Have you benefited from UC?

For sure I have in some ways!
For starters I have no issues talking about poop now:) honestly, it has really helped me prioritize my life. I was 38 when diagnosed and stressed beyond belief. I had to slow way down in order to get better, and while I felt horrible, I spent a ton of time with my 3&6 year olds that I wouldn't have done otherwise. I had to ask my husband for help when I would have done it all before getting sick. I know and appreciate how much health really matters and how much others in the world need our support. It has made me a better mother, spouse, professor, and performer (I'm a classical musician) because I work hard to make every day that I feel great count. I also have learned to say no to things that I don't want it need to do and my whole family is stronger as a result.
It took some pretty dark times to get to this place, and it isn't all smooth sailing, but I am much happier now than I was 3.5 years ago before I had UC.

momto2boys said...
For sure I have in some ways!
For starters I have no issues talking about poop now:) honestly, it has really helped me prioritize my life. I was 38 when diagnosed and stressed beyond belief. I had to slow way down in order to get better, and while I felt horrible, I spent a ton of time with my 3&6 year olds that I wouldn't have done otherwise. I had to ask my husband for help when I would have done it all before getting sick. I know and appreciate how much health really matters and how much others in the world need our support. It has made me a better mother, spouse, professor, and performer (I'm a classical musician) because I work hard to make every day that I feel great count. I also have learned to say no to things that I don't want it need to do and my whole family is stronger as a result.
It took some pretty dark times to get to this place, and it isn't all smooth sailing, but I am much happier now than I was 3.5 years ago before I had UC.

Wow! That's awesome to hear. Me too on the poop front and I've become a lot less self conscious about that region of the body, how could you not?

I really enjoyed reading your story and progress in the face of suffering and long may it continue - I hope things work out well for you over time.

Substitute Crohn's for UC for me.

Short answer: No.

Longer answer: Hell no.

100% not.

I repeat 100% not.

I have diseases to deal with and a whole bunch of other physical and emotional issues because I have conveniently inherited tendencies that I would much rather not have. I'm actually not able to tolerate lots of stuff and my life has become more limited than I would have ever have imagined.
It is what it is...none of it is in my or others' ability to change.



When those who say they benefit from disease, i hear excuse or denial rather than reality and acceptance.
We all learn and change and improve perspective from life uness its beyond one's ability to do so. Disease or no disease.

q

Again - this thread is not "would you rather have UC or not?". I'm pretty sure we all fall in the "not" category.

quincy said...
When those who say they benefit from disease, i hear excuse or denial rather than reality and acceptance.
We all learn and change and improve perspective from life unless its beyond one's ability to do so. Disease or no disease.

I agree that 'it is what it is'. And I think that's a fantastic stance to take ... acceptance of what is really happening. Accepting reality without resisting it. I'm with you on that.

I find it interesting when you say that you 'hear denial' when people say they benefit from disease. Because here's the thing ... "Nothing's good or bad, but thinking makes it so". We create the meaning of our experiences, which are not inherently anything other than raw perceptions. We basically construct our versions of reality in our heads. Any frame is possible to take ... no judgement is right or wrong or more "realistic" than another, so somebody who believes they benefit from disease is not necessarily in denial about what is happening for them.

My own view is that there's no point pretending everything is lovely and swell, and there can be some truly horrible experiences in life. But I'm also aware that a huge amount of suffering (beyond the physical pain and symptoms) is mentally created, and that people can discover and create all kinds of relationships with their experiences, some of which are greatly more enjoyable to live through and with. As for gratitude in this context, it's more a thought experiment than anything else. It's about reframing some of the experiences in our lives that at the time might have seemed totally bleak, in order to remind ourselves that, as some others have commented here, perception is everything.

I wouldn't fret ~ chicken wings ~. Every once in a while a thread appears simular in this theme "uc has made me a better person" with a few who bite on that positive note and suggesting a few good things, but the bulk of posts end up being fairly negative. This thread is no different, usually it's the same result regardless of who posts it.

Certainly, it's good to frame things in a positive light, as it might have benefits to one's own well being, moods and emotions. Not everyone can though, especially those of us who've had uc for a long time.

To answer your question, I certainly appreciate being normal (in remission) whenever and for as long as I can, something I most certainly took for granted before diagnosis. Appreciate the small things more. I'm more aware and supportive of other otherwise invisible illness, chronic sufferers around me (I was ignorant of that before) that I've met at work and in my personal life. I volunteer time here helping others with answers, something I wouldn't have considered before diagnosis. Am I a better person due to uc? Likely not. I'm just me, for better or worse lol.

quincy said...
As I say...denial. its ok to not like one's own suffering and say so. Life goes on or it doesnt. And as far as mentally created pain.....yes, that's true. We feel what we do and have our limitations. Some have extreme tolerances which can be mentally created denial. The thinking pendulum swings constantly. Coping happens individually....not all of it healthy, but its a learning process.

I accept, but dont think for one minute i dont resent it.

Do what works for you, but you do tread in a fragile territory asking that question.

Perception is everything....a statement I use all the time, and a signature in other forums.

q

As you say ... whatever works for the individual. All I'm doing here is sharing a few ideas and perspectives, not claiming any gospel truth or trying to impose a way of looking at things on anybody else. I share it in case anybody finds it useful as I do. For me, to begin with the idea that things couldn't be inherently bad made no sense and did seem a bit offensive, but as I have thought about it and experimented with taking different stances in my life, I have come to believe that things do not occur to us as they are, but as we are. And that 'we' is always subject to change. As I utilize it in my own life it creates freedom.

iPoop said...
I wouldn't fret ~ chicken wings ~. Every once in a while a thread appears simular in this theme "uc has made me a better person" with a few who bite on that positive note and suggesting a few good things, but the bulk of posts end up being fairly negative. This thread is no different, usually it's the same result regardless of who posts it.

