UC probably more hormonal and not food related.

I'll re-post this here for those interested with a little bit of an edit. I've been yapping for some time now about the hormone side of things...

You might find this a good read for those interested in IBS and hormones... Far more women have IBS then men etc www.weillcornell.org/pdf/ibs/Frissora_-_Practical_GastroHORMONES.pdf It's about Hormones and GI Disorders in Women.

Here is an excerpt from it:
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Hormonal Influences on the Gastrointestinal Tract and Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Recent research has uncovered a potential role for abnormal serotonin expression and/or signaling in IBS and other GI disorders. The potential effect of sex hormones such as estrogen and progesterone on serotonin remains to be elucidated. However, the importance of serotonin and its receptors, as well as serotonin polymorphisms, in predicting response to treatment is an area of interest.

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Also, this is important: during pregnancy the dominant type of estrogen is estriol circulating -estriol is 80% less potent than estridiol (which is dominant during reproductive years).

Because estriol is less potent, it obviously has the potential to effect or cause abnormal serotonin signaling once a female becomes pregnant - hence the sudden on-set of symptoms.

There is much information stating the effects of Estrogen on Serotonin/Dopamine etc. And there are three types of Estrogen in women - estrone, estradiol and estriol. At certain times in female bodies one type is more dominant than than the others (i.e during menstrual cycle, after menopause etc). So things can get screwy when one type is more dominant than the other.

For sure there is something to the Hormonal side and the effects/symptoms. I came across this all a loooong time ago when looking at some other autoimmune diseases and the effects that air pollution has on them for my line of work (air quality). I had to make a power point presentation on it.

Statistically women are as much as 80% more likely to come down with one or more autoimmune conditions and as many as 1 in 4 will in fact most likely after menopause. There's a very strong very link suggested between air pollution and autoimmune disease (Arthritis, Lupus etc) - and wonky hormones perhaps explain why the dominance in women.

Also when you think about Prednisone... Almost Everyone responds to their initial Pred course, but then after tapering or after multiple courses it stops working... After time one (dopamine) can start to further deplete the other (serotonin) and visa-versa. Pred is a full on hormonal drug. It mimics the effects of hormones in your body.

Males are also effected by hormones -just as women, but to a lesser extent in some cases in regards to estrogen etc.

Anyway - there's lots and lots of information pointing to wonky hormones at the root.

"So then UC should go away if you were able to control the hormones or better yet, one should go into remission easily after pregnancy as these hormones subside.
"

But they don't subside or the trigger has now been triggered and it becomes difficult to untrigger.

"There are women who got UC before they got pregnant. What about those?
"

They hit some sort of trigger also, a hormonal imbalance, something happened in the body.

I am also a believer that diet has almost never anything to do with causing UC. Food gets a bad wrap because UC is more prevelant in Western counrties so the obvious scapegoat is food. The fact is nobody really knows what causes UC and there could be several reasons which don't have anything to do with food as to why it's more prevelant in the West. We use more antibiotics here, we probably use more hormonal birth control, we purposely put stuff in our water supply such as flouride, we have antibacterial everything from cutting boards to soaps, etc.

Now I do firmly believe that UC causes damages to the colon, which in return causes havoc with our digestive system so that by controlling what we eat we could make life easier for our already damaged colons. Many UC'rs are lactose intolerant but that doesn't mean that milk caused the UC it merely means that due to the damage to our colon we can no longer ingest lactose efficiently. Ditto gluten and everything else people want to blame.

I think that hormones were quite likely the trigger for my UC, because mine started about 4 weeks after my son was born. I do sort of wonder if I was in a mild flare during pregnancy, though, because I was *never* constipated the entire time I was pregnant and my son was born three weeks early.

So maybe it was the crazy-arse hormone fluctuations that occur after childbirth that triggered it, or maybe it was the crazy-arse hormone fluctuations that occur during pregnancy that triggered it. Or maybe it was something else entirely. Who knows.

I also think that food could affect hormone levels, which could then trigger UC.

I've been completely fine since my daughter was born 10 weeks ago, but I've also been on maintenance meds. I also haven't been crazy stressed like I was after my son was born -- because he was three weeks early, he was jaundice, had to be re-admitted to the hospital for phototherapy, and was a bad eater, which led to issues with breastfeeding and "advice" from a sh!tty lactation consultant who made me feel like a lousy mom.

soystud, I don't seem to need to give up grains or chocolate.

Everyone has hormonal surges throughout their life, including young children. There are developmental stages that DEPEND on hormonal surges as a child grows. It is not surprising to me that the highest likelihood of diagnosis is in your teens or young adulthood. Guess what's surging in teens!

The gut is full of nerves, hormone receptors, etc. I think CanadaMark's post is very informative.

I was diagnosed after delivering my first child. I had plenty of experience before that with a "sensitive stomach" and perhaps I had quiescent proctitis going into that pregnancy. But it was clearly the pregnancy that triggered active disease. And now as my reproductive hormones wane I can tell you exactly what is happening with regard to my hormonal status based on how my IBD is behaving - since it is now months instead of days between hormonal changes it is quite obvious that surges in estrogen, progesterone and all their buddies wreak havoc in my immune system.

I'm looking forward to a solid menopause so I can have fewer bowel issues.

I wouldn't say that hormones CAUSE IBD, but I would certainly agree that there is an important trigger there.

Exogenous hormones greatly increase the risk of cancer, especially in women. Many women with UC and Crohn's use birth control pills to reduce or remove their natural hormonal cycle.

Somedude said...
Do the birth control pills have any effect on the IBD?

They block the methylation cycle and exacerbate chronic disease in polymorphically susceptible individuals.

Also, pregnancy and becoming a parent are some of the most stressful times of people's lives.. as are teen years..stress=immune impact

Hormones are one very small piece and they are so much further down the chain of events then to be a root.

But que sera.

if you wanna effect estrogen, dont use plastic and take DIM

PathogenKiller, while I will never argue that stress exacerbates our illness, I really really object to being told that its a primary cause. Life is full of stresses. We are not so weak as to be knocked down by the day-to-day struggles of existence.

I started to write a whole history of my last 30 days to illustrate the hormonal connection but then deleted it. Here's a recap - my IBD has more often involved my joints than my gut in terms of acute issues. Last month I ovulated for the first time in about 6 months. That one little cycle gave me a red and swollen metacarpal joint, plus a little bowel distress beyond the normal menstrual stuff. Was my immune system attacking my finger joint because of stress? No. It was because of hormones.

Menopause sure seems to be helping tho!

kazbern said...
Menopause sure seems to be helping tho!

maybe when I reach menopause it will help me too.

What ever it is,cancer,heart disease,autoimmune disease did not really exist much prior to around 1920. Now of course people died of infection perhaps before the disease showed,and diagnosis was not as good back then. I am also sure that people had stress and hormonal problems back then.
This uptick occurred proior to antibiotics,GMO foods,vaccines,many envionmental chemicals,pesticides,birth control pills. What did emerge/increase prior to 1920 was chlorinated water,sugar consumption,veggie oil consumption,cooking method changes,lighting,more indoor work,imported fruits,better hygiene,refrigeration,canning,pollution,pasteurization,diet changes and of course many others.
Something in that mix is killing us,epigenetics,all the modern stuff may make it worse but it started prior to the last 50 years.
Old Mike

kazbern said...
Frankly, Somedude, based on your mood I thought you were already there! LOL!

lol.

I went and wikied menopause.. look at what it says,

" Menopause is an event that typically (but not always) occurs in women in midlife, during their late 40s or early 50s,"

A-ha! Men get men-o-pause also.