This article is entirely dedicated to all of the hundreds of thousands of people who have or will someday have Ulcerative Colitis. This is as well meant for family members, nurses, dare I say doctors, and anyone else who knows ordinary people who are dealing with Ulcerative Colitis too. Much of the website is based off of my personal experiences, feedback from family members, and real life medical records that I have accumulated in the previous months. My personal encounter with Ulcerative Colitis has led me to meet with 6 gastroentorologists(Mayo Clinic, Stanford, UCSF, PAMF, and some others), many more medical assistants, the MRI machine, more blood tests than I can count, medications of all types, and much more.
Through all of the different experiences, I have come out on-top, colon in-place not sitting in a trash can somewhere after a major surgery, and feeling pretty darn good. Of course everyone has a unique situation going into and after being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. One thing is for sure, I found a way to beat it, and I need to share all the details with you. What is life like after you have just been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis?
The answer is going to be different for everyone. The bad news is Ulcerative Colitis is a disease, it is not like the flu where you have it for a few days and that is it. Ulcerative colitis usually has been with people for a while before it is diagnosed, and it remains forever. The good news is that there are all kinds of ways for people to treat Ulcerative Colitis, and it is not the end of the world. As my uncle told me over and over again, this is serious but not fatal.
One of the memories that most people who have ulcerative colitis remember is the day they were diagnosed. As you may have read in the preceding page, this is something that is typically diagnosed after having a colonoscopy. You may very well be recuperating in the waiting room, and coming off your anesthesia when the doctor comes in with a piece of paper. This is how the events unfolded for me. Although I was very drowsy, I can definitely remember sitting there with my wife and mother and hearing the clear words that it was "Ulcerative Colitis". My guess is that, if you are like most people, it probably won't sink in that this is really happening for some time. The next thing I remember was getting in a car and heading off to the drug store. Things were very fuzzy and I had no idea at all of exactly how long the actual colonoscopy was(did it take ten minutes, and hour, two hours etc...)
Again, let us review one main point here. Ulcerative Colitis is serious, but it is definitely not fatal. October 2, 2008 was the day for me. A gastroenterologist did the procedure. This happened at the Palo Alto Colonoscopy Center next to Stanford Hospital.
After leaving the building with a brand new shinny prescription for a big bottle of Asacol, my wife and I headed to the pharmacy and to a local restaurant to grab some lunch. Yeah, I was still feeling a bit out of wack from the medications. In speaking with several other people who have UC, it seems that Asacol is a very common first step on the medication side from physicians these days. Wow, when the pharmacy called back to say it was ready it was amazing to be picking up such a huge bottle of pills. I never picked up so many pills before in my life, 270 pills to be exact. I was to take 9 pills per day, 3 pills 3 times daily to be exact. These pills were not tiny either, they were some big huge horse pills if you asked me. After looking over the cost for this Asacol, it was near $400, and I was happy to have insurance, believe me...
"Doctor, what should I be eating?" Here is my take on this answer: The Diet that Beat Ulcerative Colitis: This is by far my favorite part of the experience to share with everyone. To put things in perspective, up until trying a totally new diet, I had been very sick for several years consistently without any relief. I was in effect going through a very long "flare up" that would not go away. Several of the specialists I had met with had suggested I seriously consider surgery.
So, after a meeting with a family friend who has Ulcerative Colitis, I learned that this person was able to put the disease to sleep simply through changing the diet. This person had used every medication that I had tried and additionally had tried 6MP.
So here is the diet that I follow religiously
I eat: fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, fish, nuts, and honey
I do not eat: diary products, wheat, breads, grains, or sugar, corn syrup etc...(the only sweet thing that goes in my mouth is from fresh fruit or from honey). That is it. It is that simple!
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