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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 8/30/2011 2:17 PM (GMT 0)
Hey guys. As some of you may know I have Crohn's Colitis that only effects my colon. I've been suffering lately for the past two years. I ran into a friend of mine who has the same condition. He recommended that I start smoking 3-5 cigarettes a day. At first I was like yeah right that's crazy. So I did some research on it. I decided to give it a try. I know that there are many other side effects of smoking but I'm willing to take the chance until there are some new break throughs in the field. A little more than a week later of smoking I feel around 75 percent better. I still have some cramps, but I swear to you that it's been helping me. Now, I don't recommend that anyone starts smoking because for me it was a desperate measure and I'm not a doctor. I'm just sharing what helped me. Honestly, I never though that such a thing would help me. I'm at the point where I'm willing to live a enjoyable life that is shorter than a longer life that is miserable. Any relief to me, I'll take. Thanks for listening guys.
Posted 8/30/2011 2:25 PM (GMT 0)
There are healthier alternatives to smoking cigs such as the E-cigs. Some have had success here with them. E-cigs also comes in different flavors.

I'm a smoker but I did quit for 2 years - worse 2 years of my Uc life! So I started back up and it helped a little. I tried the E-cigs but after smoking for so long, it wasn't the same. However, I still use it on occasion.
Posted 8/30/2011 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
Wow, Bosnain Boy.  Thanks so much for sharing and I'm so glad it helped.  I am not a smoker but there have been many threads about this on the forum.  Why not check out e-cigs or nicotine gum....I think a little safer and hopefuly the same effect. Pls keep us posted about this. Isn't this disease wierd??

B

Posted 8/30/2011 5:42 PM (GMT 0)
I hate e-cigs so much. They just are weird to me, I don't know how to explain it. It feels like vapor and I don't really like it. Some people say that the carbon monoxide might help as well along with the nicotine. Figures that the only thing that helps me is the thing I always stood firmly against. Thanks for the recommendations guys!
Posted 8/31/2011 2:59 PM (GMT 0)
my dad has ulcerative colitis, too, and hasn't had a flare in over 20 years- no meds. he's a heavy smoker and i learned that your body produces more mucous when you smoke so his colon is probably very heavy with mucous whereas mine isn't.
Posted 9/5/2011 5:13 PM (GMT 0)
Does anyone know if people who dip tobacco would have the same results?
Posted 9/11/2011 1:05 AM (GMT 0)
I sometimes use Snus when traveling and I can't smoke, and I haven't had any problems. I order it from Sweden, and you don't have to spit, so it's not as obnoxious to others as dipping or chewing.
Posted 9/12/2011 2:58 PM (GMT 0)

There is a chapter on Nicotine in the 2010 UC book "Lichtenstein, G. R. and E. J. Scherl (2010). Ulcerative colitis : the complete guide to medical management. Thorofare, NJ, SLACK Inc." (http://www.slackbooks.com/ulcerativecolitis). Chapter 33: Nicotine and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Truc T. Trinh, MD; Richard S. Bloomfeld, MD, MS; and Stephen J. Bickston, MD, AGAF -- Not too hard to read, but definitely for physicians/researchers. I read it OKish now, but would have understood much less before I became a UC patient. Also I am familiar with research methods and science literature, if not exactly clinical trials.

It says about what this about.com article says: http://ibdcrohns.about.com/cs/ibdfaqs/a/smokingguts.htm -

  • can help UC, bad for Chrons. - they can't explain that
  • Sometimes works on flares, no apparent benefit in maintenance.
  • side effects are a big issue.
  • pills that deliver only to the colon, or patches, and even enemas can help avoid side effects
  • new drugs that connect to the same receptors in the immune system (agonists) as the nicotine molecule are being looked at

 

In several clinical trials of various nicotine methods, there did seem to be some people benefiting, but the treatment group as a whole did not show significant benefit (when averaged). This tells me that there are some people, perhaps with specific genes, that benefit, while others do not.

I guess I would be willing to try an enema if my current hydrocortisone and 5-ASA enemas do not work.

Posted 9/12/2011 5:09 PM (GMT 0)
Smoking can aid with inflammation specific to the colon due to the carbon monoxide (researchers have found this evidence and are working on a "safe" med that mimics the effects of healing inflammation in the colon without the harmful effects of smoking) when they finally create this med, if it's in my lifetime, I will quit smoking my 6 cigs/day.

