Help?

Well I have been diagnosed with UC since I was about 17. Life has been pretty difficult and I'm at my wits end with everything and could use some advice.

First is my Fiance' and I have been wanting to start a family but when I think of my disease and going through pregnancy I get terrified. One minute i'm excited at the idea of being a mother but then when I rush to the bathroom with cramps and bloody diarrhea I can't help but think if i'm this miserable now what is it going to be like when I am actually pregnant and have a living human inside of me that will be kicking at my colon and stomach and even worse..childbirth! Would a c-section be more advised since I have had polyps removed from me before and have had what i believe the doctor called a fissure. Is it possible for me to have a successful pregnancy or am i doomed to childlessness forever? Any advice on that from someone that has been there would help me just so much because when i try to search the web it seems little has been done.

Another issue is what kind of career can I possibly make for myself with this disease. I have so many dreams but none of them seem in any way possible because of this god forsaken illness. I used to want to be a surgical technician or a medical assistant but I can only imagine what that would be like. I'm in the middle of giving someone a shot then i need to rush off to the bathroom with a needle in their arm. That's professional..

What kind of jobs are you all able to do with this disease and does it make it more difficult?

Sorry for the rambling and thanks for listening.

Hi, welcome to Healingwell :) I have two children. I had my son before being diagnosed with Uc and my daughter after having Uc for 4 years (they are 18 and 14 now btw). No you may not be destined to be childless forever. I'm one that my Uc got better while being pregnant. I was flaring somewhat bad and then I got pregnant with my daughter (it was unintentioned). I actually went into remission. I felt great! I even breast fed my daughter afterwards but then I started flaring about 6 months after I had her. I was also babysitting a friends baby at the time - both my daughter and him were the same age. It was not so fun let me tell you. But I think if I had more of a support system back then that things may not have been that hard on me. I do remember taking my daughter into the bathroom with me on occasion when I couldn't set her down and I had to go - she was a baby so she didn't care about the smell! LOL You know, even though it was rough when she was a baby, she was also my stress reliever. I loved playing with her and just loving her that it didn't seem that my flare was that bad. :)

I wouldn't be afraid of conceiving while having Uc. Many Uc women have done it so it can be done.

It's certainly possible to be successful at parenting with UC.

On the other hand, you're what, 19 now? If so, you have a lot of years to have children, and maybe could take some time to get your UC under better control before attempting a pregnancy. If after two years on Asacol you're still having this much trouble, it's time to talk to your GI doctor about what else is available to get things under control. I'd encourage you to do that sooner rather than later.

I was diagnosed with UC in 1990.  I took prednisone, pentasa, and asacol over a course of three years.  Then I began researching HEALTH and digging into potential CAUSES for my condition; concepts ignored by the medical folks.

Turns out that I am quite sure that my UC was caused by preterm labor drugs.  I had no digestive complaints until they filled me us with experimental (without telling me) IV drugs.

After three years of declining health on these toxic "treatments", I got rid of all of the pills and said goodbye to my doctor.  I continued to improve my diet and took a lot of high-quality (read:  Not made by pharmaceutical companies) nutritional supplements.  I had constant, urgent diarrhea, but my general health improved over the next 17 years (time flies when you poop a lot). 

Seventeen months ago, I began drinking a pear/apple (skins included) and water smoothie every morning; I was totally free of symptoms in ONE WEEK.  My health continues to improve and pooping is now a delight (I'm sure you will all understand this strange choice of words!).

The drugs do not help, folks.  They make your general health worse in the long run and probably head you down the road towards surgery.  What you need is real food (no chemicals, chain restaurants, or processed) and whole-food supplements and super probiotics, and NO DRUGS, prescribed or OTC.  A nice healer is George's Aloe Vera Juice.  A good probiotic is Original Medicine Muliti-Probiotic.

Get out there and take back your health!!!!!!!!

Right, diets help some people, don't help others. Some of us need the drugs. And Elvaleryn, that doesn't mean a change in diet won't help. Go for it! But please stay on your maitenance meds!

Thanks for the advice everyone it really does help. No i'm not 19 lol i'm 20. I had a doctors appointment with my Primary health care doctor a few weeks ago and I told her that we had been thinking of trying to conceive sometime in the not to far future but I wanted to see a doctor for my colitis. She said she would set up an appointment for me soon and would call me when an appointment with a GI was set. I'm still waiting on that phone call.... lol

I've had a GI and a OBGYN tell me the younger you are when you have kids (with having an IBD) the better actually cuz there seems to be an increase of complications if you have IBD and wait until you're older before having kids. Don't know the stats on that, just dharing what I was told.

I had both my kids when I was young, the first was before IBD and the second was with IBD, both pregnancies were practically identical to one another, no morning sickness or any issues (and both were big babies).

Personally I'm glad to have had my 2 kids at a young age cuz now I'm still young and my kids are both prctically grown up, just have one living at home who's 16, time sure flies fast though, feels like I was just changing diapers yesterday....oh wait, I was.....my own LOL!!! {joking}.

:)