Surgery, is it really a 'cure'?

They almost never remove part of the colon, its pretty much always the whole thing. Which is why you are considered "cured"

Yes and no. It will end your colitis but you will also go more often than a normal person and the consistency isn't the same as it was pre-surgery. Is that a cure? I consider a cure soething that leaves you 100% in the same condition after as you were before. I'd say it's a solution to the problem.

The answer is a firm no

No, surgery is not a cure for UC, but it can be a total lifesaver in certain situations. Aside from the points mentioned above, also keep in mind that there ARE extra intestinal manifestations of ulcerative colitis. Many people never experience them, but they are possible, with or without a colon.

it is a treatment. useful when meds fail and life quality is very low.

Yeah. It's a matter of quality of life. You can have pancolits which is controlled by meds or other treatments but even when just a small portion of the large intestine doesn't respond to treatments and leaves you a miserable mess then taking out the entire large intestine, even if just a small amount is involved with disease, has a good chance of giving you your life back. It's more about your symptoms and quality of life, not how much your colon is diseased by UC. They won't take out just the diseased part because, as you said in your first post, UC would eventually get there anyway, requiring more and more surgeries. Every surgery has it's risks that's why they take out the whole enchilada all at once, no matter how much is actually diseased at the time.

It's a sensitive issue, but I don't think it's fair to say surgery is a cure. There are complications after surgery, as well as significant risks. For instance, it's unknown whether UC patients have possible involvement in the small intestine, so getting the colon removed without taking that into account would be counter-intuitive. My GI brought up this issue when I wanted surgery and he told me to do everything possible (even experimental treatments) to avoid it.

As for the real cure, I think FMT is the closest thing. Specialized FMT to match the invidivual's flora deficiencies would open up a whole new ballgame.

Yes... I forgot to mention the "poop pills" (with specific strains formulated from the fecal matter of qualified donors) - this would technically be the individualized probiotics you are talking about.

Well, it cured me. :)
But cure is not really a word I like to use. There should be a better way and hopefully some day we will get there.

Guardian7 said...
Yes... I forgot to mention the "poop pills" (with specific strains formulated from the fecal matter of qualified donors) - this would technically be the individualized probiotics you are talking about.

But nobody is developing poop pills. they were produced for a research project on oral administration. It was cleaned up poop, but it was still just wild variety. It was just for the project. It is not a pharmaceutical imitative.

The poop bank is also for qualified research or medical treatment of c-diff.

There is also a lab that started with poop and has been culturing it. They have made many pounds of synthetic poop from a few ounces. Most of what they have now was never "in" a person.

I think that some key strains will be identified, and some key sub-groups of UC patients where different strain coctails are effective.

But the treatment people are eventually given, orally or rectally, will not have been "in" a person.

I say it is not a cure, but I guess it's just semantics at some point.

Like, it the hypothetical situation I had my colon removed, woke up in my bed at the hospital, and heard a cure for all IBD was developed, tested, and released overnight for five bucks a shot/pill/drink, I would be distraught over my surgery. That is enough to tell me it's not a 'cure.' IMO at least.

Like I said, this could be considered semantics.

Some people do have surgery though then find out they had Crohn's all along-definitely not semantics. There have been posters throughout my years hear in this category.

Levi said...
I say it is not a cure, but I guess it's just semantics at some point.

I hate the word cure, it is so misleading when it is used in medicine. How many medical conditions are actually cured? What's the best way to cure UC? Prevention!!! I'd rather the medical community find preventions for IBDs.

I no longer have a Colon with UC in it; am I cured? I don't really care what you call it but I don't have debilitating symptoms from my ulcerated colon anymore thanks to my j-pouch.

Even when I was "in Remission" from medications I still had side-effects from the medications. Like 6-MP I was always a little tired, never slept well on it, plus minor other things. Remicade worked great but I would end up with UC symptoms as I got closer to my next treatment and finally I was getting joint pain and other serum-sickness issues from it. Predisone, you name the symptom I had it, Predisone was awful.

My symptoms/side-effects from my j-pouch, I go 3-5 times a day and it's easy and quick to empty my pouch. I do get dehydrated more easily. I can eat whatever I want, I've had salad the last 3 nights for dinner.

Was getting a J-pouch easy? Absolutely not, it was a long and at some times a difficult process. Was it worth it to me? Absolutely, I feel like my Pre-UC self again.

I've only had my j-pouch for 7 months so it's still new for me but I have had C.diff, pouchitis a few times, Thrush, probably SIBO, an abscess and a stricture. All of this stuff is treatable and is common the first year or so with a j-pouch.

Like most people with UC, I never wanted an ostomy. That's probably the reason that I waited so long to have surgery, besides the fact that it was surgery and surgery is scary for someone who has never had any type of surgery before. Anyway... Once I had the ostomy I actually liked it because I felt so much better than I had in a very long time.