Some theories suggest that smoking might lower the intestine's defenses, decrease blood flow to the intestines, or cause immune system changes that result in inflammation...which is why it's bad for the small intestine (and crohnies in general since the majority of CDers have disease activity in the small intestine (I haven't had any small intestinal issues in the 17 yrs out of my 20 yrs of having CD, but my CD has stayed constant in my colon for the entire 20 yrs of having CD).
Posted 9/12/2011 6:03 PM (GMT 0)
The whole nicotine/UC connection is very confusing, with studies that contradict other studies, and expert opinion that seems to contradict anecdotal (real world) results. Fact is, the only anecdotal results that really matter to me are those that apply to me; and for you, those that apply to you. These are my experiences:

1. Nicotine replacement therapy help to attain remission.
Worked for me, I used Nicorett (formerly Commit) lozenges with success.

2. Nicotine does not help maintain remission.
Not true for me, I’ve been in remission for two years primarily using e-cigs supplemented with Nicorett lozenges.

3. Nicotine is a poisonous addictive substance.
True, I am re-addicted to nicotine, but am not ingesting the rest of the junk associated with tobacco. I’ve had to adjust my blood pressure meds to compensate.

4. It is reputational suicide for any medical practitioner to endorse nicotine use for any reason.
True, both my PCP and my GI will not advise me to use it, but neither actively discourages it. My PCP’s exact words are “Clearly, it’s working for you.”

5. It doesn’t work for everyone.
True, although the studies don’t show it, largely because of lack of specificity of the sample group; anecdotally from, observing the experiences related here, it seems that those people who contracted UC after stopping smoking have the greatest success.

6. Carbon Monoxide has an effect on UC.
I’ve heard this here and elsewhere, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but none of the nicotine delivery methods that I have used (except a very occasional cigar) have included CO. For me the benefits of CO ingestion have yet to be explored.

Post Edited (wodin) : 9/12/2011 7:03:59 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/12/2011 6:05 PM (GMT 0)
I think that "carbon monoxide" is not the most current theory, but rather more complicated roles of nicotine's effects on various chemical signals in the immune system. But I might have missed that info in my quick scan of the chapter.
Posted 9/12/2011 6:54 PM (GMT 0)
It is infact the carbon monoxide that aids with inflammation in the colon...and it's considered still fairly new information (research time wise that is)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060103084934.htm

http://www.jimmunol.org/content/186/9/5506.abstract

Posted 9/12/2011 8:32 PM (GMT 0)

Yes, the 2nd link is particularly informative. Thanks.

I guess I had been focused on nicotine, and had not the actively considered smoking/smoke more broadly. However, I think the good news is that there is some distinct benefit from both CO and nicotine - because the trials with transdermal patches and nicotine enemas did not involve any CO. My initial dismissal of CO, was the promising results of smokeless-nicotine. But why not BOTH?

Both the effect of CO in the link you give, and the various research on nicotine focus on mediation and regulation of chemical messages among cells of the immune system. It all gets a bit complicated for me. The CO seems to involve IL-8, while nicotine does not seem to. The CO research does not seem as far along. It only got mentioned once, indirectly, in the 2010 book chapter I was referencing. On rereading, I found a study (mice) in table 33-1, but it is an adaption of 2004 publication - so likely less than current. The paper you link is 2011 pre-publication, and so far only in mouse models.

I will keep an eye out for both lines of research. I would say our immune systems are highly individual, with some family likenesses - it is one way our genes keep ahead of disease, which can adapt more rapidly. I can easily accept that either CO, nicotine, or both would provide striking benefit to some people (i.e., their immune system variant), while not helping others as much. You are lucky to have found something so effective for you.

Wouldn't it be great if we could get our genes sequenced, and we could just get told/prescribed the most effective (and least harmful) remedy for each person. Of course, they would also have to understand more about how all this immune system stuff is working. Oh - and it was cheap too.

I note the market emergence of many meters and home test kits for all sort of things, including some genetic tests. I have also watched epidemiologists and bio-engineers put assays for multiple diseases on a single inexpensive chip for use in 3rd world field locations. I don't have the time or money to seek out an immunologist and have test done every few days as I try new things to kick my immune system back to wherever it was before I got UC. However If I had a home test that could give me various cytokine levels in the colon (maybe something I could swallow?), I think it would be a lot easier to sort through diet variations and other agents that have shown some efficacy in some people/mice. But I think this is years away.

Posted 10/3/2011 1:42 AM (GMT 0)
I, too, have had success with nicotine therapy.  I really wish the doctors would at least mention this to us. 

