What do you believe caused your UC

There is no "cause" for UC -the very idea that we somehow cause our illness is counter-productive and just scientifically wrong.
The latest science shows that there are defective genes involved and an "event" -usually food poisoning or the like kickstarts our UC.
For many, UC is but a nuisance, while others cannot carry on and must have surgery to live a semi-normal life.
To say we somehow cause our UC is to assign blame which is adding insult to injury and has no basis in reality.

All quite interesting,keep it up. There seems to be a lot of people who attribute to quitting smoking or not being exposed any longer.
But of course that has been documented for many years.
Old Mike

quitting smoking wouldn't be the cause....quitting smoking can bring on all sorts of issues as well as the possible masking or control of symptoms that many don't realise is happening. They just appear as they would have if one didn't smoke...my opinion.

q

I did take numerous rounds of Bactrim & Flagyl for diverticular attacks prior to UC.

Interesting post. Some factors i think may be linked to my UC

• My Paternal Grandfather died of Colon cancer when he was 74 and my father his brother both have had mild bowel issues (not IBD). So there's likely some genetic predisposition in my family
• As a teen I was on Minocycline for a couple of years (minotabs) for acne.
• At 19 I got glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis)
• At 25 I had a oil burn on my foot that got infected and required 3 courses of antibiotics including finally IV antibiotics to treat. A couple of months after that after that I got a 36 hour gastro bug.

about 4 months after the IV antibiotics I started getting symptoms and was diagnosed.  So i suspect that one I'm predisposed genetically, and my triggers were probably bought on by the antibiotics messing with my gut bacteria.

 

I was a perfectly healthy child and adolescent. I developed ulcerative colitis within one month of going on the drug Accutane. I'm sure that's what caused it.

No one in my family ever had it. Closest thing: grandmother had diverticulitis in her old age - many years after I was diagnosed with UC.

Quitting smoking. I was diagnosed a few years after. My Dr thought I might have shown symptomns in my teens if I hadn't been a smoker. I was taking a lot of Nsaids for a smashed foot a year before and used them a lot for general aches and pains. I miss advil......

For me:

Risk factors not present: never smoked cigs or anything else, parents didn't smoke, never worked in smoky place, no family IBD history, not Jewish, no sicknesses prior to UC diagnosis, no unusual medications.

Risk factors present: western diet with alcohol use, residence in Northern climates (UK, NY, but diagnosed in DC), antibiotic use for sicknesses, first-generation Western (South Asian parents).

My conclusions - primarily genetic defect, environmental cause could be general western lifestyle, and I can't help wondering that if I had grown up in India if I would have had the disease to the same extent. All the rest of my family in Europe and US do not have IBD. My intestinal flora certainly would have been different living in India. Although UC does occur in India:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14570727

I took Accutane in my 20s but wasn't diagnosed with UC until age 44. That seems too long to be linked, but who knows? I do recall one dr visit I made for persistent diarrhea in my late 20s. He basically pushed on my belly and said I don't have cancer! (thanks) It resolved on its own. I suspect it was stress related, though maybe it was UC related. I have a few relatives on my mom's side with some vague GI issues, but no known UC or Crohns. I guess I'll never know.

I got pregnant and quit smoking immediately

at 7 months pregnant tried to stretch forward a little (belly) and had sudden pain like I had torn something in my stomach
the very next bm had ribbons of blood and it stayed that way throughout the rest of the pregnancy with mucus also being mixed in the last 6 weeks but all stools were formed. Dr said hemorrhoids

took large doses of iron after delivering for 2 weeks. as soon as I stopped the iron full on UC symptoms

I think I had an intestinal tear from that stretch which was the trigger. Maybe it would've happened anyway, I dunno but I have certainly wondered what it would be like to have a normal pregnancy ad life go back to normal afterward (aside from a new baby LOL)

It is in our genetics..,,meaning OUR genes which can go back mega generations. You have NO idea whether anyone in your complete family had genetic tendency for IBD.

Our genes can change if something unlocks the key that blocks a specific disease, etc, and that might happen in our ancestors with that unlocked gene passed to us.  

q

too tough to figure out what is the cause. I don't feel it's my duty to figure out. I didn't study in genetics and micro biology. I rely on the appropriate people.

For example: I went to the GI the other day, She said: Somedude, you can eat anything!

See, no problem... lol


j/k (however she did say that) o_O

No idea. I was a smoker when I got UC. I was a pretty healthy vegetarian when I got UC although I did eat quite a bit of sugary stuff. No one in my family has IBD. I hardly ever took antibiotics in my life before getting UC. I did live in a pretty moldy apartment, and some people on here have suggested a fungal etiology but I really doubt that's it. I did get UC during an extremely high stress period.

A year and a half before I got UC, I got a mysterious illness that caused me incredibly bad back and stomach pain (mostly back pain though), so bad I could barely walk upright. It only lasted about a month or two and the doctors never found out what it was even with an ultrasound and x-rays. It just went away on its own. I took Aleve probably every day for a month but it didn't really touch the pain.

Post Edited (Sara14) : 9/4/2012 3:01:29 PM (GMT-6)