Smoking and Colitis

Does smoking help Colitis ?

Post Edited (UC_Guy) : 6/14/2013 1:41:25 AM (GMT-6)

Wow, this is kind of harsh wouldn't you say? I understand your frustration about the anti-smokers (really I do) but lets be nice.

But in response to your question, yes I found that smoking helped. I quit for two years, flared horribly for those 2 years (nothing helped) and I started smoking again. Things improved but not drastically tho. It wasn't a miracle for me to start back up or anything like that but it did allow me to ease back on some medicines. At that time I was on 12 Asacol and twice daily Rowasa (when I could take mesalamines) and I was able to stop the Rowasa and continue with my maintenance dose of Asacol. It didn't put me in remission but it did soothe the ole gut.

Actually it's really bad for Crohn's.

It helped get me out of a flare.....I smoke one cigarette every other day and have not seen any blood since I started this regimen. Not sure if it's the cigs that actually put me in remission but too scared to stop at this point....sucks. I also got colitis a year after quitting smoking.

I never went back to smoking but my doc did say it does help some people.
Have seriously considered it a few times.

Actually, I have crohn's affecting my colon (it has affected my small intestines as well as my rectum) and please remember that not everything is written in stone because this is my experiance with crohn's and smoking/quitting/starting again....


I was a smoker before I got sick with CD, at some point after getting sick I quite for 3 yrs and it was HELL to put it mildly...I started again BUT ONLY 3 CIGS A DAY and I am so glad I did because along with other things listed in my signature below it has aided my horrible issues...yes I'm still flaring and alway will be but I'm still better off as a smoker than not.

UC_GUY, I personally don't think your comment was harsh, people do get stupid on posts about smoking and completely ruin the topic everytime...WE ALL KNOW SMOKING CAN KILL YOU, SO CAN TONS OF OTHER THINGS THAT ARE NOT RELATED TO SMOKING....and guess what, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE SOME DAY WHETHER WE SMOKE OR NOT and there's many people that have smoked for many years and not ended up with common smoking related illnesses.

Bottom line for me, smoking helps and the truth is way back 21 years ago when I first became sick and DX I had my colon/rectum surgeon tell me NOT to quit smoking because they knew even back then that it had a calming affect on inflammatioin in the colon, they just didn't learn until yrs later that it's the carbon monoxide from smoking that gives the calming of inflammation in the colon. They are working on a med to mimic this without the harmful effects of smoking and until they do I will for sure smoke everyday to my grave cuz life in my opinion is quality NOT quantity...infact I'd rather died young before I even got CD then be living a miserable life now in my 40's thanks to this #%#$^$%^$%& DISEASE!

I started smoking in August 2011 to help keep my UC/Crohn's at bay. I'm diagnosed with Crohn's that only affects my colon and perianal region and I know smoking is supposed to be bad for Crohn's. However, it honestly has helped me a lot. I didn't bleed for the longest time. Unfortunately I went into a huge flare right around mid March from all of the stress of my campaign at school and other things. I think the thing that put me over the top was an accidental energy drink that I had. However, I did have significant improvement with my problems.

Yes Yes Yes!!!!!!

I quit smoking after 20 years and 10months later I got UC, coincidence? I think not!

I have just started again and can absolutely say that YES it has helped reign it in and get me into remission almost straight away.

I even got myself an Ecig to help me get off them once its over.

BUT again YES smoking does help, I'm proof!

I would rather smoke than have 20bm's a day with heaps of blood and cramping.

I later learned that I was actually self-medicating by only smoking before I actually got to a doctor and got Rx drugs for UC.
Symptoms got a little worse after I quit smoking, but then the drugs kicked in and the side effects overall are slightly less bad (lol) on Rx drugs than smoking.
Vaping weed seems to have no effect on my UC symptoms, btw.

I dont agree with smoking anymore, however, prior to diagnosis I went through a bad breakup and had alot of stress and basically had IBS symptoms constantly. When I started smoking marijuana regularly for a year and half, all of those symptoms were gone forever. When I stopped smoking marijuana, even worse symptoms began to pop up, leading to diagnosis of chrons disease. (I smoked only marijuana, never cigs, for about a year and a half (end of high school/begin college)).

I'm not going to bash at all, discussion on this would really help doctors understand (i'm sure they do, but don't like to advocate this kind of thing).. but i'm disappointed that we are forced to find solace in adding another issue to the mix that can only sometimes benefit our current issue.

UC_Guy, i'm just curious though, throughout your 7 years, have you ever tried the SCD? I was on pred for 4 months and didnt know how I was ever going to kick the stuff, until I stuck to the SCD everything changed.

As I recall the studies at Mayo and UK in the 90's, they indicated that 15 mg/day of nicotine was about the minimum therapeutic level. And that it helped about 50% of the non-placebo group achieve remission. Of course they only studied transdermal patches, and not actual tobacco smoke or other delivery methods.

I personally have been able to achieve and maintain remission using lozenges and e-cigs, so I can’t really address the use of tobacco. I am going on three years now. But if the 15 mg/day level holds, that’s about ¾ of a pack per day; so I’m not sure if a cig or two every day or two would help.

This disease is so variable, that generalizations are nearly impossible, I only know what works for me, but I have no idea what will work for you.

I agree with you too UC_Guy. But even in those threads bombarded by the anti smokers, it is clear that when people stop smoking their UC gets worse - even the anti smokers (the ones that quit anyway) say that. If I was in bad shape, I'd pick it up again.

Ernee--If you decide to do e-cigs again, try here:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/

It's a great place w/ alot of helpful folks. I'm part of that group and would hate to see anyone use cigs if these work well.

Bob