HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Hey all, new to the forum !!

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 2/10/2009 7:15 AM (GMT 0)

Howdy !!

I am new to the forum and found it only yesterday !! Greetings to y'all from dallas, Texas. I am a 29 year old male of east indian descent working as a computer programmer in dallas, Texas. I was diagnosed with UC through a colonoscopy in a hospital in dallas on December '06 after i experienced abdominal cramps, diarrhea, bleeding and weight loss all of a sudden. It could be attributed to my careless dietary habits and also maybe cos i was a diet coke junkie drinking abt 6-7 diet coke cans a day !! Thankfully the colonoscopy revealed that i had only mild ulcerative colitis affecting about 1/3rd of my colon. I didnt know much about the disease back then but have learnt a lot the past 2 years dealing with it. It has been a rough ride and not a very pleasant experience especially during times of flareups when i had to run to the restroom about 6-7 times a day and the short term depression that goes along with it after the flareup subsides !!!

Anyways after the diagnosis i tried a couple of schools of medicine like allopathy, chiropractics etc both of which didnt solve my problem and finally after exploring the internet exhaustively out of desperation, i accidentally bumped into an ayurvedic clinic from India that treated my condition long distance with herbal ayurvedic medicine and magically suppressed my symptoms and drove my disease to remission within a couple of weeks. These days, life is almost back to normal as long as i take my ayurvedic pills daily though i experience mild flareups every once in a while when i eat spicy foods (which is typical of where i hail from) or milk products a little too much .

So much for my intro, though the ayurvedic medicine suppresses my symptoms the disease is very much there in my system and shows itself every once in a while reminding me of how horrible it is.

1) So in this regard, i was wondering if there is a permanent cure for this disease without surgery through any other school of medicine which i havent explored yet ?

2) Also what are the risks that i might develop colon cancer if i have the disease for a long period of time (about 8-10 years) and should i be worried abt colon cancer risks at this stage ?

Thank you for your time. Your thoughts and opinions are appreciated !!!

StallionUnleashed

Posted 2/10/2009 11:09 AM (GMT 0)

Hi We will cross the bridges when we reach them. Don't worry about colon cancer at this stage. I suffered for 16 years and then got the surgery and am repenting as to why did I go for surgery. It is not that easy. There are lots of alternate medicines. you are right, this ayurvedic medicine does help a lot. I have tried Sallaki/Bosenwalia, there is a lot of research on that, which I have posted on Sallaki/Bosenwalia page on this forum. You may also try fresh home grown turmeric. Are you from south India. Well I am from North India and can understand your dietary habbits. I also tried Unani, which is nothing but again a combination of ayurvedic herbs. They help a lot. Have you tried green pumpkin juice. That is very good for colon. Have amla to meet your vitamin C needs. It has maximum amount of Vitamin C, which is must to cure this. Cheers and good health. Don't worry as stress is one of the main reasons for flare ups. Please do pranayaam, meditation, deep breathing exercise and you will find relief from flare ups.

Posted 2/10/2009 3:06 PM (GMT 0)
The only cure for UC is surgery, however some people do find that they are helped by various diets and supplements. You'll find a lot of discussion about those topics if you browse through the forum.

Statistically, the risk of colon cancer increases after ten years, however the odds are still highly in your favor that you will never develop it. And people with UC rarely die from colon cancer simply because we do have regular colonoscopies. Colon cancer takes about five years to reach stage IV, and discovered early it is pretty much 100% curable.

Welcome to HealingWell, and I hope you'll find a lot of helpful information here.
Posted 2/11/2009 7:28 PM (GMT 0)

Hi Judy and PSA.Delhi,

Thanks for your replies to my post. I really appreciate it.  Sorry for the late reply. I was contemplating surgery for my UC problem last year but the doctor advised me against it since it can have complications later on and there is not a 100% guarantee that it will cure UC. These days my life is "almost" normal except i do get flareups when i screw up and eat something accidentally like spices or diary food that i shouldnt be eating thinking that it shouldnt cause much damage and i suffer the consequences that are pretty nasty and painful like bad stomach cramps and multiple bowel movements and it subsides within a couple of hours though i dont see blood or much diarrhea in my stools due to my herbal ayurvedic medication that shows my colon is improving slowly. Also i have gained all my weight and energy back that i lost back in 2006 in the initial stages when the disease was at its peak. Also i workout and run regularly and keep myself toned and fit which helps a lot too.

PSA.Delhi, thanks for your ideas. I sure will try pumpkin juice and how or in what form do i use turmeric to treat my colon better?

Also i was wondering if according to y'all's experience/knowledge, surgery for UC will really cure my problem so i dont have to even worry about the once-in-a-while flareups that i experience now and i can be completely free of the disease and live and eat anything like anybody else like my life before the disease happened to me ? What are the chances that there might be complications after surgery and what sorts of complications and are they fatal ? Please let me know. Your thoughts and ideas are appreciated.

StallionUnleashed79

Posted 2/13/2009 2:29 AM (GMT 0)
Surgery is a pretty drastic step unless you are hopelessly debilitated and nothing else works, in my opinion. Living without a colon surely brings its own hell.
Posted 2/13/2009 3:18 PM (GMT 0)
     I saw a GI surgeon last summer and he explained that surgery is totally a LAST resort for sufferers of UC.  At the time of my visit with him I was having six to seven  bloody bowel movements per day.  He said that people who have the surgery..it is the "norm" to have six to seven movements per day after the surgery.  He then mentioned an entire rhetoric of complications that could occur following surgery.  This coming from a SURGEON mind you.  He makes his money on removing colons but only suggests it when all else fails.  He's number 1 in my book!
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply