#chron's colitis

[mey-rin-is-fabulous]

Okay as anyone who’s been around for any amount of time since 2021 knows I have colitis. And I’m gonna run through everything that happened before and after my diagnosis. Under a read more to save your dashes.

I first started having problems after easter 2014. Constant diarrhea and constipation and it was switching between the two constantly. It started off by me only having bowel movements every three days and I found my bathroom usage got worse after either eating high fiber foods or pizza. And as I kept going through highschool it got worse and worse, I had a hard time going to school and staying in class, my guts were constantly churning and accidents were not uncommon. All throughout this I had no idea what I was experiencing was a bowel disease, I just figured it’d clear up eventually. 

My mom and me thought it was a diet thing, so we tried adding more electrolytes, these blueberry smoothies and I tried to add yogurt. None of it helped. So now we’re coming up to late 2018 the end of my highschool career and start of my failed college career. I went to my doctor, he sent me to a specialist. I filled out a form, said specialist told me to just take metamucil, I thought that was the end of it. It wasn’t the metamucil did nothing.

2019 I was still experiencing problems. Went back to my doctor, said hey I think this specific type of food is setting this off. My doctor agrees that I should cut it out. I find out on my own somewhere along all of this about the gluten free diet and celiac disease. So I decide to go gluten free, it helps.

2020 since our family doctor retired me and my mom go see a satellite doctor, a small little cubicle in our local pharmacy with a nurse practitioner and the doctor on video call. I tell him about the problems I’ve been experiencing and he writes up a recommendation to send to a specialist.

Late 2021 I receive a call from said specialist, I have been scheduled for a colonoscopy early 2022. Colonoscopy gets pushed back a month from late January to early February. I go for my colonoscopy and after I am told that I have ulcerative colitis. I was prescribed an enema for like 2 weeks and mezavant(big pills we started at like 4 daily) which was constant. After that I had to get a TB test to make sure nothing would affect any current or future medications. Went back in March for a sigmoid( get yourself knocked out never do it while awake.) We scheduled another sigmoid for May, this time I would be knocked out for it, things were looking better. Also throughout this whole time, I was getting bloodwork off and on. Went into my doc’s office in September and my levels were looking good but around that time I accidentally had non GF spaghetti. After September things got rough for me again.

Now in early 2023, I had my first sigmoid of the year in April. My doc told me instead of ulcerative colitis it was looking more like chron’s colitis. I was told to stop taking my mezavant and was instead prescribed a steroidal medication as well as calcium tablets and vitamin d tabs. I was also prescribed another steroidal medication that required constant bloodwork. About a week or two on the new meds I was told to stop taking the new steroidal meds because my liver enzymes were up. Makes sense because I was extremely sick and after I stopped taking the medication I started feeling better. Saw my doc again end of June so now we’re in July and I’m getting a chest x-ray done this Friday and if everything’s good probably starting my new medication treatment after. the medication is delivered through IV but can be given through a needle injection after, it’s called entyvio.

[disabledsysboxes]

Autoimmune - 3

[chronicallycrappy]

Are you disgusted by Miralax because you had a colonoscopy?

Boy have I got the trick for you!

I have to take Miralax sometimes due to my GI disorders, but it disgusts me because it reminds me of colonoscopy prep when I was shitting and throwing up everywhere!

Now I put my Miralax into baked goods! I've only tried brownies so far, but I think eventually I will branch out into more treats.

Here's how I do it:

1. Get your laxative powder

2. Gather ingredients (box mix is fine) to make brownies. I like to add pudding into the mix as well to offset the texture of the powder. It bakes pretty well, kind of hard to mess up.

3. Decide what size dose you want your brownies to be, and how many brownies are going to fit in your pan. Pour out the amount of powder you need to make that many doses. After this you can always choose to cut them in different sizes, or you can double the amount of powder if you know you need a bigger dose but don't want to eat several brownies.

4. Mix your batter and powder together thoroughly. Make sure you don't have chunks of powder that aren't integrated. They will crunch and taste very bad.

5. Bake like normal and cut them into shapes to fit your dosage. Feel free to add frosting, and if you screw it up and they still taste icky, you can crush up the brownies and mix them with frosting before rolling them into balls like a cake pop!

I bag mine and keep them in the freezer to last a while because I have never needed an entire pan in the amount of time that they can reasonably sit out on a counter.

Happy baking!

[darkmoonseance]

wanted to make a point to try more unique foods I'd never tried before this year and instead I got MYSTERY INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE

[ketokamp]

A Food Philosophy Born on the Brink of Death

Dane Johnson is a dedicated Natural Medicine Practitioner specializing in Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis and he’s developed a food philosophy that was born on the brink of DEATH! Today he’s going to share his Pain to Purpose story and talk about all of the moments that led up to his spiritual epiphany, and why he believes that, “healing starts in the mind,” and how he healed his symptoms. In this captivating episode, he’ll open up about his battle with seemingly incurable diseases, and the inspiring journey of reclaiming his health and well-being.

[kaizengastrocare]

At Kaizen Gastro Care, we provide advanced, comprehensive ulcerative colitis treatment in Pune, Maharashtra, to help you achieve optimal digestive health.

