Childhood

I was bullied and my dad was almost physically abusive at one point. But this has nothing to do with my UC because my sister was also in a similar situation.

My childhood was great. I know this has been discussed at least once in the past, and it was a pretty even split between those who had good vs. bad childhoods.

I was bullied. Right after I left school I got sick.

The bullying and teasing applies to me.

Miserable childhood. For many years I was chronically constipated and the cause was probably pyschological in origin (internet reading on childhood constipation has kind of confirmed it). Then when the constipation finally went away in late adolescence, Crohn's came along 5 years later.

However, in my family there is also a quite strong history of Crohn's. One of my brothers has it, albeit a much milder variant than mine. He is 9 years older than me and the eldest brother, so I would say our childhoods weren't much alike, apart from sharing the same parents. The Crohn's came down through the Irish side, and I don't know any of my Irish relatives or what their childhoods were like.

Count me in. My family childhood was pretty decent but I was a very small kid for my age and extremely shy, so I got bullied and beaten up. I recall dreading school even as I got straight A's. I still blame my UC, however, mostly on a couple bouts of antibiotics one winter that opened the floodway in the midst of college.

We are genetically coded for UC; we don't just acquire it from food or environmental factors. However, stress is clearly a trigger.

I had a very happy childhood. I also have no other family members with UC or any other autoimmune disorders. Random luck of the draw.

Sue

Oh every kid gets bullied without exception. Kids are just rotten to each other and everyone gets a little bit of bullying. Stress certainly can make uc symptoms worse, but stress itself is not the cause of uc.

I don't think that's what iPoop is saying -- just that all kids get bullied at some point or another. And I do agree with that.

fruitgirl said...
I don't think that's what iPoop is saying -- just that all kids get bullied at some point or another. And I do agree with that.

I don't think they do actually. There's a world of difference between mickey-taking among mates (all boys will do that, I agree), and targeted bullying of an isolated, vulnerable child. The two don't even compare.

My mom was very hard on us since we were young, we all got beatings here and there but she was constant with verbal abuse, often telling most of us how she hated us and wished we were never born, especially with me though, she was 39 when she found out she was pregnant with me, she was on BC pills and still getting her period for 4 months and was gaining "unexplained weight" so her doc gave her a pregnancy test and sure enough she was pregnant with me (her 6th kid) and every year on my birthday instead of saying "happy birthday" she'd go on about how I snuck into her life, tricked her into having me...she was a total headcase (as most of you may know, she had UC herself when she was in her mid 60's she got sick with it) so for me I still believe that it's hereditary for me but I'll tell you, I sure would have appreciated being loved by a mother rather than being blamed for being born. Thank god my dad was an angel (towards all my half siblings as well, he was the only love any of us felt...my mom hated that too) and he stayed in all of our lives up until he died in 2005 (worse day of my life). They were never married but did live together until I was born, but he came every single day after work to visit with us.

She told me had asked the doctor for an abortion with me (don't blame her, she already had 5 kids she was struggling to raise) but being 4 months along, he wouldn't...a little over a year after I was born, she became pregnant by my dad again (my other siblings have 2 different dads between the 5 of them) anyways, she used a coat hanger and tried to do a self abortion at home with that pregnancy...ended up in the hospital of course where they finished the job she started at home....that's how I grew up.

That said, I think those kinds of stresses could have an impact on triggering IBD, but not necessarily be the cause because many people that had great childhoods still get IBD and many that didn't still don't end up with IBD.

I was tortured, beaten and bullied as well as mentally and physical abuse.
I've moved on from it, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen and I am the only sibling from a huge family that has UC. So, in my case the bad childhood theory rings true.

I was from a dysfunctional family with tons of issues that never got resolved....but in general a "normal" family with parents who were generous, hard-working professionals and made a good living. There was lots of laughter and fighting, it seems more for position and fairness, but I do remember when I was young that my parents fighting always involved the discussion of splitting and splitting my brother and I as well. That threat is what I fell asleep to....abandonment is a huge issue to me as is rejection.

The dysfunction stemmed from my family (father in a Japanese Prison Camp for almost 4 years and a mother who was raised from birth for 2 years by another family because her mom was put into a mental institution).

I was never abused or bullied in the true sense of the word except being picked on occasionally by friends or family. I held my own, and was never part of the out-crowd or the in-crowd. I had no "enemies"

I did suffer from many insecurities, some health issues from a young age and for sure anxiety. My brother and I fought physically and psychologically...my parents were alcoholics (but working ones). life went on.

I think my mom had UC....but she was a smoker. Could never explain the butt bleeding, diarrhea and urgency she always had. Maybe it was "her piles"..lol.
My dad had ankylosing spondylitis...so that could be another connection I've inherited.

I can say honestly that it wasn't my childhood that caused my UC or health issues.
I'm still as mentally/emotionally reactive, but with the tools learned in which to deal through therapy.

q