colitis_sux said...
Stereo - not to attack, but you haven't had the disease long enough to really speak on the behalf of naturo vs meds.
I say this because I struggled with this disease for 14 years (and earlier - the symptoms always do precede the diagnosis). I tried EVERYTHING as well, especially when I was young with a lot of extra money and no real commitments. I once went to a really good Nurtitionist who I felt put me into remission. To see her cost me over a grand a month, and eventually the disease did come back anyway, much to my dismay.
Once I had a five year remission. In that time, I ran in road races and often came in the top ten of over 500 female runners. That was when I was in my best shape!! I also had two of my three kids during that time. My doc did a colonoscopy and wondered if I had UC in the first place. It wasn't even showing up on a microscopic level. Can you believe that?? I weaned off the Imuran for a bit during that time too. I was drug free for about a year.
Guess what happened?? I got pregnant with my third child and the disease got angry again. This is a chronic illness, after all. No one could believe it though! My doctor had me come in for a sigmoidoscopy because it couldn't be so!
The unfortunate thing is that there is NO MAGIC FEATHER for everyone. This is a disease of games. Things also don't work for too long before our guts say "okay, time to play again."
Some say the diesease burns out over time. Others are lucky with an initial strong burst of disease that needs prednisone, etc., but then achieve remission quickly and maintain with mostly benign oral 5-ASAs and enemas. (Unfortunately, I was not one of those lucky ones. Those meds never did anything for me.) Others achieve success with diet, but I have personally only met one and she never claimed to have the severity of disease I ever did.
Even when I was battling with the idea of surgery, when my colon wouldn't even respond to 60 mg of salumedrol during a two-week hospital stay, I was still shocked that the diease wouldn't jump back into its proverbial box one last time. After all, it always had.
Thank God it didn't though. My colon was full of severe high grade dysplasia. My GI recently asked me who the angel on my shoulder was that made me decide to get a "bag" (GASP). My colonoscopy in July of 2010 was crystal clear. No sign of disease.
I am 36 years old and I too have three young children. I was done with this disease of games. I had nothing left in my old "bag" of tricks, so I thought a new one might be worth a try ;).
Come back in another 10-15 years and we'll see if you're still singing the same tune.
Alright, please don't tell me that I have no room to speak on my condition just because I've only been diagnosed a short few months ago. I don't rule out anything about
this condition -because there is no treatment for it. That means I believe food, environment and my lifestyle could play a role in
my condition. There's no room for ignorance with this disease.
It sounds like you went through hell, like any of us, but you dabbled in $thousands of dollars a month with a nutritionist. Was the nutritionist an M.D.? or just a certified nutritionist from a 4-year school? Did the nutritionist tell you medicine was the wrong route to treat your issue? Did you stay committed to this regimen for a period of time until the issue came back?
And you also mention that you were in great shape, until you had your third child. Having three children with an illness like this is enough pressure on the organs down below to relapse any previous condition. I'm not saying thats enough reasoning to support your relapse, but think about
the stress that your body is taking on with a newborn. I understand what you're saying about
how this disease 'plays games', but the best way to take care of it is by being pro-active and thats what i'm doing. From the beginning all I had was a terrible GI doctor who did not give me enough information to go on. I picked myself up, and decided to become my own doctor for this issue and do my research. Now i'm working with my GI doctor and M.D. naturopathic doctor, getting perspectives from both sides of the health spectrum. I dont spend thousands of dollars a month either.
I admit, this disease isnt just going to take care of itself and I may have to work extra hard and change my regimen when it does stop working for me. But right now, i won't worry about
a relapse because I know i'm doing everything I can. And if have you have had this disease as long as you have, surely you've become more appreciated of your own life in general, but there's no need to use scare tactics like 'come back in 15 years' to someone who's trying to do everything they can to prevent further illness. I dont care if you are a great mother of three children, who are you to tell me I dont have a voice?