What is Ulcerative Colitis and how does it effect my life??

If you follow my blog you may have read that I suffer from Ulcerative Colitis and I mention it often. I was told last night by my doctor it was another trip to the hospital for me or to stop eating for 5 days to shut down my system and flush it with meds. In the past, this was a huge set back for me....but that was then and this is now. With my new outlook on my health this is just a minor bump in the road. But what is UC and how does it affect me and my goals....well that is what I will tell you about today. It is not a pleasent conversation and you may not be interested in it but I hope that if I tell my UC story maybe I can help one person with their "stomach issues" or I can help you keep a positive attitude through any road bump you may have in life.

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic (ongoing) disease of the colon, or large intestine. The disease is marked by inflammation and ulceration of the colon mucosa, or innermost lining. Tiny open sores, or ulcers, form on the surface of the lining, where they bleed and produce pus and mucus. Because the inflammation makes the colon empty frequently, symptoms typically include diarrhea (sometimes bloody) and often crampy abdominal pain. (For more information:http://www.ccfa.org/info/about/ucp)

So that is my stomach as I write this...I am flared up pretty bad this time. Flareups have no rhyme or reason. I know what foods to stay away from (FRIED), what to do when I start to see a sympton but this came from an infection that my son had and passed to me. Oh yeah, they forget to tell you that it is an autoimmune dease so you get sick so often that you loose count. But what the defination above fails to mention is how it makes you feel to loose blood and fluids during a flareup. They do not say that you are in the bathroom sometimes up to 40+ times a day and that it feels like someone is taking a knife and is ripping your stomach open. When you are done with several bathroom runs (oh and yes you better run)you are left weak, empty, in pain (sometimes unbearable). I mean not only am I loosing fluids but for me I loose a lot of blood.

So why I am telling you this??? As I said, I am on a new path to change my lifestyle to healthy and fit way of life and this is a major road bump for me. I refuse to go on Predizone again so I am taking every other medicine out there to try to get this under control. But I am not letting it get me down like I would in the past. I no longer feel sorry for myself. I just need to do what I have to do to get healthy and in the mean time I plan on sticking to my normal routine as best as I can. I have been sick for 2 weeks now but I still manage to work (at home), take care of a 3 and 22 month yr old, and workout. I may have to modify my routine a little but I get it done and I feel great afterward. I explained to my doctor about Shakeology and he said that it ok to continue to drink something "so beneficial".

When you have a positive mind set you get positive results!!! I know this first hand and I living through pain and still manage to try to maintin some level of fitness into my life. I know that if I was feeling sorry for myself or circum to the pain, I would be on the couch and would not do much of anything. I refuse to live like that. Living feeling sad/bad for yourself makes you feel blah and it overwhelmes you where all you can do is focus on the bad and what you do not have or what you can not do. When you focus on your negative feelings you start to live in a negative unhealthy way. I know it easier said than done but you have the power to change the way you think and feel.

So I am on day 2 of no food and I am feeling ok....I went to the fridge about 5 times already looking for something to eat but I am going to go and make myself a protein drink. I am still going to fuel my body with Shakeology and protein drinks as well as lots of water, tea and chicken/beef stock. So I will tell you later how things are coming along but I am sure I will be just fine with whatever life throws my way (in terms of my health)

For more information about Shakeology: www.beachbodycoach.com/FitwithMeliss