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What do you believe caused your UC

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Posted 9/9/2012 7:23 PM (GMT 0)
IBS doesn't develop into IBD. One is a mechanical disorder, the other is an inflammation disease.  One can have both. 

q

Posted 9/9/2012 7:26 PM (GMT 0)
This whole thread is ridiculous, -if they knew the cause of UC , they'd have a cure.
THERE IS NO KNOWN "CAUSE"!
Posted 9/9/2012 7:27 PM (GMT 0)
chill beatUC...many speculate because it eases stress.

q
Posted 9/9/2012 8:20 PM (GMT 0)
Oh beatUC...if only it were that black and white eh....they (researchers) do know that triggers are likely environmental...in this thread, people are merely speculating as to what they think may have been their trigger(s)....nothing wrong with that...in fact, I think it's a good thing (sounding like Martha Stewart LOL) because it can sometimes lead to commonalities that we may have with one another regarding possible triggers.
Posted 9/9/2012 8:24 PM (GMT 0)
Many years I felt guilty about having UC and denied it.
This kind of thread im sure helps everyone to not feel guilty about having UC, I know over the years to just speculate a bit about the causes, even the fact we don't know, helped me realise I didn't do anything wrong and with the knowledge we have (and we don't have) there isn't really something we could have done to prevent it.

And that itself is such a liberation!
Posted 9/9/2012 10:04 PM (GMT 0)

pb4 said...
Stereo...everyone's trigger(s) will vary same with treatment results...this disease first and foremost is very individual....me for example...I actually have crohn's (affecting my colon mainly) which has also affected my small intestine the first 2 yrs I became sick...smoking or not, it has not affected my small bowel, but when I quit smoking for a couple of yrs (against my colon and rectum surgeons advice years ago) my disease activity increased so bad I was literally housebound from it. I returned to smoking (very little/day) and along with things listed in my sig, found some improvements so for me quitting smoking is not an option I will take again until/unless they find a better alternative for "me".

You do see how you're bringing on another health problem with smoking, right?
Posted 9/9/2012 10:10 PM (GMT 0)
I used to think it might be from antibiotics, hormones, bad diet, bacterial infection, yeast, stress... I did smoke in the past but I never considered myself a smoker because I'd go days without a cigarette so I doubt it's related but I guess you never know. Lately, I think it may be autoimmune and genetic. I've always been extremely tired, perhaps I have something else going on that's autoimmune related and it's all tied together.
Posted 9/9/2012 11:17 PM (GMT 0)
Stereo...but I really don't care at this point...that's all there is to it....different strokes for different folks I guess. Say I quit smoking again for "the sake of the rest of my health" {laughing} my IBD feels worse again as it did before(it's bad enough as it is) there's no guarantee I still won't get cancer/heart disease, etc...my brother quit smoking 26 yrs ago....end up with throat cancer 2 yrs ago...he beat it which is great but docs said to him it was likely smoking decades ago that caught up with him...so whatever...it's my life and it sucks anyways.
Posted 9/10/2012 12:13 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks Q. I agree it was probably not the cause (poss trigger along w/ other things)--and who could know this would happen. I never took antibiotics for the Group Strep B. I'm not sure how it wasn't positive right before birth--I was shocked. I wanted to protect the baby and not take any chances. I guess we always try to see how the result could have been different. An exercise in futility I guess but probably human nature.
B
Posted 9/10/2012 12:14 AM (GMT 0)
Six weeks after I quite smoking I was diagnosed with pancolitis. But my mother had colon cancer and Looking back I had had symptoms on and odd for many years, but never blood and GP never sent me to a gastroentenologist.
Posted 9/10/2012 1:44 AM (GMT 0)
Forgot to mention that for the record, I smoke 6 cigs/day...and the amount you smoke (heavily/lightly) can make a difference for some people...we're all affected, if at all, differently...not everyone that smokes is a guaranteed risk for cancer, heart disease etc...it can increase the risks for some, but doesn't mean for sure you'll get any of those illnesses either. Just like not everyone that quits smoking is guaranteed to develop UC...you have to be predisposed to it in the first place...same with cancer and other illnesses. And also regarding Cancer/heart disease, many end up with those illnesses that have never even smoked anyways.
Posted 9/10/2012 1:45 AM (GMT 0)
Well I got UC even though I hadn't yet quit smoking at the time...so that one makes no sense to me.
Posted 9/10/2012 4:50 AM (GMT 0)
Quit smoking in 2006 after 35 years of smoking, 2011 developed UC.
Posted 9/10/2012 5:10 AM (GMT 0)
It's different for everyone Sara....there's also likely more than one trigger involved for each of us...smoking/quitting smoking isn't necessarily the only way to trigger UC....lots of people that have never smoked still end up with UC. Unfortunately being a smoker doesn't guarantee that your UC won't be triggered in some other way....IBD is an ugly, mean and spiteful disease.
Posted 9/10/2012 5:49 AM (GMT 0)
My gastro, who subspecializes in IBD treatment, considers my UC to be "post-infectious". I was diagnosed with it after an incorrectly treated intestinal amebiasis, which I might have gotten while traveling abroad. The insurance-approved internist (dumb, as it turned out) had put me on Tetracycline, an anti-bacterial-- whereas I needed an anti-protozoan med to kill the amoeba! That being said, I had suffered recurrent tonsillitis at ages 7-9 & later in my twenties, when Tetracycline & Keflex 500 were RXed to treat it. (Am allergic to Penicillin.) So I do believe that antibiotics triggered my UC. There could be a genetic factor involved because a maternal aunt of mine developed Crohn's in adulthood, and a few cases of adult-onset UC have turned up in my mother's cousins' families as well. BTW, last yr Kawasaki's syndrome hit a 5 yr-old boy in 1 of these families AFTER he was treated with antibiotics for bronchitis! The docs who treated his Kawasaki's were very interested to hear about the family UC cases. / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal) P.S. I never smoked-- nor did my parents.

