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Anybody diagnosed after quiting smoking?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 9/24/2013 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
Just wanted to see if anyone had a similar situation.

I was a smoker for nearly 20 years (pack a day when i quit). When our first son was born, I quit cold-turkey. Less than a year later, I started getting my UC symptoms.

I've always wondered if somehow quitting smoking triggered "the funness" (as I sarcastically call it).
Posted 9/24/2013 2:55 AM (GMT 0)
Yes, lots of folks.
Not a former smoker myself, but I do use ecigs to help with symptoms.
Posted 9/24/2013 7:52 AM (GMT 0)
I read something about this and it stated that smoking does change your gut flora. I don't remember which article it was and it was probably German.

I'm sad to say this but I keep telling my mom not to quit since she carries the bad gene for UC in her and I don't want her to suffer from this sad
Posted 9/24/2013 10:32 AM (GMT 0)
I am a former smoker, but there were about eight years between quitting and getting UC.
Posted 9/24/2013 10:41 AM (GMT 0)
I have friends with UC who smoke. but I was a social smoker who quit before I was diagnosed.

I'd rather have UC than smoke though.
Posted 9/24/2013 1:19 PM (GMT 0)
I used to smoke. I quit and around a year or so later I got diagnosed with ulcerated proctitis/mild colitis.
Posted 9/24/2013 1:57 PM (GMT 0)
I was dx'd 2 years after I quit smoking and was dx'd with lung cancer.

 

Posted 9/24/2013 3:26 PM (GMT 0)
I quit smoking when I got pregnant with my daughter after she was born I started to get symptoms but they didn't escalate till she was almost a year old. I got my official diagnosis 6 months later.
Posted 9/24/2013 4:38 PM (GMT 0)
yup, smoked for years, quit when I became pregnant, UC symptoms started up right after my child was born, & have been merrily continuing ever since... 11 years now. I currently smoke 4-5 cigs a day & am scared to outright quit. Even my GI laughingly tells me not to quit. But have been thinking of going the e-cig route, to see if that helps. Anyone who currently smokes have any luck swithcing to an e-cg, without UC symptoms rearing up?
Posted 9/24/2013 4:39 PM (GMT 0)
Quit smoking, had two babies pretty close together, then the symptoms started right after my 2nd child was born. UC is in my family big time so these were all just triggers for me. Still so happy I quit smoking even though I'm minus a colon now!
Posted 9/24/2013 4:55 PM (GMT 0)
The literature indicates that a large number of sufferers manifest from one to five years after stopping smoking. Those are the ones who are more likely to benefit from nicotine replacement therapy.

Disclaimer: your results may vary!
Posted 9/24/2013 5:18 PM (GMT 0)
When I quit for usmc boot camp, cold turkey, after like 7 years.. I first started having blood in stool.
Posted 9/24/2013 5:36 PM (GMT 0)
It is well documented that there is a connection between quitting smoking and the onset of UC. Maybe they should do some testing on people who quit smoking and came down with UC versus people who quit smoking and did not come down with UC and see if they can determine what the difference is.
Posted 9/24/2013 6:24 PM (GMT 0)

garylouisville said...
It is well documented that there is a connection between quitting smoking and the onset of UC. Maybe they should do some testing on people who quit smoking and came down with UC versus people who quit smoking and did not come down with UC and see if they can determine what the difference is.

Well, wouldn't the difference be that the people who did not develop UC did not have the genetic markers that make them pre-dispositioned to it? That would make sense to me.
Posted 9/24/2013 7:05 PM (GMT 0)
Quit smoking cold turkey after 40 years and diagnosed with UC 3 months later.. 
Posted 9/24/2013 7:39 PM (GMT 0)
ByeBye: It would make sense to me that if you did not smoke and started that your genetic predisposition to UC could cause the process to start but we are talking here about people that did smoke and then stopped and then came down with UC. Obviously these people did not smoke at first until they at least reached their teens. If these people had a genetic predisposition to UC then why didn't they come down with it before starting to smoke? Why did smoking actually protect them in some way and that after quitting this protection stopped? There is actually no evidence that people carry a genetic predisposition to coming down with UC if the right triggers materialized, even though it is a well known theory.

I think this question popped into my mind because I remember reading a long time ago that they tested smokers who came down with lung cancer versus long time smokers who never came down with lung cancer and found high levels of Vitamin A in people who smoked for decades and never came down with cancer. What does that mean? Who the heck really knows but it made me wonder if something would pop up if they decided to test UC smokers.
Posted 9/24/2013 8:00 PM (GMT 0)
Yep me too. I quit after smoking in college and my early 20s. I was diagnosed at 27 (I'm 36 now).
Posted 9/24/2013 8:33 PM (GMT 0)
My pet theory, for which I have absolutely no scientific evidence is that there are a number of causes for UC, depending on the individual. There might be a genetic component, and there might be a dietary component, or an environmental component, or any number of others. But one of the components is long term nicotine WITHDRAWAL. If you’ve never been addicted to nicotine, you will never experience withdrawal, and that component will not apply to you. But if it does, nicotine replacement therapy seems efficacious.
Posted 9/25/2013 1:16 PM (GMT 0)
I wonder how many of these ex-smokers who went on to develop UC would have enventually come down with UC at some point in their lives if they had never smoked at all? We'll probably never know the answer to that question. Maybe they were destined to come down with UC but the smoking prevented it from happening and then after quitting, poof.
Posted 9/25/2013 2:34 PM (GMT 0)
I quit smoking this year and all *ell broke loose. I don't want to start smoking again because it is NOT what I want to die of, when the time comes. Lung cancer is a painful way to go. If anyone has ever seen it, you'd likely agree.

It boggles my mind that there is a doctor that encourages going back to smoking to ease the symptoms of UC.

It's quite possible that smoking is the reason why some people get UC, or like me, diverticular associated colitis. I always knew there would be some sort of price to pay.

Post Edited (lealee) : 9/25/2013 8:37:39 AM (GMT-6)

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