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| This is me getting excited to feel 100% healthy again! |
I had a good few weeks of feeling 100 percent again, and they were great. I was running. I was eating pretty much whatever I wanted again. (Minus popcorn. I have yet to start eating that again. And I kind of miss it but am a little apprehensive!) And I was drinking. It was fun times in my life and now, here I am again, feeling cruddy. On the pain/discomfort scale (you know that scale with the faces from 1-10 in like every doctor's office?) I am prob at a 3 right now where as my last flare was a 9.5. I just don't want it to get to that level. Ever again. I am really trying to nip this one in the bud.
This one started when my mom came to NYC for Mother's Day. We went out for dinner and were in another restaurant for lunch, when all of a sudden I had that "I need the bathroom RIGHT NOW" look on my face and the sweats (you know what I am talking about? Those type of sweats) began. We figured it was something I ate, but then it happened the next day after our lunch. Once again, we thought maybe it was still from last night. Well, three weeks later, this is still going on. And since she was here this time when it started (I was actually with her for the start of the last two flares...hmmm....better be a coincidence mama), she has been asking/hounding me about my stomach since. In the most loving way of course. And for the last week or so, I have been hearing her say/nag "Go gluten free and see what happens" and we argue about it. I see her point, but when she has an M.D after her name, then maybe I will give it a go. But she doesn't, and the doctor hasn't suggested it. And I really don't eat that much gluten anyway (and I am super stubborn about giving up the little I do eat). It's actually one of the few things my stomach can tolerate when it gets bad. Toast. Crackers. Plain noodles with butter. Yum. But for the 8 years I have had UC there have been no specific foods (or drinks) that seem to make me feel any worse. I am not stressed mentally or physically and not much has changed in my life the past year at all to make these sudden flares happen so frequently. This is why it's so frustrating. I have been in constant contact with the doctor and tried some meds to calm my colon down in the last three weeks (they really didn't work), but we are finally going to try something new.
I refuse to go on Prednisone again, at least for the time being, so we are going to try a new treatment: Remicade. My brother used this drug for about 7 solid years to treat his Crohn's and was pretty much flare free during that time so I am hoping this works for me. However, he did get an allergic reaction and had to start something new, Humera. This works wonders for him as well but is not yet approved for UC. Bummer. He says its been fantastic for him and he doesn't have to go to the hospital to get three hour infusions for it. It's a big win for him.
I hope that this new treatment will be the one that works for me to flare-up free for a long time. It's kind of a big commitment treatment, but it's also one of my only options right now. I know I have said it before, but I am sick of feeling sick. It's affecting my quality of life. I can't "do me" all the time for fear of how my stomach will react. And this fear causes stress which only aggravates the UC even more. Plain and simple, its a bad cycle that I hope to get out of very soon.
Anyway, I am going for my bloodwork today to make sure I can start the Remicade treatment, then hopefully, I can stop writing blogs about my UC because I won't have any issues to complain about! But that won't stop me from still writing about poop. Because hey, poop and farts can be funny. As long as they are not getting in the way of my everyday life I will continue to laugh at them.
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