Did UC got worse with aging ?

As I said in previous posts I was a lucky one with UC for 20 years (from 20 to around 40). I had easy and short flare. But for the last 2 to 3 years my flares are not so mild and short.

I'm blaming mostly my many tries to stop smoking for that. Now that I have been successful at it for over 6 months I have been in a mild to medium flare. At times it looks like as if I getting over the flare to end up having the symptoms returning one week latter.

However, I'm starting to wonder if that could also be relate to my age (almost 44).

Has any of you that has never smoked found their UC getting worse as they have been aging ?

While I cant speak from experience (Im only 21 myself), there are really two major factors at play that could affect UC as you age.

The first is the fact that after the age of 30, your immune system starts to decline; you have fewer white blood cells and your thymus starts the shrink/become less productive. Im not sure if this has ever been studied in UC, but I wouldnt be surprised if this actually helped UC a bit.

On the other hand (factor 2) the longer you have UC, the more scar tissue you will have accumulated, and in turn, the less able your body is able to repair any new damage. This obviously could make your symptoms worse over time.

Im curious to see if anyone has an anecdotal evidence that supports this line of inquiry though.

I’ve had UC for over 35 years, and although I was a smoker years ago, I think my experience may be relevant here. My first flare may have been the result of quitting smoking, but I’m not really sure. Let me say upfront, that I have never been as sick as many of the people on this forum. I was put on sulfasalazine after my first diagnosis and have been on it for all 35 years. After my initial flare had calmed down (via Pred) I learned all about how a healthy colon needs fiber in the diet and have made it a mission to eat a high fiber diet ever since. (There was not a lot of available information about UC, like there is today.) I now realize that over the years I’ve had many minor flares but I was always able to “weather it out” and get my gut back to tolerable behavior. That was until my third round of quitting smoking, 20 years ago. That last time I quit, everything inside me seemed to explode. I got a raging UC flare, then I was rushed to the hospital for an acute gall bladder removal, and I got a major period flow that lasted for 30 days. It took a while but everything did resolve back to “MY normal state” of an every-once-in-a-while minor flare, and I can live with that. I am in a recent flare as a result of heavy doses of antibiotics that I had to take for a MRSA infection. I hope to get that under control soon. (It does seem to be getting better slowly with probiotics and diet.) Long story, but for me, my age and length of time I’ve had UC hasn’t made it better or worse, it just can never be ignored.

I'd blame it on the smoking cessation, unfortunately. Many of us have had UC symptoms rear their ugly heads only after we quit, and there's a well-known reverse correlation between smoking and UC - there seems to be something in cigarette smoke that helps prevent symptoms.

That said, I'd never start smoking again. Worst case scenario, I could live without my colon but not without my heart or lungs.

I don't know if smoking is the culprit for making it better or worse...but I can surely tell you the longer you have it...the worse it will get.

I am on year 39 of this disease, and I can assure you, as years go on, the flares get longer, harder to control, and the meds you take become less and less effective. I remember in my 20's having a 15 year remission, every year the good times became less and less, and now I can't remember the last time I truly was under control. I am now on biologics with so-so success.

Bottom line? As you get older, the disease is harder to control...period, regardless of what method used to work previously....smoking...steroids...biologics...it all catches up.

No, it's not common at all for an UC meds that I know of.

The only thing that is a risk is long term use of steroids, which nowadays is not very common. When I started in the late 70's it was one of the only meds that was out there, and luckily I was on it for months and years at a time and I didn't have any long term side effects or damage over the years.

I have been on 5-ASA's since they have been on the market with no side effects. As a rule, most if not all of the other meds for UC carry some risk, but the benefits far outweigh the risks over time.

Having only started any treatment in the last month (Lialda) at age 51 after about 6 years of denying having UC, and noting what were extremely mild symptoms in my 30s, I would say for me that it has gotten worse over the years absent treatment.

....and it made me wonder...

I think that's a good explanation. Theoretically, if your meds work and continue to work, your disease will get better as you age. Unfortunately, many treatments quit working at some point, especially if you're doing better and quit them.

UC is a chronic lifelong disease. It never really stops completely. When you find a treatment that works you should stick with it forever, even if at a reduced rate. The object is to try never having another flare because future flares often get harder and harder to treat and what worked before often won't work as well as it did before, sometimes it doesn't work at all the next time.

hateuc said...
I suspect the people who have been lucky enough to age out are probably not hanging out on this forum, so you may get a skewed opinion.
B

Good point.

UC doesn't always get worse with aging. If you are female, though, and getting into your forties, you might have some flare-ups due to hormone level fluctuations that precede menopause. Can you tolerate 5-ASA meds like Salofalk? If you can take them for maintenance of UC remission it would likely help you to avoid many repeat flares that changes in other body functions might trigger during your older years. / Old Hat (33 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

@ NCot To me it would be good news if the intensity of the flares stays the same as when I was younger. I'm unable to pull out of this one, but it is mild to moderate and I can deal with it ok if the intensity does not get worse.

@ Old hate, yes I tolerate 5-ASA and deal well with the enema and suppositories. When I get over this flare I would not mind kept using 5-ASA a few times a week to stay in remission. It is something I will take about with my GI when I see her on June 2.

@ Faithmac are you in a time of your life when a lot of hormonal changes are happening ?

Post Edited (Chantrelle99) : 5/17/2014 10:24:23 AM (GMT-6)

Tap, that is great that you got better as you age. Do you think it was truly aging or was it something you added to your UC routine?
B