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Recently Diagnosed ((Need Advice Please))

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 5/9/2017 6:10 AM (GMT 0)
Hello People reading this, I have never written or been on any forums but I need advice, I am 25yr old Male, I was just diagnosed last week, I lost 20lb in 5 weeks, My abdomen was in severe pain and my whole body hurt, Honestly kept thinking that I had cancer.
I went to the ER 5 times in 5 weeks and all they could say is that it might be an ulcer and that I was acting too anxious. on the 6th week I saw a GI, He barely looked at me and just ordered an endoscope for a month later (Free health care 4 yuh). I realized that this free health care was holding me back, so I went with a well known GI Dr in Mexico, spoke with him for 2min and he already knew what I had, felt my abdomen and knew it was inflamed, ordered a colonoscopy 2 days later.
Results and biopsy showed moderate UC, just took Salofalk and Espacil this last week. it took 2 days and the pills took affect very well, but I would get really Horrible migraines, I'm now on 5mg prednisone & Salofalk for 3 months. I don't have to use the restroom as much as people that I have read about on this forum, nor do I have stool with blood. but I'm not sure if its just the medication, because I practically go completely normal now, but I still get a little pain in my lower left abdomen from time 2 time. I will be getting a colonoscopy here in Cali hopefully soon. Thanks for taking your time to read this smile Really Appreciate it.

Questions:

1)Is there anybody reading this that thinks you can beat this by the right diet, exercise, probiotics, vitamins, and other natural remedies? If so have you tried?

2) If your stool is normal when your off meds, do you need the meds?

3) Can this be controlled?? or is it more likely it will get progressively worse?

4) If there is no flare, is there no harm being done????

5) What should I and shouldn't I worry about????

4)Food Advice
Posted 5/9/2017 12:53 PM (GMT 0)
1. Half the people on this forum. It might work for a few, but even just going from the anecdotal experiences reported on this forum, it doesn't seem to work for the majority.

2. Yeah, ideally you should always be on a maintenance med even in remission. 5-ASAs (which is what Salofalk is) have been shown to reduce the long-term risk of colorectal cancer and they're pretty safe meds for 99.9% of people. Also, being on a maintenance med can delay having another flare-up or reduce its severity if you do flare up again.

3. For most people, UC can be controlled. For a minority, no. They're the ones who tend to end up having surgery.

4. If you are fully in remission, then no, there probably isn't any harm being done since there is no inflammation present to cause harm. The problem is it's almost impossible to tell from symptoms alone if you are 100% in remission or not - mild inflammation may present with few to no symptoms at all.

5. Worry about steroids. Take them as little as possible, particularly systemic ones such as pred. (Topical ones, such as Uceris and steroid enemas/foams aren't as bad, but still not something you want to be on constantly). Don't worry about extremely remote risks from the stronger meds such as lymphoma. Worry if your symptoms take a turn for the worse; that usually means you are relapsing or your disease is flaring. Don't worry about taking your disease seriously enough to seek the proper treatments and tests whenever necessary.

6. I'll leave this one to the people who are 100% convinced food is the number one cause of UC. I don't believe it is.
Posted 5/9/2017 1:36 PM (GMT 0)
1)Is there anybody reading this that thinks you can beat this by the right diet, exercise, probiotics, vitamins, and other natural remedies? If so have you tried? I think you can get into remission by finding the right "cocktail" of meds, along with diet.

2) If your stool is normal when your off meds, do you need the meds? In my opinion, yes. You should always be on some type of maintenance med.

3) Can this be controlled?? or is it more likely it will get progressively worse? Yes, it can be controlled for most people.

4) If there is no flare, is there no harm being done???? I would still stay on maintenance meds

5) What should I and shouldn't I worry about???? Worry if you can't get into remission no matter what you try.

4)Food Advice. Food is very individual when it comes to this disease. What works for one, might not work for another. Eat what makes your gut happy and delete what doesn't work.
Posted 5/9/2017 4:18 PM (GMT 0)
I lost the UC battle and now have a jpouch but honestly believe that if I had of gone STRICT paleo then I could have kept it. Just throwing this out there. Hopefully there isn't too many stones thrown at me for saying so. Having said that, I believe this would have only worked in the early stages and not once I was bleeding like mad and going to the washroom every 10 minutes. I think it will only work if one were to start when symptoms are limited. If one doesn't do it with 100% dedication then I would say it wouldn't matter. I also believe the SCD diet would accomplish the same thing. Just my two cents.
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