Cured?!

Hello, I am new to this site and this is my first time posting. I wanted to share my experience with others because I have had ulcerative colitis for 10+ years, had severe symptoms and found no real lasting relief through traditional western medicine. I feel as though I have found a solution that has worked for me since I no longer experience the following devastating symptoms.
At my worst, I was not able to pass gas for a whole year without defecating in my underwear. The stools I did have were very painful, small hard and round, and were partially made up of blood and mucus. I developed a rash over the years that resembled large eczema patches on my arms and legs. Last year an additional rash began in the form of little red bumps all over my body that were extremely itchy all the time. Creams and medications for all of these symptoms acted as bandaids that never lasted and eventually became ineffective.
I searched out alternative medicine and dietary solutions over the past years which led to large bills from my Naturopath and strict dietary plans implemented through the support of my wife, a registered Holistic Nutritionist. I would like to say that through these alternatives I gained much insight about my health. The Blood tests, urine tests, stool tests, allergy testing and elimination diets were good markers for knowing how my body was coping with digestion or the lack of it. This gave me a more refined picture of the illness, but still offered very little in terms of relief.
Having lived a healthy and active lifestyle for the majority of my adult life, it was frustrating and confusing to me that I suffered from such a debilitating illness. I am a male in my mid 30's, I have never smoked and I have a drink on rare occasion. I have had memberships at fitness centres since high school and I am a regular with outdoor sports. In my opinion, I did not fit into the typical definition of "unhealthy", but rather paid great attention to maintaining good health.
I slowly began to realize that being overly busy and active can have a negative impact on the symptoms of ulcerative colitis. It was revealed to me through my occupation as a Grain Farmer, Custom farm equipment owner/operator and gravel truck operator. Over working to achieve financial success slowly squeezed out time for my real interests in life and posed a great financial burden. In addition, my business partner, my father, was a very stressed out individual, which inevitably leached onto me. That said, it was the realization of my own reality that led me to ask: "What is the real problem?" My body's illness was only showing me the effects of a negative pressure. That pressure, that problem was STRESS!
During my countless visits with health care practitioners I do not recall anyone ever asking me to evaluate my life and the stressors within it. Coming to this realization on my own allowed me to see what is really important; my Health and family (Wife and two boys). Without it I could not lead an active enjoyable future with my family and no amount of money I made would buy this for me. So , I decided to eliminate the stress from my life. Accepting that I did not need a mansion, brand new vehicles, or owning a couple thousand acres of farmland allowed me to see another reality with less material objects; one that includes more time and emphasis on my personal state and family. A meeting with my father, who's physical health was diminishing, led us to the option and path of selling the farm in order to pursue other interests. I will say that making this decision alone nearly instantly improved my symptoms. Within a month my stools were becoming regular and the blood was diminishing. The rash started to fade and soon after sale of the farm, it and my bloody stool went away. It has been one year since we made the decision to change our focus on life. My health has improved 99%. The one percent that remains is the rash that comes and goes depending on my stress load through this changing life process.
I am not saying the cure is to change your life as drastically as I did. What I am saying is find a way to eliminate as much stress from your life as possible, however that may be. Coming from a farming background I can tell you through experience that "stress" on a plant encourages malabsorption of nutrients, susceptibility to disease, infertility and eventually death of the organism.
The great part about plants and our bodies is that living organisms are constantly fighting for balance and health and have an amazing ability to recover and heal themselves given the right environment. Take away stressors, feed it a healthy diet that balances out its nutritional needs and it will thrive once more. We all come from different circumstances with different experiences and so does this illness. Thus, this solution will not cure everyone but I can tell you with 100% confidence that reducing your "stress" is a positive direction and it can only improve your health and enrich your life. I wish you all the best in becoming healthy once again! Don't give up!

Glad to hear that you are in a much better place.

I agree that stress is a HUGE factor for some people, it can contribute to many health problems, and over time will slowly affect your body.

I have Ulcerative colitis because it was simply genetic, I am the fifth family member to have it. I will say though that I think that once you have IBD you do need to change your life style, because as you say, stress will make everything ten times worse.

Whatever works for you is great! I managed my stress a long time ago without any positive change to my UC symptoms, but I know my overall health has benefited from not being too stressed out in general. If healthy living/diet/stress relief was the cure, everyone would do whatever it took to make that their priority in life. Hopefully you remain flare free forever.

I am curious about your diagnosis, how long ago were you diagnosed and how? How many flare ups have you experienced? Was it mild/moderate/severe? How much of the colon was effected?

I'm glad you're feeling better. Just don't get overconfident and complacent with the word cured. Certainly, we can go into a remission but unfortunately uc is characterized by periods of flares and remission, and flares eventually happen to us all. If we're aware and look for it, we and often catch a flare early, otherwise complacency can led us into a real bad flare..

For me, stress is more like a symptom amplifier. I'm already flaring and then life gets stressful, and then my symptoms worsen. Kind of like a below the belt punch in the cajones.