Disaster... followed by bliss

Hi all. I've been delaying updating you as there has been quite a bit of change and I just wanted to see where it was going to go.

Over a month ago I was about to do a post that all was as per usual when I started to feel unwell. Starting August 4 I had diarrhea which got worse over the next few days. The following week I had one day off work. Towards the end of the week I started to feel better and the stool frequency reduced to about 2-3 times a day, but all my motions were diarrhea. This continued for a total of two weeks and had me pretty worried that all was lost and that I was back to my pre-treatment symptoms.

Of possible note at this time was that on August 7 I started taking 25mg per day of Imuran as prescribed by my dermatologist. This is in an effort to help the blistering of my skin. This is apparently a very low dose, so I am not sure what if any impact it may be having on my current condition as it is a drug also used for ulcerative colitis.

At the end of the second week of diarrhea I decided to try eliminating all high carb foods, cutting out fruit and grains, and didn't eat too much, which I'm very good at. I have found this diet helpful at times in the past. By Friday 18th my stools stabilised, and now for three and a half weeks running I have had the best stools of recent years. They are well formed, frequency is 1-2 a day and I experience no or minimal urgency.

The following weekend I went away on a ski trip and allowed my strict low carb diet to slide. I noticed a fair bit of stomach rumbling, smelly gas, some urgency and some of my bowels did soften. I've had similar problems since on a couple of occasions when I've been tempted by a birthday cake at work, or have eaten out with friends. But overall I'm continuing to do really well. There has been some bad colds making the rounds and I did catch one that stayed with me for over a week and cost me three days off work. Though it had no effect on my colitis it may show that my immune system may be a little weak.

The low carb diet is in line with my apparent metabolic type which is more of a protein type than carb type. This is discussed on both www.metabolictyping.com and www.mercola.com. I've also been taking a probiotic. I suspect it sometimes gives me gas so I don't take it all the time. I'm not sure how much it might be helping.

Wishing you all the best of luck in your efforts to improve your health. Fingers crossed I can continue my current fine form. I'll give you an update next month.

Cheers :-)