Hello everyone, not sure who remembers me or cares, lol, but I'm back on healingwell for info on thyroid issues which seem to be my new problem, stopping in here to say hello.
I was diagnosed w left-sided UC in 1995. Tried so many meds, prednisone, Colazol, Sulfasalazine, Azacol, Rowasa, Proctofoam, Remicade, Methotrexate, Humira, um, probably others but that's what's mostly coming to mind. I had a time on Remicade when my colonoscopy showed no active disease but I was in the restroom 10 plus times a day and feeling like crap anyways, the rest of the stuff didn't seem to help at all.
I had to switch gastro docs due to changes in insurance a few years back. The new one I saw actually listened to my issues and sent me to a rectal surgeon who did some investigating of my problems and found I had stage 4 rectal prolapse plus a large rectal ulcer. He did a rectal resection on me and then I went to a urologist for the prolapse repair. I thought that seemed out of order but rectal surgeon insisted it was safer to do it that way so he wouldn't mess up the prolapse repair. Well the surgeries were about
a month apart and by the time for prolapse surgery the ulcer had formed again. But the prolapse surgery did help me feel a lot better. I wasn't having the issue of feeling all closed up down there and then getting violently ill from being backed up.
I was only taking Sulfasalazine by then but still having lots of D. Eventually I got very tired of being at the doctors all the time so I tried to go it on my own.
It has been several years now and I am off all UC meds. I need to go for a scope to make sure everything is safe but I will continue to stay off meds unless I get much worse.
I have stopped eating pasta and that has helped my D a lot. I don't eat as many processed foods as I used to either. I used to think carbs would settle my stomach but most of them make me worse. (had testing done, was borderline for gluten sensitivity) I am careful with the types of cheeses, sauces and creams I eat in cooking. I find I am mostly worse when I eat out but have a few go to's I can usually have without paying too much for it the next day. I avoid all artificial sweeteners, they definitely seem to bother me. Regular exercise seems to help me feel better too even though it can be difficult when I feel tired or achy. I listen to my body and on days I feel ok I do as much as I can.
Honestly for the most part lately my biggest struggle is with severe constipation, go figure. That's one of the things that got me asking about
my thyroid come to find out I have a goiter and most likely Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.
Anyways that the past years for me in a nutshell and I hope you all are managing well and dealing with this the best you can.
