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Ulcerative Colitis Personal Stories
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Carol's Story
I strongly believe that, in some cases at least, ulcerative colitis
may be caused by an allergic-type reaction to certain foods. In my
own case the food that I have found to be responsible for my UC is
olives and olive oil. This presents a problem: firstly because olive
oil has become so popular these days that it's getting very hard to
avoid it unless you never eat a restaurant or take-away meal; and
secondly because everyone seems to think that the stuff is so
wonderful that they simply refuse to believe that it can cause any harm.
I have a history of being allergic to quite a few things — having
eczema-like skin reactions to certain soaps and shampoos since I was
a child; then developing spring-related hayfever when I was about 14;
and later (in my 20s) developing reactions to shellfish (nausea and
bloating) and those fabric-type bandaids and steristrips (severe
rashes).
About 15 years ago I was left with a painful neck due to whiplash
from a car accident when someone crashed into the back of my car at
a stoplight. At that time one of the things that helped was a
regular neck and shoulder massage, which my husband would do for me
using a very nice rose-scented massage oil. However, one particular
evening he couldn't find the massage oil, so instead used some olive
oil he found in the kitchen cupboard (we generally only used olive
oil when we cooked Italian-type food, probably a couple of times per
month - the rest of the time we used other oils, usually peanut).
The olive oil was used about 3 times, until a red and blotchy, itchy,
pimply rash began to appear on my neck and shoulders, exactly on the
area where the olive oil had been massaged in. We stopped using the
olive oil immediately, but it took ages - around 5-6 weeks - before
the rash finally disappeared. Unfortunately, although I then
realised that I should never put anything containing olive oil on my
skin, I never made the logical connection - i.e. if olive oil could
cause a reaction on my skin, why couldn't it also be produce adverse
reactions in my the lining of my gut? This was despite the fact that
over the next few years I developed problems with my bowels that
included intermittent diarrhoea or constipation, occasional bloating,
and frequent mild lower abdominal discomfort.
Then in 1996 I spent two weeks on a holiday in Mexico, mostly eating
local food that was probably always cooked with olive oil, and
usually included little bowls of chopped-up chillis and olives on the
side. Towards the end of the holiday I had developed very bad
diarrhoea and was feeling really terrible, but assumed I must have
picked up some sort of food poisoning or an infection. The diarrhoea
became even worse on the plane trip home, and also started to look
very bloody as well. The doctor I saw a few days after my return
home thought it was either amoebic dysentery or a bad case of
giardia, so prescribed metronidazole. When this didn't work he
checked a stool sample, found it was negative for these and other
bugs, and sent me off a colonoscopy & biopsy, where the diagnosis of
UC was finally made. The specialist who made the diagnosis told me
the usual story about this condition - that it was a chronic
inflammatory disease, its cause was unknown, no link with any
particular food had been found, and that the only way to treat it was
to take drugs, probably for the rest of my life. I was prescribed
fairly high doses of prednisolone and mesalazine and told to start
taking the tablets straight away. However, the idea of taking drugs
virtually forever, especially ones like these with very nasty side-
effects, filled me with horror so I began to think really long and
hard about some alternate way of treating or managing my condition.
It was at this point that I began to wonder if my UC might be related
to olives/olive oil, remembering the bad reaction I had had to the
oil some years before, and the fact that I must have ingested a large
amount of olives and olive oil while I was in Mexico. I decided it
couldn't do any great harm if I simply put off taking the drugs for a
couple of weeks, completely avoided using olive oil or eating
anything that might contain it , and waited to see what would
happen. To my great delight the bloody diarrhoea and other symptoms
did not return, so I decided that the possibility that olive oil was
causing my UC was in fact very plausible. I told my story to the
specialist when I next went to see him, but he completely refused to
take my theory seriously, and predicted dire consequences unless I
started taking the drugs he had prescribed.
However, despite not taking any medication whatsoever over the next
nine years I remained almost completely well, with only a couple of
minor recurrences of diarrhoea etc - always related to the
inadvertent consumption of something containing some olive oil. For
example, after I had eaten a small amount some salad at a friend's
place that had been made with a dressing containing olive oil (the
friend said she had "forgotten about my crazy phobia regarding olive
oil, and anyway everyone knows it really is so good for you").
Another time my husband couldn't find fresh basil at the local shop
for one of his green curries, so bought a bottle of pesto as a
substitute, which we later found contained olive oil (when we read
the tiny writing on the label). It's been a major problem going out
to restaurants, as so many of them now seem to use olive oil in
everything, so sometimes the only things I can eat are bread and
undressed salad!
Unfortunately in July last year I had a major recurrence of UC, which
started the day after a couple of my friends had organised a birthday
celebration for me. The meal they brought along had been purchased
from "a great little delicatessan selling all sorts of wonderful take-
away food" that had recently opened nearby. The main course was a
Hungarian goulash-style casserole with sauteed potatoes, and (rather
stupidly) the possibility that olive oil might have been used to make
it just didn't occur to me. The following day I began to get really
severe symptoms similar to those I had had nine years previously. A
phone call to the deli revealed that they were very proud of the fact
that they only used the "best quality olive oil" in all their meals;
but I assumed that if I just waited it out and made sure I only ate
home-prepared food the problem would eventually subside. The problem
was that this did not happen - over the next four months the very
frequent bloody diarrhoea continued (I needed to rush to the toilet
up to 20 times a day). My general health also suffered, and I became
quite fatigued and lethargic. I am a very stubborn person, so kept
putting-off going to the doctor again until I became so ill I finally
had to admit defeat. Blood tests and colonoscopy showed severe
anaemia & a very high ESR, and widespread ulceration of the entire
colon. This time, after a short period on prednisolone treatment,
my symptoms have again resolved without the need for any long-term
medication. (I have also discovered that I am intolerant to
mesalazine - it actually seems to give me diarrhoea, which is one of
its known side-effects!). My belief is that the return of severe UC
was related to the large amount of olive oil I had been exposed to in
both the goulash and the potatoes.
My gastroenerologist still refuses to take my theory seriously. He
says he has never heard of anything similar, and that there has never
been any published evidence of a link between UC and olive oil. He
has made it clear that he has no intention of repeating my story to
anyone, much less writing anything about it. It seems like olive oil
is beyond reproach - it is the current holy grail of health experts
- and that anyone who thinks otherwise must be deluded.
Has anyone else disregarded what their doctor and other "experts" are
saying, and seriously examined their own history to see if there is
in fact an association between eating particular things that are
widely touted as "good" foods and UC flare-ups ??
Carol Thompson
3322 Mirannie Road
Singleton
NSW 2330
Australia
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