Jinxing myself when feeling well...

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this part of the internet, and frankly pretty new to posting in forums for UC all together.

I'm 23 and have been dealing with an ongoing flare for about 3 years now. I was in college away from my hometown, about to start the second half of my sophomore year, when things started looking grim. I had no clue what UC was at the time, and didn't even know my own father was living with Crohn's. So, needless to say, seeing massive amounts of blood in the bowl and feeling absolutely awful was a little alarming. Thankfully the college I was attending had a strong medical program close to the campus and I could make the effort up there to see what was happening.

Long story short, now I'm living at home again. Left the school I was attending (which was actually a blessing and a curse), did not graduate, and am not really looking to head back to higher education any time soon.

The thing that sucks is when I feel well. There will be a day or even a few hours where I feel unstoppable. I once went a week without feeling any serious consequences of my UC and worked at least 7 hours everyday blowing glass. Everything was great and life felt just a little bit more normal again. Then cue absolute pain and curling into a ball to try to feel better. Having no appetite. Having a normal looking BM, but running to the bathroom 6 times a day. This pendulum is so frustrating that I just deal with this as a new normal while waiting for Remicade treatments to start. Prednisone no longer works, I'm convinced that Asacol and Lialda were making my symptoms even worse, and now I'm at the top of the ladder for treatments. Sigh.

Have any of you ladies or gents felt like things were "normal" only to have the symptoms come back even harder than they were before? Also, has anyone else noticed their body not reacting to Prednisone (even at doses of 30mg)?

Yes. Yes, and Yes.

After having UC for so long and looking at these boards, it's really apparent that everyone needs to find what works for THEM.

I've gone through years of trying this, or that. Sometimes something works, other times it quits working.

I still think the person that figures out how to merge the adult diaper with Jockey underwear - thus getting rid of the diaper look and feel - is going make a mint!!!!

John