What do you believe caused your UC

I am an autoimmune mess. My dad gave all the bad genes.

Asthma
Excema
UC
Hay fever
and some unexplained abnormalities

I beleive my UC was caused by a combination of factors:
1) my father had it mildly so I was predisposed genetically IMHO,
2) My mother did not breastfeed me, thus depriving me of certain nutrients my body might have needed to fight the disease
3) I grew up in the 80's before we knew how bad processed food was for you. We ate what we thought was a healthy diet in my house but in hindsight I would change my diet completely if I could go back in time, oen thing would be to never drink soda, especially coca cola, or other high processe dfoods like twinkies and other things that were dailies in my lunch growing up
4) Alcohol consumption in my 20's. I binge drank alot in college and into my 20. Hey I live in Wiscsonin where beer is like a food group and I was young and stupid
5) Hormones and pesticides in food today
6) Living up north where I don't get as much sun and the natural sun provded vitamin D they get in southern state
7) Stress (big time trigger to my flares)

I honestly believe if I could somehow have changed atleast 4 of the 7 things above I would not have UC today. I do not think it was any one thing but if I'd been breastfed, had a better diet growing up, not drank alcohol and had less stress I might have been able to overcome the other three. Or some other combo, it's tough to prove this theory but I honestly believe it.

Immediately before my first flareup, I drank from a water spigot that had unclean water. After taking a few gulps I looked at it and it had weird white stuff floating around in it. I have always suspected this was the main trigger.

My mother and sister also have UC. My maternal grandfather has diverticulitis but he didn't get it until his late 80s. I smoked a few cigarettes here and there as a teenager but never really habitually. I drank a lot in college for the few years before my first flareup.

I was born in NJ but moved to South Carolina four years before my first flareup, and I spent a lot of time outdoors, so I don't think it was lack of sun.


When I was 10-12 I was diagnosed with "exercise-induced asthma" but this went away by my early teens. I can't ever remember using antibiotics before getting UC.

I blame genetics as both my maternal and fraternal lines have signs of it. My mother has IBS. My father's, sister has either uc or chrons (guessing the later but I haven't asked which). I've never smoked in my life. There is no clear trigger that I can find, call it bad luck.

Bad genes as well...inherited crap from both parents..reason why I made the decision to have NO kids..plus other past health issues (mental/physical). Always have had anxiety/depression.

Was on NSAIDS. Didn't abuse antibiotics. During the '80s, I was pretty much falling apart because of extreme sensitivities.

The first major bout of diarrhea caused extreme weight loss...probably some gut invader..never had stool sample testing done, wish I did.

I smoked as a teen and early adult, socially. Wasn't diagnosed until 34.

Always had IBS, more constipation. Hmmm, could have been inflammation there, not knowingly.

oth my parents smoked. I believe my mom had UC because all that bleeding and urgency couldn't have been only from her "piles"...

My dad had AS, and my sister has it. I don't, but always have had back/neck/joint/muscle pain. First they were growing pains, now they're growing-old pains..sigh. I have repetative strain injury...hands/neck.

I have no idea who else in my family has UC/CD, but many have asthma on my mom's side.

So, whatever was the trigger...it is what it is.

q

Kdragon you have a "perfect" profile for having IBS. Ashke jews have the highest rate of IBS and so north american and irish decent north american.

When I was treated at the general hospital of montreal more than half of GI's were jewish and so were the patients! Maybe not ashke though!

But mainly if you are any of those decents plus you live in a cold country (were sun is limited) and its running in your family its jackpot time!

Now I moved to England where there is even less sun than in Canada and I definately have a problem with vitamin D.

yes quincy thats the french emerging and so the red wine!

It would be Syndrome de l'Intestin Irritable (also Syndrome du colon irritable). So I thought syndrome in English.
But then by searching as well I found Maladie de l'Intestin Irritable wich means disease.

Yes if I recall the difference between the two here is a clear example: My mum always complained about her colon irritable stating how it was horrible (in a way it was) but it was more manageable through diet because the symptoms showed straight after a trigger.

