Holiday Blues

Hey all, I was so glad to find this forum! My name's Rich (25/m/NY) and I have UC on the lower third of my colon. I'm currently unmedicated (tried mesalamine, made symptoms worse, hate meds in general), and have become a vegetarian since I was diagnosed. I was in remission for about six months until about two weeks ago. Thinking about taking out stock in Scott Tissue, or at least putting a TV in the can.

My UC is a vicious cycle right now. I've had mild panic attacks my whole life and it just makes me flare up more often, but now I'm starting to have panic attacks because of my UC. Boo! That on top of the stress of seeing family for the holidays is a horrid combination that I'm sure I'm not alone in. All the holiday adult beverages haven't really helped either, I'm sure.

I'm heading up to Syracuse (from Long Island) next weekend for a tournament. I'm pretty concerned about the drive (6 hours-ish) and the stresses of competing. I'll get to see some friends I haven't seen in awhile which usually chills me out, but I'm sure there will be more adult beverages that I'll have a hard time resisting.

Anyway, that's why I'm here. Just looking for a little "I know those feels" and internet high fives. Just typing this out has already made me feel better 10-fold

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and thanks for reading!

Try to avoid the beverages or dilute them, like wine spritzer, cranberry vodka. What game do you play? I hope you feel better soon! Have fun and good luck. Btw. You got to get meds because it progresses if left untreated I think!

Wow, such quick replies, thanks!

Notsosickly: I have in fact tried suppositories and they worked for about a week. My gastro said his patients have had incredible success with the enema, but frankly my lifestyle is far too on-the-go to worry about something like that every morning. The diet intrigues me, though, so I'll certainly check that out.

DMC: Any liquor at all messes with me, actually, so I mostly stick to beer. Too bad all the really good beers are basically hops flavored acid. Haha. And to your question, I play tournament laser tag (so lame, I know, but the people are awesome and I get a ton of opportunities to travel). I'm lucky to have teammates so sensitive to my UC needs.

Kaz: Vegetarianism helped so much I can't tell you. Other than that, I've almost totally stopped drinking soda. I've replaced the 2-4 cans of Coke I used to drink every day (still always had normal blood pressure and am very skinny) with a glass or two of iced green tea. There's still corn syrup in it, but its not nearly as acidic. I attribute much of my progress to that as well.

Also, I smoked for about 8 years before quitting (e cigarette was life changing) but after 3 years of not smoking was when my colitis showed up. I was on meds for about a month (Apriso) and it seemed to work brilliantly. Then I went on a trip to Russia and about four days into my trip, my symptoms were totally back. Kept taking Apriso for about two weeks when I got home, but once it got real bad, I stopped taking the stuff and started smoking again. That was about a year and a half ago and until recently my flares were mild to non existent.

My gastro said that smokers don't get UC, but I'm currently writing this from the comfort of my bathroom, so I beg to differ. I'm planning to quit smoking again after the new year and am pretty confident about it.

But I digress, my goal is to not rely on meds. But I'll certainly heed the warnings and think about it again after reading this and some of the other threads here. Thanks again!