Certainly, it's good to frame things in a positive light, as it might have benefits to one's own well being, moods and emotions. Not everyone can though, especially those of us who've had uc for a long time.

To answer your question, I certainly appreciate being normal (in remission) whenever and for as long as I can, something I most certainly took for granted before diagnosis. Appreciate the small things more. I'm more aware and supportive of other otherwise invisible illness, chronic sufferers around me (I was ignorant of that before) that I've met at work and in my personal life. I volunteer time here helping others with answers, something I wouldn't have considered before diagnosis. Am I a better person due to uc? Likely not. I'm just me, for better or worse lol.

Thanks iPoop. I see the mental judgements as separate from the illness; somebody can be depressed, unhappy, anxious etc. in pretty much any situation, you can also be happy, relaxed, confident etc. in pretty much any situation. That thinking goes on all the time and can create just about any response to the stimuli (raw pain sensations, sight of blood, whatever it is). Recurring and ongoing pain is of course going to have a knock-on effect to the system and affect the mind, a churning gut will affect the mind, and so on, and it's not always possible to be happy (duh!), but I'd say the ability to find focus and peace is there more often than we realize.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Similar to what you have been saying, if I go into a lovely public toilet, I am often disproportionately happy :p

NiceCupOfTea said...
I don't believe that. I believe it is our emotions which creates the thoughts, rather than the other way round: our brain's input is the raw experiences which happen to us, which we have emotions about before we have thoughts. In an adult it may only take a split second for the emotion to precede the thought, but in people without language (babies and very small children) they don't even have thoughts - just the wordless emotions.

It's a loop, emotion can precede thought and thought can precede emotion, at a push I'd say it's thought that comes first. When I say 'thought' I don't just mean spoken-word thoughts like "What a horrible day", I mean also images, sounds, and the kind of subconscious, wordless meaning-making you refer to when you mention babies and children. When we're in low moods, things look bleak, when we're in high moods, things look great. When we think some thoughts we become depressed, when we think other thoughts we become very happy. Either way, it's all thought, not reality, and if you can stop seeing the thoughts as reality then they can stop bothering you. Emotions then become curious physical sensations and you can avoid getting sucked into the downward spiral of a bad mood.

NiceCupOfTea said...
We don't construct reality in our heads; reality is out 'there', something beyond ourselves. If it wasn't, we could never have a common language, culture, etc. because we'd all be too busy babbling to ourselves, living in our self-created reality that had nothing in common with anyone else's. We can have different perceptions of things, but we have different perceptions of a universal reality. And really, those different perceptions only go so far: we put our hand in fire, it burns and we snatch it away. We feel an urge to go to the toilet, we run. No matter how you use words, you cannot alter that.

Yep, there's a reality out there, and we are not privy to it. Each of us does not interact with reality but a highly filtered, customized, internally created version of it. We are reacting to our perceptions and judgements, not the "world out there". And the world out there changes based on what we think about it. When you're in a bad mood, the world seems to change around you, same when you're in a good mood. A change of understanding or a change of where you focus is can completely transform your experiences. As for burning hands in fire, that's nowhere near as simple as you suggest; pain is not an objective thing, it's something that is hugely tempered, influenced and co-created by the mind. That's why hypnobirthing works, that's why people don't notice a cut in their finger until they see it, that's why placebos work. I agree we operate within a reality with certain properties, if I run in front of a train I will get hit and get seriously injured or more likely die. If I am seriously injured, it's the meaning I make around that experience that is so open to creation, interpretation and change. I could become depressed, I could become extremely happy, based on my thoughts around it.

NiceCupOfTea said...
If you want to pretend that running to the toilet is great fun and that pain is all in your mind, all power to you. Me, I know it's a lot more fun not being chained to the bathroom and being able to eat without pain.

Yeah, I don't enjoy accidents, but in the moment if they are going to have to happen, they are going to have to happen. Ideally we want to be healthy or in remission, but on a bad day, I do try to enjoy things as best I can. To be honest it's much less about enjoying things, and more about knowing that any thoughts I have about the experience are mental noise that do not have to be believed if they are not serving me.

The good news is that over the past 8 years I was forced to avoid tons of donuts, beer, pizza, soda, candy and junk food in general. I don't know if I would have had the will power to be so strict otherwise. But the benefits of avoiding junk are probably more than offset by the chronic inflammation caused by this disease. And it doesn't help that I now can no longer consume any super healthy cruciferous vegetables.

Before UC my CRP levels, a measure of inflammation, were always between 0.3 and 0.5. During the worse of my flares it jumped to over 150.0 (that is not a misprint). Now even though I appear to be in remission my CRP is still around 5.0, although if I take a ton of supplements it will drop temporarily. I am sure all this chronic inflammation is not beneficial.

One lasting change is my increased skepticism about doctors and the medical profession in general. I have confidence in their expertise in ACUTE illness, such as a broken bone or physical trauma. But as far as CHRONIC conditions I have learned the hard way that I need to take charge of my own disease.

Rebirthing?....bwahahahaaaa. om*g. Like that changes the physical status of ones health....

q

Giving birth isn't the biggest deal in the world. My friend did 2 home births unmedicated without hypno anything and she is fine. At least that pain comes and goes. Chronic illness is for life.