Hi all. I have a friend who was just diagnosed with UC. His symptoms were so similar to ours, I thought for sure he had MC. Anyway, is the treatment the same for UC as it is for MC? Will a similar diet help? Are the meds different? I really would like to help him.
thanks
Leah
ulcerative colitis, similar treatment?
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Well, officially, the treatments are not quite the same, because UC begins at the terminal end of the digestive tract, whereas the other IBDs are usually centered the vicinity of the cecum, though they can be present virtually anywhere in the GI tract. The point is, many meds (such as Entocort EC tend to activate too soon and consequently they're absorbed too high in the digestive tract, before they can reach the terminal colon. Mesalamine enemas (such as Rowasa) may work better than Entocort EC, for example.Leah wrote:Anyway, is the treatment the same for UC as it is for MC? Will a similar diet help? Are the meds different? I really would like to help him.
If you're talking about treatment by diet, though, yes, the treatments are very similar. We have at least one member who has UC who apparently achieved remission, and maintains it by diet alone. He hasn't posted in some time, but fortunately his old posts are still available. Here is a link to a topic where a mother posted a question on behalf of her son who had just been diagnosed with UC. Read NJ's posts, especially, in this thread, but some of the other posts should be beneficial, also. Your friend should find them to be quite helpful:
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ve+colitis
Here's what he wrote in another post in response to a question from another new member:
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11760NJ wrote:Like you, I'm 26. I was diagnosed w/ Ulcerative Colitis at the age of 19. It's not the same as Microscopic Colitis, but I can control my colitis 100% through a diet that shares a lot of similarities w/ others on this board.
Getting diagnosed w/ a disease at such a young age, or any age really, isn't pleasant but in my experience the adversity has taught me a lot of lessons and made me realize the value of proper nutrition and diet. It's not easy, but you'll adapt and change and the disease won't stop you from enjoying life. How you approach your illness really is everything.
Good luck.
You're most welcome,
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Hi Leah,
My GI has told me that my Lymphocytic Colitis has "evolved" into UC. I also have an older brother diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. He was put on Remicade for over a year but successfully went off of it last August and has been able to be symptom free with diet changes and a supplement called Anatabloc (he buys it @ GNC). There is another forum that deals with crohns and uc that you or your friend may want to check out. It is www.crohnsforum.com
I am symptom free now too with diet changes. My GI also told me that she typically prescribes an anti-inflammatory (Asacol, Lialda, etc.) for UC.
My GI has told me that my Lymphocytic Colitis has "evolved" into UC. I also have an older brother diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. He was put on Remicade for over a year but successfully went off of it last August and has been able to be symptom free with diet changes and a supplement called Anatabloc (he buys it @ GNC). There is another forum that deals with crohns and uc that you or your friend may want to check out. It is www.crohnsforum.com
I am symptom free now too with diet changes. My GI also told me that she typically prescribes an anti-inflammatory (Asacol, Lialda, etc.) for UC.
Hi Leah,
There is a book online that would probably be of interest to you. It is written by a woman who had UC and got rid of it with diet changes.
There are also a lot that can be interesting for us to MC, for those of you who are interested.
Link to the book is here http://www.kostdemokrati.se/wp-content/ ... UC-eng.pdf
/Jonas
There is a book online that would probably be of interest to you. It is written by a woman who had UC and got rid of it with diet changes.
There are also a lot that can be interesting for us to MC, for those of you who are interested.
Link to the book is here http://www.kostdemokrati.se/wp-content/ ... UC-eng.pdf
/Jonas
Hi Leah,
I'd recommend our diet hands down for your friend. He's not going to get much in the way of diet from the GI docs. My girlfriends stepson had a 3-1/2 year bout with ulcerative colitis. He worked with GI docs in 4 hospitals in two states. Over the 3-1/2 years he started with GI docs at North Florida Regional, moved onto Shands/University of Florida, Mayo Clinic Minnesota and Mayo Clinic Jacksonville FL. The only info he got re diet from all four places was to eat low residue, i.e. low fiber. The mother had been on the paleo diet early on for weight loss and there was discussion with GI docs re: diet but the GI docs did not think it was a proven regimen for ulcerative colitis. The parents did not want their son to be deprived or on a restricted diet so he was on low fiber eat what you want diet to get calories any way you can. He ended up eating a lot of bags of cookies (wheat) and pizza through much of the 3-1/2 years. He was on about 6 or 7 drugs many of them discussed on our site over the 3-1/2 years, did not respond to any of them. Shands/UF wanted to put him on Remicade which the parents refused due to the extremely high side effect of cancer when a 20 year old takes Remicade. He ultimately ended up having his colon removed and a 3 part surgery over 18 months to reconstruct a colon from his large intestine.
I'VE OFTEN WONDERED IF HE HAD EATEN OUR HIGH PROTEIN, OVERCOOKED VEGGIES REGIMEN W/ NO GLUTEN IF HE WOULD STILL HAVE HIS COLON.
During year 3 I got MC and went on our diet and the family thought I was a health nut.
Jonas--I like your thread particularly the positive attitude of the author and her present diet.
Leah--also maybe think of asking your friend to join us here. I always get a lot of laughs from our site and found some of the Chrohn's and UC sites to be kind of dark. (I surfed them when I was getting ready to get off Entocort for more info on Entocort taper.)
Happy Birthday, Brandy
I'd recommend our diet hands down for your friend. He's not going to get much in the way of diet from the GI docs. My girlfriends stepson had a 3-1/2 year bout with ulcerative colitis. He worked with GI docs in 4 hospitals in two states. Over the 3-1/2 years he started with GI docs at North Florida Regional, moved onto Shands/University of Florida, Mayo Clinic Minnesota and Mayo Clinic Jacksonville FL. The only info he got re diet from all four places was to eat low residue, i.e. low fiber. The mother had been on the paleo diet early on for weight loss and there was discussion with GI docs re: diet but the GI docs did not think it was a proven regimen for ulcerative colitis. The parents did not want their son to be deprived or on a restricted diet so he was on low fiber eat what you want diet to get calories any way you can. He ended up eating a lot of bags of cookies (wheat) and pizza through much of the 3-1/2 years. He was on about 6 or 7 drugs many of them discussed on our site over the 3-1/2 years, did not respond to any of them. Shands/UF wanted to put him on Remicade which the parents refused due to the extremely high side effect of cancer when a 20 year old takes Remicade. He ultimately ended up having his colon removed and a 3 part surgery over 18 months to reconstruct a colon from his large intestine.
I'VE OFTEN WONDERED IF HE HAD EATEN OUR HIGH PROTEIN, OVERCOOKED VEGGIES REGIMEN W/ NO GLUTEN IF HE WOULD STILL HAVE HIS COLON.
During year 3 I got MC and went on our diet and the family thought I was a health nut.
Jonas--I like your thread particularly the positive attitude of the author and her present diet.
Leah--also maybe think of asking your friend to join us here. I always get a lot of laughs from our site and found some of the Chrohn's and UC sites to be kind of dark. (I surfed them when I was getting ready to get off Entocort for more info on Entocort taper.)
Happy Birthday, Brandy
Thank you to all for your help. I read the whole exerp from the book about UC. I found the info on glutamate interesting and I am now experimenting by getting off of L-Glutamine because of it. I will post my findings once I have been off for a couple weeks. Although I am basically doing well and only hit the head once usually in the morning, what comes out is rarely solid. I can certainly live with that, but often wonder what the last piece of the puzzle is. Will keep you posted.
leah
leah