Experiment gone badly...

Update:

After all the great suggestions I got from you all, I decided to do some research, and decided to try the Vitamin C therapy lookforacure suggested, especially after reading about the Vitamin C contributing to pain relief, and building up of collagen.

about 1 week ago, I purchased some Vitamin C sodium absorbate powder (supposed to cause the least gastric upset), and started at 500mg. I figured I better start SLOW... within a few days, I was @ 2g daily, and then it hit me... the D, and the unending sharp PAIN right in my stomach, right below the sternum... it felt as though it was on fire and I had been punched all at the same time. I was doubled over in pain.

With little to comfort me, except for a heating pad on my tummy, several extra dosages of slippery elm powder, Tums, and Pepto-Bismol - it took me a whole f&*%$^  week to finally get back to normal. My BMs are finally back to normal, although they are still blackish (courtesy of Pepto Bismol). A few days ago, they were dark black... I never knew Pepto would have that effect, did you?

I won't try that again, at least not oral doses of Vitamin C, perhaps intravenously?

Not so eager to try it for now.

My next step is to look into Babe's suggestion of low pulse laser therapy. We'll see.

 

InSoFla-
Your post made me laugh. I used to vacation in Mexico (before UC) and would always get Montezuma's Revenge so I definitely know what Pepto Bismol does.
I had to live on rice while vacationing....it was like one of those spa visits where you lose weight. I would always come home tan and thinner.
I, too, have to limit the amount of vitamin C supplements. That's why I drink water with lemon all day. Even then, I notice that I get an acid feeling in my stomach after a while and omit lemon for a week or so.
Glad you were helped by slippery elm, etc

Joanna,

Yes, live and learn - haha.

The man you knew who did the vitamin c therapy, was it IV therapy?

$50,000 - whoa, and a perforared colon to boot... that really sucks.

How are you doing?

IAS,

Glad I made you laugh - I have to say it really wasn't so funny being in so much pain, haha , but I understand the montezuma's revenge, and the rice diet, looking skinnier and tanned, lol.

Actually, what did start helping me was Tums, and lots of it.

MaxMilian said...
InSoFla, aren't you doing fine? Why would you want to change your regime?

I think it was for her other issues not the IBD.

Ah, I see. Sorry the experiment went bad for you InSoFla. Glad you are feeling better. I also read that Pepto can turn your stools greyish black. It may last a little while after stopping.

I never had pepto turn my bm's black, but I used to use a concoction to treat my canker sores...which included pepto bismal. I would swish it around my mouth.

I noticed my tongue looking really really grey/black and thought I had some horrible mouth infection! I finally did a search online and when my doctor's nurse called me back, I sheepishly told her what I was worried about.

You have had a long run of success but this happens to us all who become our own research platform.

Hope your recovery sticks.

I have done sub-q B12 shots and sub-q Vitamin D shots but never heard of anything but oral route for vitamin C.

My next step is to look into Babe's suggestion of low pulse laser therapy. We'll see

On 2nd thought it might be better if you ignored my suggestion, I really don't know anything about laser therapy. I violated my first rule of posting, "never give advice on anything that I haven't tried for myself and know it works for me". I was just grasping at straws looking for something that might work. For all I know the cure is worse than the disease.

www.lef.org/magazine/mag2008/oct2008_Breakthrough-in-the-Relief-of-Chronic-Pain-without-Drugs_01.htm?source=search&key=LLLT
researchers studying acute herniated disk pain have also found that LLLT is an effective non-surgical option for people with this debilitating condition that has often required surgical interventions.

There are so many dead ends when it comes to Ulcerative Colitis.

I have been tempted to create a homepage helping people to avoid the most bad dead ends. It would be a site where you can post something that you are yourself 100% sure is helping you, and then each post would have a poll, so new visitors can tell if it was working for them or not. By the time it would become a valuable database telling with what probability something helps.

Personally I think a such database could be good for newcomers. Anyone else thinking it could be a good idea? It would not be a competing forum, as it would not permit any other threads, than relief threads, each one with a poll of how well it worked among the visitors.

InSoFla said...
My next step is to look into Babe's suggestion of low pulse laser therapy. We'll see.

I had this done on the lower portion of my left bicep about a year ago with some other physical therapy (heating, icing) and my arm returned to normal after a few sessions. I had caught a sheet of plywood in the crevice of my arm six months earlier when building an addition onto my barn.

I have been thinking of seeing the physical therapist again but for my right bicep. I was doing pull-ups this past summer and did something in. It feels like the same pain that my left arm had. My right arm is better than this summer but I still feel pain most of the time when rotating my hand.

My back has really been giving me issues the last week or so. I had resumed taking vitamin C a week earlier doing 1g a day but had just started doing 1g twice a day when my back started getting stiffer. My understanding is that vitamin C should reduce my lower back pain. I just assume that the vitamin C is causing changes to my body that is just needs to work through (kind of like growing pains). This week I started doing 1g three times a day of vitamin C. Still looking for my tolerance level. I have noticed no effect on my digestive system.

InSoFla said...
As to the low level laser therapy, how many treatments did you need to go for? So, based on your results, it works on muscle recovery/regeneration, I wonder how long it would work and what it would take for disc/nerve regeneration? BTW,the vitamin C is important in collagen production.

I saw the physical therapist twice a week for three weeks but I did not get the laser therapy until the last three or four sessions since I wasn't making much progress with the other therapy. My left arm is back to normal so I assume that it has been fully healed.

I should go see the therapist about my right arm but I keep hoping that it will just heal itself. I never even thought about it for my lower back although I have seen a different physical therapist for my lower back she just had me do various stretching exercises.

InSoFla-

I have some packets of Ester-C To Go!
(1000 mg + electrolytes).
Labelled as Non-Acidic Stomach-Friendly.
Also contains B vitamins.

You might consider trying this. I think I was able to get samples.