Posted 10/1/2011 8:15 PM (GMT 0)
I would say not to stress or overreact to symptoms. I went off of azathioprine several weeks ago, after mostly tapering off my third round of high dose prednisone within the last year and a half. I feel so much better off the meds, but at first it wasn't like that. Things got worse at first, but then I noticed that the other things I was doing (aloe vera inner filet gel, supplements, probiotics) were making way more of a difference if I took them or not. I started colostrum and improved rapidly. I am still improving every day. I still had some blood as I was getting better - so I sort of went into and out of a flair as I transitioned off my meds and onto things that actually support rather than interfere with my immune system. I have had poops the last day or so with absolutely nothing weird about them - no blood, etc - and getting more and more formed - and I am going way less often. I was unable to drive anywhere and barely walk while I went through this flair, and I just drove myself to my bank, walked across the parking lot, had the energy to carry out a conversation with the cashier, and drove home totally psyched. My energy levels continue to get better as I improve. The mental problems that came with the meds are clearing up also.
I also met with an herbalist who has helped many people heal from UC. She gives them her formula, which doesn't have a lot in it - something for inflamation, soothing the mucosa, to promote digestion, etc. - and that's it. She said when you find the thing that works for you you will see improvement every day. If you don't, find something else. She said she has never seen something heal while on meds. That was her experience, although I am sure some people have healed while on them. I feel that this may be healing despite being on them. Azathioprine works by interfering with DNA replication across the board, which hits the immune system the hardest, since those are very fast replicating cells. It also interferes a lot with your bioflora, inhibiting the proliferation of "good" bacteria. So....after I read that I finally got it that this is not something inherently wrong with me and my immune system that made this happen. I took antibiotics, as you mentioned that you did, and got sick after that. To get better, my immune system needed help re-establishing itself, and my gut bioflora did too ... and the rest of me is getting better as a result of that. So I didn't need something to stop my cells from growing and possibly cause cancer - I needed help being healthy and balanced on my own.
Anyway, I feel successful in finding a way to get better naturally for me. If you are too, no need to wait for the "other shoe to drop." The herbalist also said, as others have, of UC, that you can go through therapeutic stages, where you use food as therapy etc (and I definitely suggest no dairy, no wheat (common allergen and interferes with nutrient absorbtion), and some other things that I could go into more), but in the end you will be healed. You will be healthy. You do not need to have any more flair ups. You don't need to take antibiotics for most things. Colloidal silver can get rid of a sinus infection in 2 days for example. And often dietary changes can promote overall health which means you won't get sick with things that you did before. I was on eight rounds of antibiotics the year before I got sick, and every time my digestio suffered while I took probiotics and recovered for about a month. I had three staff infections, which is pretty rare, and I feel like the car accidents I was in, the chronic fatigue, panic attacks, emotional abuse, and poor diet all contributed to why I got those infections. After switched my diet after I got sick with UC, even when I had symptoms, I didn't ever get a staff infection again, and the two sinus infections (mild) I've had with flues/colds I've taken care of with colloidal silver in a couple days and I dont' feel "sick all the time" like I used to.
Anyway, diet and alternative medicine worked for me and I think it can work for anyone given the right circumstances. And really, if you look at UC as a combination of your immune system being thrown off balance and your body having ulcers, you can treat the ulcers and ulcers and the immune system as the immune system and strength it while healing the ulcers. It doesn't have to be so scary to have ulcers. My boyfriend had a stomach ulcer for 9 months while he destressed his life and took aloe very gel every day, and it went away. Yeah, it was there for 9 months. But the body is resiliant. He is alive and very healthy today. He never gets sick really and is enjoying his life.
Hope this helps. I listed a bunch of things I tried and which have helped at different times in a thread I started. I think I called it "Getting better naturally ... " or "Healing naturally." I'll see if I can find it and list the name of it here.
Sometimes goes off meds takes away the "masking" they can do of symtpoms, so then you have to give your body what it wants to heal ... hence all the alternative medicine.
Kat