I want to use this current high media profile period for ulcerative colitis to talk about a colitis relapse and the importance of rest.
Yesterday I blogged about Darren Fletcher, the Manchester United and Scotland footballer who has been diagnosed with colitis yet had in fact been suffering from the disease for about one year. It appears he had a first attack, fell into remission then the symptoms have reared their ugly head again. So why the colitis relapse? Read More
Here is a legitimate question to ask…is it a virus or ulcerative colitis? I ask this as one of Scotland’s top football (soccer) players, who also plays for Manchester United, has been diagnosed with colitis. He is Darren Fletcher and is 27 years old and as fit as a fiddle.
So what happened to the ultra fit, ultra healthy professional footballer? If it can happen to him… Read More
It is still a little off putting when the issue of colitis is raised and there is someone who pipes up about some colitis remedy that their neighbours cousin’s daughter found and now “she is fine”. What is often the case that the information is passed down through several people changing the interpretation as it goes.
And did they have ulcerative colitis in the first place rather than irritible bowel syndrome or disease? Be wary of those that appraoch bearing what is thought of as helpful advice. Read More
A question was put to me recently about whether the age factor and a colitis diagnosis had any bearing on how a sufferer then was able to confront lving with colitis in terms of the number of relapses, the severity of symptoms and the periods of remissions.
So is there anything in the beliefs that if you are diagnosed with colitis at a later stage of life your expereince will be less severe compared to a diagnosis say in late teens or early twenties? Read More
Did you know that there is growing evidence that psychological factors contribute to colitis flare ups? Therefore, stress-management training and timely stress interventions may be as important to those living with colitis as the medications now used to treat symptoms when the disease is active.
I can’t underline that fact of the importance of keeping stress under control for better colitis management. So how can you go about trying to ensure that the stress you inflict on yourslef, both physically and mentall is kept to a minimum? Read on for a few powerful tips. Read More
Please have a read of the following which is an extract from an article that I wrote to a local uc group. It is all about being realistic in facing a colitis replase attack and what you should and should not be doing…
“The majority of sufferers tend to fall into the pattern of first attack then a period of remission (this can last for a period of months to years) before another attack. A few unfortunately have continuous symptoms that can be controlled to an extent with medication and lifestyle choices. During periods of remission your health will most likely be back to normal so don’t alarm yourself that you will never gain a degree of good health again. Read More
It is interesting the amount of press that olive oil is getting at the moment, so how can this help an ulcerative colitis diet? Olive oil is a very healthy alternative to other more common cooking oils and is great for the blood, circulation and supple joints. Just looks at all these people living around the Med to a ripe old age. It’s the olive oil they say!
Now, the medical profession are undertaking research on the effects of many different aspects of diet and ulcerative colitis and at the present time there is no conculsive proof pertaining to olive oil and how it can mitigate against colitis. I have had a few members comment to me about the use of olive oil and whilst I have written about it before here is some latest info. Read More
Should you have surgery for ulcerative colitis is a very common thought and question every colitis sufferer will ask themselves and their doctor but the need for it is not inevitable. In fact, it i rather far from inevitable and should not be the first thing that you worry about in the early days.
Only a small percentage of all those diagnosed with the disease have to ultimately undergo the surgical processes and they can be grouped into different categories depending on the extent of their colitis and how it affects their life. Read More
Here is part two of thoughts for a summer diet for colitis. As with everything to do with diet, don’t change it for change sake. Think about how your current diet may be affecting your symptoms and when change effected, make it one thing at a time.
Foods that cause inflammation include what most people think of as fun food or comfort foods, such as sugar-laden treats, refined white foods and fried foods. They are the ones that break down quickly into sugar. Read More
With summer upon us and an abundant crop of fresh fruit vegetables , now is a great time to create healthier eating habits, to create a summer diet for colitis. The standard unhealthy Western diet is catching up with us and chronic disease is running rampant and at the root of this is inflammation.
While we can have genetic predispositions to most diseases, how we live and what we put in our bodies can cause the scales to tip and determine whether we then suffer from illness and disease. Read More