[crxptidx]

literally does anyone else’s skin feel like its bruised all over when they’re on prednisone or is it just me. It feels like I’m some dog’s chew toy. I am in so much pain,,,

[bebsi-cola]

happy disability pride to people with feeding and swallowing conditions that affect their ability to eat orally! whether they need a modified diet to swallow food properly, like thick water, need a liquid only diet, or if they use non-oral feeding to get their nutrition!

there's a lot of types of non oral feeding tubes. nasogastric (NG) are typically short term use used where it is inserted in the nose (naso) and goes down to the stomach (gastric). there's OG tubes (orogastric) which is similar except that it's inserted in the mouth (oro). there's long term/permanently feeding tubes like G tubes (gastric) which bypass the mouth entirely and are placed directly into the stomach through a stoma (an incision in the abdomen)! and J tubes (jejunum) which are similar except they are placed into the middle of the small intestine. you get G-J tubes that go to both places. some tubes are thinner (J) and there's different ways the stoma can present. some stomas end flat against the abdomen and can be opened and closed, and connect to an extension for feeds (should be changed every 3-6 months). longer tubes can extend out of the stomach (should be changed every 12 months). there's also gravity feed bags, pump feeding, and syringe feeding to utilize the tube. some people get all their nutrition from enteral feeding (from outside directly to the stomach) and some people get part of their nutrition from enteral feeding and part from oral feeding. there's a lot of variation

there's a lot of reasons to use feeding tubes. to deliver nutrition, medication, hydration. or to remove undigested food or decompressing the stomach. there's pros and cons to different types of non oral feeding and adjusted feeding methods. a lot of conditions might cause people to need these! such as chron's disease, colitis, paralysis, bowel obstructions, head neck or gastrointestinal cancers, stroke, intestinal failure and more. chron's disease is something my sister has and it's something that can be fatal. one of the things that happen is that the way intestines squeeze to push out digested food is impaired, and it might be pushed back upwards into the body instead of outwards. this can be incredibly dangerous for the body.

people are often somewhat squeamish about food and digestion. they don't like to think about gastrointestinal issues because of the social stigma around excrement. but you know. everyone poops. it's an indicator of our health even if we have no GI issues. it's incredibly important to receive nutrition, and manage our digestive system. people also tend to be scared of things like feeding tubes, but they're pretty straightforward. and they're incredibly necessary disability aids. understanding what they are is a pretty easy way to dispell all the weird intrigue people have over them. it's a disservice to people with any feeding or swallowing issue to make no effort to include them in our society and let them talk about what and how they eat and any complicated relating to that. the rest of us talk about food like all the time

[theguartist]

Vent rant about a thing Mom said a moment ago

Trigger warnings for death surgery blood and illness

So I told Mom I was going to the Doctor's appointment about my stomach pain and she blurts out that my cousin had his large intestine removed because of recurring bleeding. That is a symptom of either Chron's disease or Ulcerative Colitis! I've had stomach problems for years!

It was the same with the Pneumonia and Gallstone, she only told me of those family medical histories AFTER. All of us siblings nearly died of Pneumonia!

The only one she told us of was Porphyria.

Edit: Wait a minute, she told a second one, when her sister (my aunt) har her appendix removed.

[helleanorlance]

Also I might have chrons or ulcerative colitis. Which like, I’m not keen on talking about my digestive issues, even over tumblr, but I am soooo stressed out about this. IBS is bad but it’s pretty complication free and IBDs have so many complications that can come with them…..

[arthallea]

life is about appreciating the affirmative statements people give to you, like "you do not have chron's, celiac disease, or ulcerative colitis"

[mey-rin-is-fabulous]

I really need to get better at eating regularly and staying hydrated. I think the new med will work but my bowel issues are always worse when I don't eat very often or hydrate enough.

And to think I would have probably been okay right now if I didn't accidentally eat that non GF spaghetti.

My doc says the spaghetti wouldn't cause it to get active again but I don't think I believe that. I am on a GF diet because wheat seems to be a trigger especially after an incident where I had gone GF and had some cheerios and the night after I experienced awful diarrhoea.

[gastrohv]

Gastroenterology of Hudson Valley specializes in diagnosing and treating stomach, abdomen, and gastrointestinal conditions, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, acid reflux, diverticulitis, Chron's disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and more!

[scottguy]

Most of these medications, which treat extremely serious conditions like diabetes, heart failure, stroke prevention, autoimmune disease like ulcerative colitis, Chron's and psoriatic arthritis, are down over 50%.

[commiekinkshamer]

Ok I’ve been googling symptoms and I’m worried might actually have chrohns and not colitis (my mom has chrons, grandmother has chrons-colitis) and I’m fucking horrified, it says it can increase your colon cancer risk to 50%??? And the only way to diagnose chrohns is a colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy can only do colitis. I can’t feel my body, I’m so terrified, I want to die, I can’t breathe

[emotionalsupportkelpie]

Creating with Chronic Illness, Part 2: So, About That IBS...

So you’re a woman or someone with a uterus who has an official IBS diagnosis from a GI. You’ve seen multiple specialists for second or third opinions, and they have all ruled out Chron’s or colitis or cancer or parasites or Celiac or lactose intolerance. Then they shrug their shoulders and tell you, “It’s just IBS. Here are some anti-inflammatory meds and fiber supplements. And since your gut is…