how did I get UC?

hi everyone! I've been reading some posts on here...very helpful & A LOT of information

To give you some background, I was diagnosed with UC a few years ago. I grew up eating a LOT of junk & fast food, drank sodas and downed candies like it was no one's business

No one in my family has IBD (though my sister had IBS). So...I keep blaming myself for this. If I had eaten healthier, I may never have gotten this dreadful disease!! Sometimes I wonder if I should have been vegetarian or vegan too. The main thing that keeps buggin' me is that I ate a lot of junk growing up and I think that screwed up my immune system & GI tract. I keep kicking myself.

Did anyone on here eat healthily or vegetarian and still get IBD? I'm convinced diet had something to do with my onset. what do i know though.

thanks so much!

~Jen
[female: 28 yrs old: uc]

Post Edited (Jen_J) : 7/3/2008 6:48:42 PM (GMT-6)

exactly what she said, it's not your fault. When i got sick i was eating salads and brocoli and healthy stuff all day long. UC is a genetic thing, it's there from the day you are born. Diff things can trigger it and make it become active, but it's always there. For me, what triggered it was an antibiotic, that's a trigger for a lot of people.

Here is a good video explaining "What is UC", well done, short and may be good to watch:

http://ucstory.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/video-what-is-uc/

Maybe no one in your immediate family has it (yet) but that doesn't mean it's not running in your genetic bloodline somewhere...it's pretty much 2 parts to having IBD, genetics, one must first be predisposed to getting it and two, a trigger which is viewed as being environmental...for crohn's disease, smoking (including second-hand smoke) is one KNOWN trigger for crohn's, not for UC though, infact it's practically the opposite in where they find more people who quit smoking become sick with UC, but they would still have to be genetically predisposed to getting it.

Do not blame yourself, that's a waste of time and un-necessary stress to beat yourself up over when it's not even likely a fact.

:)

Jen, I'm sorry to hear that your Mom is "blaming" you for this disease. You'll need to talk with your Mom, show her resources and get her to support you on this. She can NOT blame you for this, this is a chronic disease that can vary. It is common in families will react with anger, sadness, fear, denial, and at some point acceptance should come so that you can develop a plan for dealing with this. On the link below you can show her the "Coping as a Family" with IBD. This disease can be serious, in our family, Mark's disease was our families disease not "his disease"

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/u/ulcerative_colitis/video.htm

Hi Jen, Reading your first post was like watching my life flash by in instant replay. I'm from England and many of us back then used to eat sweets like crazy; when I moved to the U.S.A and found stores that sold 'English' sweets, I went to town...forget about having a sweet-tooth, I took it to a whole new level believe me...lol That said, I believe it's highly (and I mean highly) unlikely that foods 'cause' UC; certain foods can (in my meek opinion) increase symptoms, but not cause UC. Still, I won't completely rule out foods because no one knows the long term effects of preservatives, genetic enhancements - remember taco bell? Steroids, and other chemicals to humans; bearing in mind that we are all made up differently through genetics. My belief is that stress, antibiotics, the pill or maybe genetics are the cause of UC...whatever causes an imbalance between the good and bad bacteria in your body. I only developed UC after taking several rounds of powerful antibotics during a period of stress in my life... But who knows. Jen, I know your mom loves you but blaming you for something that was out of your control isn't right...to me, it's like blaming someone who has cancer or diabetes and what's worse is that we know to some degree, what causes those diseases, but no one knows 'for sure' what causes UC. This is a horrible condition that puts a tremendous amount of stress on you and there are many frustrating moments were you need her loving and understanding support. I'm a quiet person, but I consider myself a tough guy mentally, due to my upbringing and my track and field training, but there were many moments when I sat down with tears in my eyes, wondering how I was going to make it through the next day. Other conditions have a few symptoms here and there...but not all at the same time like UC at it's worse: Extreme fatigue, joint pain that mimics arthritis , muscles that ache, dehydration, the loss of vitamins and minerals that leads to dry skin, eyes that are sensitive to sun light, frequent bowel movements, dizzy spells, flu like symptoms, headaches, bloating, gas, brain fog, etc. and this is before experiencing  side effects from meds! Please have your mom read this...UC is by far, the worst thing that has ever happened to me and I don't wish it on my worst enemy (if I had one that is)   NBT  

I stopped eating meat at the age of 12 when I witnessed an animal being slaughtered for food. I have been a vegetarian since 12 and I do not indulge much in junk foods. My family members mainly eat junk sugary foods, meats etc and they have a heatlhy bowel.

