Archive for August, 2009

Everyone who is diagnosed with colitis knows that the chances of a relapse happening sometime in the future are probably as certain as night follows day. Yet whilst it is a known, it is also an unknown known. Can anyone diagnosed with colitis write down in their diary when their next relapse will occur? If they could, they should sell the secret and retire to their very own tropical island.

Until such a day arrives, colitis sufferers have to continue to live their lives as normally as possible yet always at the back of their mind there is the thought that a relapse might appear from nowhere.

After their first attack, it is not unusual to proceed to have more relapses over many years interspersed with longer periods of remission. Yet it should be possible after a period of time to start to see a pattern emerge both in timing when they happened and some evidence based factors of why they happened.

So what are you going to do now? Wiat and wonder or start taking positive action to ensure you are best equiped to handle whatever colitis symptoms may throw at you…whenever that may happen (or when you have an idea of when it may happen)

Find out exactly how I identified my pattern, the cuses behind relapses and identifying a vital turning point when things really did turn serious.

Go now and get the Colitis Answers.

One of the most important things to do wherever you are on your colitis journey is to listen to your body.

What do I mean by this?

Simply, always be aware of how you are feeling and if your body is operating in its “default” mode.

When in remission, is the bowel functioning as per normal without any hick ups to normal patterns and how to assess any abdominal discomfort?
When having a relapse, is the period in question becoming too long, are the trips to the toilet becoming ever greater, is the pain at its usual intensity?
When the default mode is breached, however slightly, this could indicate a developing potential problem.

I developed a specific way to ensure that when I had a relapse that I could measure its progress. If it deviated from this established plan, I could take action fast. With an ileostomy and now a j pouch, I know what to expect in terms of frequency and what to look for to maintain this.

Ensure you do listen to your body. It can be very important to your future wellbeing.

It is all about effective management of colitis symptoms.

Do you know how to?

Now here is an interesting piece of FACT. I do love facts especially when they can be presented to those with their miracle cures for colitis.

A family aquiantance has been diagnosed with colitis. Now this has surprised some people because “he did everything right”. What did they mean by that?

Well, he did not drink or smoke, he was extremely healthy in fact and took a lot of exercise in the form of jogging, cycling etc. He was a vegetarian. In fact, he was the ultimate example that the health police love to use as a model of “how to live healthily to a ripe old age”.

Yet he has now been diagnosed with colitis. How did that happen? There is no previous record of any relation in the family having it, he did everything right (if you pay attention to the health police) and yet there he is probably not too far away from a toilet as you read this.

The story also detroys the myth that red meat can be a cause of colitis. He was a vegitarian as he took the view that meat did more harm than good to the body. So he did “everything right” in terms of diet including low fat, low carb, high protein etc and ended up with colitis!

So please don’t punish yourself with the thought that you gave yourself colitis because you eat certain foods for years beforehand, or drank a little too much alcohol or smoked.

Even the healthiest among us can be diagnosed with colitis.

If you have been diagnosed with colitis, what was your lifestyle like at the time? Were you conforming to the health police rules or living life normally?

I would be interested to find out.