I made another thread today, so I won't go into the details.  I do, however, feel like I need to shout this on the rooftops.  Obviously, it doesn't work for everyone, but it could work for some.  But, instead, like I did for years, I just swallowed (literally) everything the doctors told me to.  I had one doctor go so far as to tell me to quit researching this disease.  Needless to say, it was the last time I went to him.

Posted 10/3/2011 2:17 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah this sounds it may help temporarily, but think about it, your shortening your life expectancy and when your body is putting up a bigger fight for now a second disease... all that mucous build up will create a problem and eventually stop, your body can only take so much.
Posted 10/3/2011 3:30 PM (GMT 0)
when I started smoking I was really depressed and stressed bcuz I was going 20 times a day and was missing a lot of school while having finals coming up and no job(still have no job, I'm in another flare) I looked up everything online and was willing to try anything. I read study's of nicotine effect on colitis and since my father smokes I grabbed his cigarettes and started blowing smoke. I went from 20bm to 10bm in about a week. My colitis is pretty bad so it wasn't enough to put me back in remission but it sure did help a lot.

funny thing is, when I went to my GI, he was asking me the usual questions they ask when you first see them bcuz his office had a new data system and needed to update my info. The question of "do you smoke?" came up and since he's a doctor and I was thinking maybe he will try to give me a long speech abt how smoking is bad, so I told him no. Then he told me how its weird that for people with chrons, smoking is really bad for them but for people with colitis, it actually helps them. I said "oh really?". He said yes but not that hes telling me to smoke or anything bcuz its really bad for my health. At that time we were talking abt prednisone which I ended up having to take. I really think he was trying to tell me to try smoking instead of taking prednisone bcuz it is way worse then smoking. I never told him that I smoke bcuz I didn't want to look like a liar.
Posted 10/3/2011 3:56 PM (GMT 0)
My take is that while some smoking or nicotine therapy helps some people a lot, it generally helps most folks only a little or not much at all. I did not feel my doc his this because he asked about smoking and tole me that quitting cold-turkey was one common trigger of UC. When I went to the web for info on drugs and alternative therapies, nicotine was mentioned. When I read chapters in medical texts on the management of UC, there were sections on nicotine.

5-ASA seems to help the most people to the greatest extent, although there are some it does not seem to help at all.

I figure if you are running out of options, trying some sort of nicotine therapy could make sense. IF you have not tried the drugs that have a record of greater improvement in greater numbers of people, then skipping those for something that gives on average less relief to fewer people - well that may not be advisable. On the other hand if you have a 1st degree relative (ie.e, similar immune system) who has benefited, they maybe it should be the very 1st thing you try because you have a good chance of being one of the few it helps a lot.
Posted 10/3/2011 9:34 PM (GMT 0)
It's common knowledge that nicotine and smoking can help reduce UC symptoms. It's also common knowledge that smoking kills. skull Your solution is not viable. skull skull skull
Posted 1/14/2012 12:29 AM (GMT 0)
I was diagnosed with UC in 2002. It was moderate in the beginning but after a year I went from 5 BM and some blood to 30 BM and nothing but blood. I couldn't get up because standing on my feet would cause me to feel the urge to go to the bathroom and when I went it was globs of blood. Prednisone did nothing for me, had to leave my job. I heard about smoking and UC and lit that cigarette in desperation and wow symptom free in 3 days.......is smoking good.....no.......but at this point it's what's going to kill me first and I think colitis was leading. Also if some would rather take prednisone, asacol, 6pm, humira and many more........I will not criticize you, just don't try and tell me that cigarettes are more dangerous than any of the drugs.
Posted 10/18/2013 11:59 AM (GMT 0)
Dont try cigs if u dont smoke in ur past.Dont try E-cigarettes bcs my history:I had 3years remission and i try e-cigs bcs i want take away normal cigs.After 1 year i try e-cigs and sudenly my colitis was little sick.E-cigs are very false bcs ibsmoke it even in toalet he he and i was sick i think bcs too much Nicotine.When i take out e-cigs and back smoke normal cigs my colon was in remission back.After time i want take out normal cigarettes and i back to smoke e-cigs for second time.I smoking it maybe 3 months and after i had very big problem with my colon.Today i Take Out e-cigarettes from my Life and i dont back smoke it never again bcs normal cigs was not bad as e-cigs.How i can get remission after this.First little diet but for me Important is move jogging if we have power but The best isGYM, not jogging but training Dumb-bell always help me always very quickly i have remission*some months not years.
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