For the smokers

(and the ex-smokers)

I'm very slowly trying to cut back on how much I smoke. I'm down to about 8 cigs/day, but I've been cutting back super slowly. I just saw blood again two days ago and I've got the rumbly tummy thing going on, but I still feel okay (I don't know that it's in anyway related to cutting back on smoking). I started the Rowasa nightly again and haven't seen blood yesterday or today. I have a couple questions for smokers or people who have quit, because I'm trying to figure out if smoking is hurting my UC, even though I know that is typically related to Crohn's.

1) Have you ever noticed an increase in flare symptoms from just cutting back on smoking and not quitting altogether?

2) For those of you whose UC is helped with smoking, do you feel a difference right after/while smoking? For me, when I smoke a cigarette I often have the urge to go to the bathroom right away. I always had that to a certain extent since cigs can do that to you, but now that I have UC the urge is worse and more frequent.

3) Any tips on the best route to quit smoking without flaring?

Thanks in advance. =)

This is so strange, but I just quit smoking about 3 weeks ago cold turkey (yikes!) and about 1 week ago started feeling a flare up coming on.  Now, I can't tell if it is due to missing some meds or to the quitting, or a combo of both.   Smoking helped me to regulate my BM schedule.  If I wanted to "go" in the mornings, I would have a smoke (like coffee drinkers and their coffee I think).  Smoking also killed my appetite, so I ate less, which meant less food going through my system and less BMs probably.  I am sorry I don't have any advice as I am going through the process myself, but I guess if it is a flareup vs worse conditions from smoking, the flare up is worth it.  That's what I keep telling myself when I want a smoke, so I say that a lot   .

Good luck with the cutting  back/quitting and with not getting a flare up!

Nelle

There is a definite, well-known correlation between smoking and IBD. People with UC are significantly more likely to be non-smokers or former smokers. People with Crohn's, on the other hand, are significantly more likely to be smokers!

I quit smoking in March 1997. I was diagnosed with UC in November 2001. Even after being in an uncontrolled flare for the first several years after diagnosis, I still believe quitting was the single bast thing I ever did for myself. I may some day have to have my colon removed, but I know I'll never smoke again.

My husband and I quit smoking March 11, 2008. Quitting smoking brought on my uc. Would I quit smoking had I known this would happen? Probably not, but then I also have to be thankful that I don't have lung cancer or copd.

I was diagnosed 98 with UC.  Was in remission from 98' just up until 4 weeks ago.  I quit smoking about 9 months ago and I think my recent flare had to do with it.  My dr. told me when first diagnosed that when you smoke it constricts your blood in your body.  So I think it helped me stay in remission (in my own opinion) but now that I've quit....I'd rather go through these flares than the long term effects of smoking.  I feel so much better now.

Old Hat - I know...I was confused about that too. The GI I consulted with at Mayo told me that a study showed that the Cortenemas and Cortifoam were no more effective than Rowasa, and my long-term GI (the one that is not quite up-to-date regarding meds...) seems to be really against prescribing any kind of steroids (pred or rectal steroids) due to possible side effects. I asked him about the rectal steroids, but he didn't prescribe them to me. I think he said he would prescribe them if I started bleeding again and couldn't control it with the Rowasa. I have an appointment with him in November. Do you think it's worth asking him about them again? It would be great if I could get into an actual remission, and not just this "almost there" stage that I've been in for the past year and a half.

Sarah14:
Random observation:

Just noticed that u were diagnosed with UC same time as myself. I was in the hospital around that time for 25 days. How bad was your UC at that time, were u able to work? I was out of work for almost 6 months.

A little history from me: I smoked from 8th grade to 28 years old. I quit and started running=eventually a marathon runner. Developed UC when I was in the "best shape of my life?"...In Feb of 2007 I decided to try smoking again to see for myself how it would play out with symptoms. ALMOST immediately I started a remission that lasted 1 &1/2 years & feeling better than I ever had since Dx of UC. I drank a little too much one night and vomitted really hard and am suspicious that the trauma of that event started another moderate flare that lasted 2 to 2 & 1/2 Months (should have tried the ROWASA?) So at this point I can take it or leave it as far as smoking goes  ( I could stop at any time). BUT I don't want to live? the way I did before when I was a slave to the bathroom and terrible flares! Do I want to die of lung cancer? absolutely not. Such a hard choice for me. Sorry that any of us have to face these maladies, hope you make the choice that is best for you.
DB

Sara14: I too had just started a new job at the time of getting this diesease, I ended up not going back to that place. The boss there totally stressed me out. I worked there 2 months, almost past probation when it started. I had a hard time finding meds that put me in remission, I was put on Humira and Imuran that May, and went into remission. At the end of February I went on temporary disability and hospitalized the end of March. Thankfully your weren't hospitalized, cuz I got sicker in there, developed a Staff infection, and C-diff colitis in there. Went home with a pic iv. But Thankfully I've been in remission since May of 2007. I went into the hospital cuz I was extremely dehydrated, and couldn't eat anyting at all without it going right through me.

After smoking for 33 years, I quit in May 2001.  For a few years before that, I'd had what I thought was gall bladder problems and IBS, and by Sept. 2001, I was in bad enough shape that my HMO finally figured out that I needed my gall bladder removed.  I still had and have pain in that area, though.  I think it's all related to my UC but somehow I didn't have the last key symptom of bleeding until last year, after an extremely stressful period.  So smoking may have kept my UC at bay for 15 or more years, who knows?

That said, I would never think of picking up a cigarette again.  The damage they cause is so much worse than what they can help. 

I used Quitnet.com for support when I quit, rewarded myself with massages and funnelled my energy as much as I could into exercise.  I didn't start yoga until a few years later but I wish I had before I quit.  Yoga breathing is very helpful, for quitting smoking and for getting through some of the urges and cramping etc of UC. 

    

Yes, Sara, I would ask your local gastro about the steroid enemas again, but try to bring some supporting lit along to your appointment to show him-- to hopefully strengthen your argument. I think your local GI has Pred & steroid enemas mixed up; the Mayo gastro should not rule out steroid enemas on the basis of a single study, however recent it may be! Especially considering that you have persistent proctitis, these guys should be willing to let you at least try Cortifoam, which is only 10% steroid. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])

 

Quincy, I think patient behavior patterns play a part in the doc's choice of meds. Those of us with IBD are notorious, statistically, for not taking our meds. Heck, you can see that just by browsing this forum. Since they know most people are even more averse to rectal meds than oral meds, I think they try to give the medicine in the form most likely to actually be used.

Judilyn said...
Quincy, I think patient behavior patterns play a part in the doc's choice of meds. Those of us with IBD are notorious, statistically, for not taking our meds. Heck, you can see that just by browsing this forum. Since they know most people are even more averse to rectal meds than oral meds, I think they try to give the medicine in the form most likely to actually be used.

Definitely true, but we do see many patients whose doctors haven't even suggested them, because their assumption is that they probably won't use them (which many wouldn't anyway).  My doc is still surprised at my faithfulness to them....the payoff is huge for me.  I wish everyone had that success.

Ignorance is bliss...what did I know 19 years ago?

q