Post Edited (Old Hat) : 9/9/2012 11:52:05 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/11/2012 5:55 PM (GMT 0)
Not sure if this could be the cause but had my first flare up two years ago after a long weekend on vacation. Ate so much of the worst, fatty fried foods you could imagine. Had an intense panic attack, then started having UC symptoms the next day. This lasted for around 2 weeks. Was totally fine for 2 years, started another flare up about a week ago. I called a GI and the earliest they can see me in is in a month!! How can I have constant diarrhea, some with blood, and little to no appetite for a whole month...can't be good.
Posted 9/11/2012 6:02 PM (GMT 0)
autumnlove....doubt it was the food.


We miss many symptoms until the obvious. Even when we think we're better or doing fine, just because it's not extreme, it doesn't mean nothing is going on in the colon.

For you to say you started flaring a week ago, especially with diarrhea....you would have had some symptoms that should have alerted you something wonky was happening long before that. It took me over 3 years to start realising earlier symptoms, and over 15 years to recognise the subtleties that show even earlier.

rectal meds should be your best friend...for treatment and tapered to maintenance.

welcome to the forum.

q
Posted 9/15/2012 1:34 AM (GMT 0)
As I watch Full Metal Jacket right now,it reminds me that I forgot a few possibilities for my UC.
Basic training 1970,got every shot including the plague. We were also the first to get the then experimental
meningitis vaccine,they came every week to draw blood and check for antibodies.
After all these shots in basic came down with a case of Rubella for a week.
While in Korea got mono, I knew I should never have gone to the village,I assume I had a good time.
Old Mike
Posted 9/15/2012 1:32 PM (GMT 0)
"rectal meds should be your best friend... haha,"
Like tax cuts, Rectal meds are not the answer to everything Q!
Posted 9/15/2012 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
I also speculate vaccines and shots Old Mike. It looks like such a gimmick right now down south. I'll drive by a CVS or walk into a Kroger store and its like get your flu shot here! Sometimes pay for it? No thanks, I've survived long enough without it, and I don't care to be a science experiment any more.
Posted 9/15/2012 8:16 PM (GMT 0)
beatUC...I'm puzzled at your obsession with me...could it be something I said?

q
Posted 9/15/2012 9:32 PM (GMT 0)
lighten up Q and chill while you're at it : )
Posted 9/15/2012 9:51 PM (GMT 0)

quincy said...
beatUC...I'm puzzled at your obsession with me...could it be something I said?

q

he's got a crush on you....


....me too smilewinkgrin
Posted 9/16/2012 4:14 AM (GMT 0)
Accutane, I am certain. I took it in law school and in the year I graduated started having blood etc and was diagnosed.
I tried to join the litigation but it was too late, my records were already destroyed and I have no proof of taking it.

There are no digestive disorders in my family, just this with me.
Posted 9/16/2012 6:03 AM (GMT 0)
Someone said it so perfectly on this board a while ago re: all autoimmune disease. Years from now, doctors will be saying the cause is "your guess is as good as mine."
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