Did your UC start at a time of high stress / anxiety etc?

Triggering and causing are two different things. Triggering it into gear could be a multitude of things in a cascade effect. Bottom-line (pun)...when the body has been pushed beyond whatever it deems acceptable, it can uncap anything into motion. Kind of like preprogrammed without a time schedule.

Remember, as well....inflammation can be very slow, mild, limited....and we dont check inside our butts like we can the exterior. So...one doesnt really KNOW how long that process is.

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I'm currently enrolled in a study at UCLA which is investigating how the brain and gut are connected and how stress relates to GI issues (Ulcerative colitis specifically). I had never really thought about the relationship between my flares and stress until the initial interview. The doctor was asking VERY specific questions about dates and big events in my life and after the interview he looks at me and says "so, do you still think that stress & UC aren't related?". After really thinking about it seemed interesting to me how the two actually correlated alot more than I really thought.

He gave me a copy of his book "The Mind Gut connection". It's a very good read. I would recommend it. It goes into alot of detail about the subject. https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Gut-Connection-Conversation-Impacts-Choices/dp/0062376551

Most definitely stress at the time of my onset. I realize the medical profession says stress doesn't CAUSE UC; but I think it surely contributes. The mind is a strange, powerful (well, not in MY case) and still unknown thing.

Yes I think stress definitely caused my first big flare. I’d already been diagnosed with UC but during a stressful time at work it got very bad and very quickly, I believe the two were linked.

Here's an interesting study:

Negative mood signals body's immune response

The investigators found that negative mood measured multiple times a day over time is associated with higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers. This extends prior research showing that clinical depression and hostility are associated with higher inflammation.

“We hope that this research will prompt investigators to include momentary measures of stress and affect in research examining inflammation, to replicate the current findings and help characterize the mechanisms underlying associations between affect and inflammation,” Graham-Engeland said. “Because affect is modifiable, we are excited about these findings and hope that they will spur additional research to understand the connection between affect and inflammation, which in turn may promote novel psychosocial interventions that promote health broadly and help break a cycle that can lead to chronic inflammation, disability, and disease.”

https://news.psu.edu/story/552547/2018/12/20/research/negative-mood-signals-bodys-immune-response

Out of the blue I started having symptoms and was not under any stress at all.

My symptoms came on while I was training for my second marathon and peaked right along with peak training.

I don’t think training triggered it, though I also don’t think I did myself any favors, in terms of comfort, running that marathon. 😂