever they want because there is no
exact formula for recovery. Just make sure to avoid
foods that will bother you especially during a
flare-up. I hope my story was helpful. Good luck.
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