I'm not a vegetarian, I drink soda & eat candy, no one in my family has UC, and I think an antibiotic for bronchitis triggered my first flare.

Your immune system could have reacted to something it thought was "foreign" and bam the UC comes out.

Don't think you caused this disease because you didn't. All you have to do is conquer it and you'll figure out what will keep you in remission for 6 years like me. It could be meds, it could be diet, or for some surgery.

http://www.healthline.com/adamcontent/ulcerative-colitis?
"The cause is of ulcerative colitis is unknown. It may affect any age group, although there are peaks at ages 15 to 30 and then again at ages 50 to 70. " "Because the cause is unknown, prevention is also unknown."

One things for sure your pre-UC diet certainly didn't help anything. I feel the same way you do b/c I ate mostly junk foods and lots of it before I got UC. Now I feel guilty eating something I know I shouldn't have. We are what we eat but don't feel bad b/c UC can feed off negative emotions as well. Just try to understand your own body as much as you possibly can and make adjustments to cope and maintain and keep feeling as healthy as possible.
My trigger was drinking way too much beer one night. I had a totally normal bowel before then. Diet may not cuase or cure, but keep in mind its definately something major to consider. Good luck.

I know what you mean--when I was first diagnosed, my parents thought that UC was something they/I could have prevented. But it took questioning my GI a few times to have them understand that it was no one's fault, it's genetic, and we don't know what could have triggered it (although I think that maybe it was all the stress I put myself in during high school, but we'll never know!). 

I was diagnosed with UC when I was 5 years old but my parents think I'd had it since birth since they would often find blood in my nappies (diapers), therefore, I'm POSITIVE that my diet at the time had nothing to do with it lol

thanks everyone. I have been trying to patiently educate my mom (patience with her is tricky!)
So far, she still has it in her head that I did this to myself or that SOMEHOW my diet played a role. My entire family is trying to dig through my past to see what went wrong.
I guess, like someone said, sometimes people need to blame SOMETHING. Since no one knows the cause I guess we all tend to hypothesize at one time or another.
But you're right, it could have been the stress!
I do still feel guilty that maybe this could have been prevented, but I am learning more and more about this disease too (thanks to u also!)

Yeah, let them go through the grieving process. I think they may be feeling guilty that they somehow caused it. So they may be blaming you, to divert the attention away from them. My parent's took my UC diagnosis harder than me. My mom thought it was food related also. If it is food related, then a lot more people would have UC since I know many people who eat a lot more poorly than I do.

I went through a couple of months of why me and how (my grieving process), then I spent all of my energy focused on learning about the disease and the treatments and the positives and negatives of each. Once I got over the "UC just happens factor"...I was then able to rationalize the drug and surgery options for UC a lot more easier. Just try to get back to as close to normal as you can. You'll never be 100% normal again, but you can get pretty darn close.

My UC was very severe, I guess I was part of the 20% of the people where the meds didn't work. I only did prednisone and Asacol. They didn't work after a year and I didn't want to graduate to the other harsher drugs and their effects. The prednisone gave me osteoporosis at age 31 and I said I had enough of the drug route. So I had surgery last February to removed my colon so I wouldn't have to take any medicine anymore. Now, I feel normal again...and I'm off all of the pills and can eat and drink everything again. I just have a temporary ileostomy which isn't bad at all. So the way I'm living now is the worst case scenario with the surgery option, which isn't bad at all.

Good luck.