HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Impact of weather on Ulcerative Colitis

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 4/12/2019 11:51 AM (GMT 0)
Friends, I've been dealing with UC for past 8 years and all my flares have happened in winter (consistently). I live in New Jersey, USA where temperatures starts falling in October and it starts getting warmer in April. I lived in India till I was 27 and there I never heard about anyone having IBD issues. My whole family, relatives, distant cousins, no one had IBD. It was fully sunny and warm and after I came to USA and started living in cold that's when I was diagnosed with UC.

Cold and lack of sun might not be related at all but since I consistently face issues during winters I want to hear from other people on their experiences of how weather and sunlight (and Vitamin D) has an impact on their condition.
Sometimes I think of moving back to India but that would be too big of a transition as me and my wife have steady careers, home and too many attachments here in USA. Before making a big move I want to know about other people's experiences. Has anyone tried moving to warmer region and has it helped?

This article has links of many studies that have associated environmental factors such as warm weather and lack of sun with UC.
https://www.ihaveuc.com/sunlight-helps-me-maybe-that-is-why-the-colder-months-are-harder/
Posted 4/12/2019 11:54 AM (GMT 0)
Hi,
Welcome to the forum from a fellow Jersey-an! I think weather does play a role (At least it does seem for me), however I am the exact opposite from you.

Every year without fail, the first real warm day of the year, I go through something; whether increased BMs or urgency (No blood).

My GI wouldn't 100% agree with me, but it does seem odd..
Posted 4/12/2019 12:14 PM (GMT 0)
Anecdotally, some here say they have greater odds of flaring in the winter. Could be for any number of reasons, less vitamin D from the sun, exposure to indoor allergens (as we're indoors a lot more when the weather is cold), different diet, etc etc. Who knows.
Posted 4/12/2019 12:53 PM (GMT 0)
A study done once found that that UC is more prevalent in northern US states than southern US states, but it found no effect of seasons. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5007007/

I was born in NJ, my mother is from NJ and she also has ulcerative colitis, but I didn't get ulcerative colitis until I was 21 and attending college in South Carolina for 3 years.
Posted 4/12/2019 1:38 PM (GMT 0)
I flare all year round, come rain or sunshine :D
Posted 4/12/2019 1:39 PM (GMT 0)
I usually have worse symptoms in winter. My doc, who is an IBD specialist, agreed that there are more flares in winter. She advises I take Vitamin D as it acts as a steroid in the body. I suspect in addition to "D" that it could be related to mood/depression which occurs more commonly in winter. Maybe depression, which can alter immune function, also affects UC?
Posted 4/12/2019 3:29 PM (GMT 0)

UCinGV said...
A study done once found that that UC is more prevalent in northern US states than southern US states, but it found no effect of seasons. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5007007/

I've seen similar findings regarding Canada, which has a very high UC rate, but it's less prevalent in British Columbia where the weather is more moderate than the rest of the country.

Post Edited (MariaMaria) : 4/12/2019 9:32:03 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/12/2019 3:36 PM (GMT 0)
I think the UC is more prevalent in northern areas has more to do with genetics and historic migration patterns.

Who settled in northern Canada/USA regions? Northern Europeans.

Where is UC most common? Canada, northern-usa, and northern europe. There's over 300 genes (allele loki) assocaited with an IBD. There's a pretty clear genetic is a component of it all, IMHO.
Posted 4/12/2019 3:45 PM (GMT 0)
When I was first diagnosed, I would flare literally every spring and fall. Summer and winter I was fine. Could it have been from allergies (spring-pollen, fall-molds) that would trigger a flare? , I don't know because I didn't have the sneezing or other signs of allergy, and I was never tested. Now however I flare anytime of the year, so I don't think it's weather related, although we've had shifts in weather patterns all across the country.
Posted 4/13/2019 12:35 PM (GMT 0)
Dhavalsays: just quick web search and i see the incidence of IBD has been going up in India, really all of Asia. One stat has 64 people in every 1,000 in India, higher in urban areas "where the fast food American diet" is more prevalent. One article talked about how it's difficult to know if other areas don't have it as much or possibly it is not diagnosed or reported as much. Meaning, is it that first world countries have it more or that second and especially third world countries just are focused on polio and other, more critical illnesses. In Africa you're looking at starvation so doesn't makes sense to think that there are a lot of people complaining about their colon, getting colonoscopies and being diagnosed with IBD, thinking of war ravaged regions and bet they don't find much IBD there either.

Do you suspect the fast food American diet as the culprit? I'm curious if you eat like you would have eaten in India, before having IBD symptoms. I work with many from India, close friends, who are vegetarians and cook all their meals from home out of fresh produce; is that what you did and still do? I'm very curious to learn as much from you as I can. You're the first Indian person I have interfaced with who has IBD.

As for the weather...My flares always followed times when i was under great stress and especially after getting sick (flu, food poisoning, mono). I did notice a trend starting to get ill around Oct-Nov. Not always...I caught food poisoning in the spring once so that set up a flare. Anything to screw with your immune system can contribute to a flare (lack of sleep, poor nutrition, stress, virus)

Post Edited (Burli) : 4/13/2019 6:40:33 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/13/2019 1:27 PM (GMT 0)
Burli, your point is right that UC cases are increasing in India but there have been numerous studies that IBD is a problem of modern world. The gut microbiome disturbance seems to be the main reason behind it and it kind of makes sense that use of antibiotics, chemicals, food manipulation is much more prevalent in developed countries which triggers IBD. When I was first diagnosed here in USA my doctor was surprised and he told me that I am probably his first indian IBD patient (I live in NJ with very high indian population).
I was always vegetarian but around the time I got this issue I use to work 12 hours a day with high stress and also was not eating well (due to work pressure I was definitely not paying attention to what I eat. My company provided free food but was mostly american diet of breads, sandwitches and ready made juices etc. so I definitely had a transition from my native indian home cooked diet to american standard diet)
I need to keep a dairy of what triggers it but most of the time for me also it starts in Oct,Nov. This time it was January but majority time its fall time so definitely some kind of environmental factors during these times are probably triggering it.
For all of us with UC, if we can successfully figure out trigger points and try to avoid them then that itself is a major achievement.
Posted 4/13/2019 4:25 PM (GMT 0)
"12 hours a day with high stress" I would blame that over the sunlight and cold

If you went back to native Indian food and pushed back on your workload do you think that would help? NJ has a lot of Indian stores and food. Would it be difficult to switch to that diet, even bringing to work native Indian meals?

Vitamin D might be something although seems you could add that back in. Someone mentioned cold temps bring more people inside and closer together. Similarly, kids in school share germs and viruses spread more easily in cold, dry air. Then you may have seasonal business stress like fiscal year planning or what ever comes your way in that time of the year. I would get a flare weeks after the event (illness) so if you always flare in Oct/Nov then maybe look ahead of your flare for the possible causes.
Posted 4/13/2019 9:04 PM (GMT 0)
Burli, I went back to my Indian diet few years back and also changed role in my job so since past few years my job is almost stress free and my diet is also very well balanced. It has certainly help but not that much. I still get a flare once a year and Prednisone is the only thing that puts me in remission. My doc says Prednisone once a year is not bad but I don't want to be on it for my whole life.
You are right about indoor life and allergies. I am going to do my allergy test also to make sure if there are things I am allergic to and not aware about. I was low in vitamin d when my most recent flare happened so that's something I will take care of. Basically take vitamins d supplement or increase them when winter starts.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply