DEATH BY ULCERATIVE COLITIS.

Not that I am aware of. Uc in itself is not fatal UNLESS you let it go with no treatment whatsoever and that can be from complications of Uc - such as anemia from blood loss or dehydration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_megacolon

^Link for some info

^To be honest, 1958 and now medical science a lot more advanced, but I do believe that constant flare ups will eventually not only lead to deterioration of quality of life but also life expectancy imo.

Also theres that many colitis sufferers that death is a chance but it's also unlikely. Same as if you type in colon megatoxic in google and hit images theres some pretty nasty pictures, but it's going to be like this for every disease and condition all over the world.

In general, no, UC does not cause death, so long as you don't let the symptoms get completely out of control, then yes, one could die from dehydration, toxic megacolon, or colon perforation.  Honestly, though, you'd have to be stupid to let it get that bad before seeking medical treatment.  If someone dies from surgery, it's from complications that can arise with ANY surgery.

     There is a greater chance of developing colon cancer when you suffer with UC over an extended period of time.  As far as dying from UC itself, I don't believe so.  However, I suffered with ulcerative proctitis for twelve years before having a total colectomy with end ileostomy June 28th of 2010.  If the disease wasn't killing me, the meds sure were, especially that dreaded prednisone.  I became prednisone dependent for two years prior to my surgery.  I ran the gamut of meds too...6MP, Remicade, Humira, nothing worked for me.

    

We can die from anything, usually from complications or unforseen circumstances or undiagnosed "in conjunction with"...etc.

Definitely meds we take can kill us if we are allergic, extremely sensitive (liver or kidney), overdose, mixed with other meds that might exacerbate symptoms....etc.

We can even die because of our UC doctors for various reasons.

So, we can die from UC, but it should be clarified.

I know of a woman who died from asthma according to her husband.....after I asked enough questions (being the neggie nellie regarding stuff like that), I found out she refused mainstream treatment and decided to treat herself alternatively since she was in "natural healing" as her profession...she never sought treatment for her severe asthma until it was too late. I can only imagine dying that way.

q

Yes. I have heard/read about people dying from the following:

Blood clots
Toxic Mega-colon
Infection from medication
Complications from surgery
Shock from tapering off pred too quickly

However, death from UC is not likely.

I think what we should be acknowledging (at least for the sake of the main poster and anyone who might google and find this thread), that this is VERY RARE. People can easily live long, normal (well, as normal as normal can be!), happy and healthy lives with both UC and Crohn's. There are many worse things in this world that we could have, and as such, I would rather have this.

Death due to ulcerative colitis is as possible as death by HIV/AIDS. (I am not a doctor by the way, this is just from scientific reading, etc.) It doesn't really happen. However, you can die due to complications from the illness. Toxic megacolon, severe malnutrition, dehydration, cancer, etc, can all occur if you do not regularly see your doctor, get regular colonoscopies, and take your medication as prescribed and as needed.

Anyone with crohn's/colitis *should* be careful. This is a difficult disease, and can cause many long-term problems. However, I think that death is a rare outcome in most cases, and as long as you take the best possible care of yourself, you should do pretty okay :)

" My friend said his surgeon told him he had a 50% chance of , due to colon surgery, becoming impotent."
Really spreading the positivity there Joel, lol.
Your 'friends' are incredibly misinformed, as are you.

"Overall, mortality rates in UC are not different from the
general population in most jurisdictions. The cause of death in
patients with UC is related to their UC in the minority of cases, and
in general, the cause of death is comparable with that of the general
population."

From:A Review of Mortality and Surgery in Ulcerative Colitis: Milestones of the Seriousness of the Disease.

joelsprechman said...
Has anyone found statistics of death due to IBD?

I can't find numbers but two friends have told me one of their parents died from UC complications. Glenn Fry of the Eagles, reportedly died of pneumonia and colitis

Surgery is always a risk, perforations, complications, infections etc. My friend said his surgeon told him he had a 50% chance of , due to colon surgery, becoming impotent.

Death, and injury statistics is what I'm looking for.

Any MPH in the house? Masters of Public Health. Those stats are their wheelhouse

Thanks

It is terrifying that somebody as ill-informed as you ("my friend told me....") is on an advisory panel. I'm starting to wonder if you are some high-level troll and whether or not I should be taking your posts seriously. It is not remotely hard to find statistics on IBD and mortality: putting in IBD and mortality into google will yield several studies on the first page alone. Ditto surgery risks, but then you wouldn't be able to come out with nonsense statistics that your "friends" tell you.

'science-backed', lol. I should think my 10-year-old nephew has a better grasp of science than this guy.

He never had to undergo the irreversible Colon surgery 75% of patients usually require - more statistics plucked out of thin air! Because, after all, statistics are just a number followed by a % sign, right?

Source: /pbs.twimg.com/media/CsVo-MgUAAAtnkP.png:large

When I first started looking for information online and joined a couple of forums a poster died and his wife came back to the forum to tell us.No it wasn't Healing Well and I remember how utterly shocking it was. He went into the hospital suddenly, not for a scheduled operation, and then gone.

Untreated ulcerative colitis is likely the largest killer. And although Glenn Frey could afford the best doctors we don't know how his UC contributed to his death, but it was associated enough to be stated. I read an article recently that called into question how "cause of death" was highly unreliable as reported on death certificates.

As iPoop comments it can be all the other UC-associated conditions that can kill us. GI doctors do a very good job of not letting their patients die but some UC'ers cannot afford our very expensive meds and may not be seeing a GI.