As with colitis its been years that people on this forum have posted about possible triggers ahah

Tonight was Merlot. Wasn;t so impressed. Im a huge fan of californian wines but good luck finding them in the uk!

Menopause and stress. Started having menopausal symptoms so obgyn put me on birth control pills. Took those for a year then decided to just let nature take its course. 3 months after my last dose, my hubby lost his job on our wedding anniversary. That night, ourtown was hit with tornado type winds that caused a lot of damage and power outages.

I vividly remember my husband telling me the morning after the storm while I was getting ready for work that he lost his job. I was calm and almost disconnected. I really believe I swallowed the news thus causing gut issues about 2 days later. Probably still have never released all the emotions of that day, but it's water under the bridge. Been dealing with UC ever since.

I find the different speculations interesting.  Personally, my mom had some issues with her stomach, too, but never was diagnosed with UC. Both parents smoked. I smoked some as a teenager but never really developed much of a habit.  I remember something about an ulcer with my mother when I was young. Back then, they insisted coffee and cigarettes caused ulcers. I had stomach issues in 2nd grade with "nervous" stomach.  Looking back now, it was probably lack of regularity and nerves over changing schools.

   Since '96, I lost both parents 10 days apart (ages at their deaths - 61 & 63); grief, then stress, gallbladder surgery, too much acid reflux medicine, intolerance to fatty foods, flat stools thought to be from prolapsed bladder/colon; repaired but still  had flat stools; they found and removed colon polyps; then, hiatal hernia repair with nissan fundoplication;  I believe that surgery and the gallbladder removal started the ball rolling. . .then, diverticular pouches and UC developed,  but official diagnosis came much later despite colonoscopies & endoscopies.  Some similarities to Old Mike's chemical issues; being around brake dust in my dad's automotive repair shop and chemicals used in cleaning grease from car parts.  I believe my grandmother had colon cancer. My dad died from cancer but his was lung, though he did have some colon polyps. Interestingly, I had a 7th grade student in my English class who had the Nissan fundoplication from the same dr. and wound up experiencing UC symptoms.

tournevice...yes, maladie would be the term I think meaning disease. But I googled E/F translation and this is what it came up with...
la maladie inflammatoire de l'intestin

The inflammatory part is most important.

Maybe you should host a wine tasting party....have everyone bring a bottle and try then all out. Rate them, etc.
I've always wanted to host one, but alas...my body doesn't handle wine well at all. sucks..lol. I feel sick from the alcohol.

q

My history is pretty much like fruitgirl's. Except i had lots of antibiotic rounds in my life due to my susceptibility to getting upper respiratory tract infections, especially when young. It was during my final year of high schooling with lots of antibiotics that my bowel started to act up. It wasn't uc yet, though.
I also had that HSP rash that your son had, i had when an URTI got quite bad and was resistent to augmentin. I had it before uc and it lasted for a couple of months.

I quit smoking 5 years before I acquired ulcerative proctitis and also was taking an aspirin everyday because I thought it was good for you (prevents cancer).

I have no family history of this condition.  I do think that quitting smoking has something to do with it

In 2009 I went to get my teeth cleaned and the hygentist noticed something on my uvula (the punching bag in your throat) it came to be a papilloma.  I went to a ent doctor who operated on me (put me completely out with oxygen down the throat and everything) and found 2 more papillomas (one on my tonsil and the other on my larynx).  Fortunately, none of the papillomas reappeared.  He said it was mostly caused by the HPV virus, but when the papillomas went off to be biopsied they came back as non HPV. 

I asked my gynecologist when I saw her and she mentioned that maybe the papillomas were caused by your quitting smoking.  I thought that was kind of silly, but then I acquired UP in 2011 and seem to feel that maybe she was right.  My body was so use the chemicals in smoke.

I, of course, do not know anything for sure, but I try to put the pieces of the puzzle together and pretend like I am on to something.