Are we doomed?

Sorry in advance for this post!

I just can't help but wonder if we are all doomed!

We have this (thing) no cure, and we have meds that work but not really.

We take a med, than stronger ones (added to the ones we already take) which have horrible, long term risks and side affects.

As we get older things seem so go downhill and it seems to me there is not much hope to be even minimally healthy older person.

With aging, diseased bodies the future looks pretty bleach IMHO.

The meds just add to the illness! Actually making us sicker!!!

God, I just alwaYs thought I would look like the old people on the commercials walking in the spring grass picking flowers and smiling. But now I see decrepit. Drugged up, sloppy sick person with a cane in a hospital corridor.

Sorry! A little depressed here.

I don't at all think I'm doomed. Not all UCers have to move on to stronger meds. Look at quincy, for example -- 20+ (right, q?) years with UC and she's still maintaining just fine on mesalamine. I am hopeful that I'll have a similar experience.

And as far as I'm concerned, a colectomy isn't the end of the world. Most people with ostomy bags and j-pouches live completely normal lives.

I've gone through a lot of meds in a short time. I get depressed for sure, and sometimes I feel 'doomed' to surgery, but other times I feel happy knowing surgery is an option.

This is a chronic illness, but it isn't terminal.

From what I understand, if uc is going to spread or get worse then it will within the first 5 years of diagnosis. So, that makes it sound like uc is particularly aggressive in the beginning, shortly after diagnosis. Things then either have to calm down (you are in remission or mostly so) or, one is completely nonresponsive to treatment from the get go, has run out of options (medicinal and whatever, tried em all) and evicts that evil, incorrigible colon of theirs. So, I think that gives some hope at least. You just have to run through the gambit of options early on, and one of those two courses is chosen; with you or I just in the back seat along for the ride; kicking and screaming along the way perhaps lol.

I'm 100% doomed, have been for years and years now...depressing.

DMC...I think you're drawing the doomed card a bit soon.

You have options.

The whole world is doomed....but maybe not sooner than later.

You have to choose what to believe and what to risk....try to maintain a fairly balanced perspective and do the homework to make decisions in order to function the best you're able.

You're not perfect, but you can function as though you are pretty close depending on how you view your situation.

Have a bad day, wallow in it....but add a few things that will add to the hope of a better tomorrow.

It's all about perspective and options.  Don't get tied up in the fact that everything is bad.  Everyone is flawed and eventually doomed. 

q

If your current meds are making you sicker you need to stop them and try something else.

If you have tried eveything Rx med-wise as well as other alternatives (diet, LDN, herbals such as wild oregano oil, etc) and nothing gets you better then your next step is surgery. People who've done it seem quite happy they did it and their lives are not shortened.

My opinion is that UC is far from the worst thing that could happen. People with severe diabetes have a worse life and worse old age compared to UC.

Changing my diet because of UC has been beneficial to the rest of my health. My PCP says I skew 10 years younger than my chronological age, which is due to veggies and clean eating.

When you are flaring the world looks grim. Keep trying to find something that works to heal your UC and reduce symptoms. I'm aiming for an active, healthy 95 and then die in my sleep happy.

As one of those older people, I'm going to tell you not to give in. Even with a chronic illness, life can be wonderful and rewarding. I walk in the flowers, I smile and laugh. I no longer do some of the things I used to do, true; some because my arthritis prevents me and others because I'm no longer interested. But I do new things that I never dreamed of years ago.

So you're no more doomed than every other mortal being on the face of the earth.

Whenever I feel doomed I only have to read one of these stories on here of someone who is suffering way more than me or someone who has had to have surgery and come through it with great spirit and I always feel better,sometimes you have try and shift your focus to the positive even if that demands a leap of faith.
I also enjoy reading about the people who have achieved remission through alternative treatments even though I have'nt got there myself yet.
Quincy gave me the Lo down on rectal meds and after finding it very difficult I have persisted this and now can say they are definitely worth it .
Sue bear gave me courage to believe if it ends up in being a surgical outcome for me I can get through it.
P.S posting tonight as I'm in struggling with the fact that my present flare up is getting much worse,but no I don't feel doomed,just hey shame it's me,and glad it's not any of my kids or anyone else I care about.
Take care Anna

I love you guys! Thank you so much. I am kind of ashamed of myself for letting myself wallow, because Q is right I do have options. Probably more than most.

Even though I have been at this for almost two years I sometimes get just as confused as when I got dx!

Thanks for the perspectives! You are such a wonderful group of people.

I will get past this debbie downer day!

Thanks again,
Less doomed than this morning!

Thanks to you too DM everyone gets downers we would'nt be human if we did'nt and I don't think we should try and measure suffering,but however bad it gets I can look at my kids and think well at least they are healthy and well fed,and happy
Going up to bed now house is all quiet summing up they courage to go on with the Q regime Night Night!

I have been living with UC for 27 years. Was on Asacol for many years. Kept it pretty much under control and flares would resolve in a couple of months. This one has been 7 months. I guess the Asacol just stopped working for me. Tried Colazal. Just got off Lialda because of headaches and dizziness. It does get depressing and scary when you experience so many horrible side effects. With all that's going on I just try to keep my sense of humor. Stress is a big trigger for my flares. This is my first night on this forum. I finally had to communicate with others who know what I've gone through all these years.

What are you taking now?