Ulcerative Colitis | My Invisible Disease

Hey guys, ⁣

As some of you probably already know I was diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis a few years ago. It’s crazy HOW many of you have reached out to me saying that you either had Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis OR knew someone close to you that suffers with either of those incurable diseases.⁣
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I count myself pretty lucky because I never suffered with any sort of major illness during my early life, I was hard as nails. The only things I experienced were… a couple of bouts of flu, 2 cracked heads, getting my tonsils removed, and other minor operations.⁣
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However, a couple of years ago I developed an invisible illness. At the beginning I didn’t feel physically ill, but I noticed blood when I went to the loo. I thought it would go away, so I left it for a while (definitely too long). Then after a couple of months with no shift in symptoms I decided to tell my parents, and with Colon cancer running in the family, they insisted that I speak to someone about it to get a firm diagnosis.
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I went to a few different doctors and they tested some samples, but they were unable to detect exactly what it was. I left it a bit longer and the symptoms started to get really bad. I was bleeding a lot and going to the loo about 10 times a day. I couldn't keep anything in my system. Little did I know, my body couldn’t absorb any nutrients because the lining in my colon was covered in bleeding ulcers which explained why I started to feel really weak, look pretty grey and felt like my brain wasn’t functioning properly.⁣
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I had some pretty severe pain in my abdomen too, and a strange looking large spherical bulge on my lower right side.⁣
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I had two colonoscopies but strangely the laxative which I had to take 48 hours before the first one actually cleared up some of the symptoms so during the op they couldn't get to the cause of the problem.

So I went on trying to live life as normal, until my second colonoscopy with the NHS (they were AMAZING at The Charring Cross Hospital) and I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis that same day when I woke up in the recovery room. The girl next to me wasn't so lucky (apparently she hadn't listened to the doctors and decided to ignore the necessary 'fasting for 48 hours' so the whole thing ended up being a massive mess). I don't know why but I found this quite entertaining when waking up and on laughing gas. Anyway, if you're reading this then DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. Always follow the guidelines.

Anyway, by the point of this second colonoscopy my condition was actually a lot worse.

That was the beginning of my Ulcerative Colitis journey.

From that moment onwards, i’ve invested a lot of time into learning about the disease, but unfortunately there is still a huge gap of information, and there is no permanent cure. It is something that you have to manage your whole life and go between periods of 'flare up's' to periods of remission. These can vary HUGELY from person to person, and in many cases you can end up hospitalised and having to have part of your colon removed.

For those of you who don’t know what ulcerative colitis is:
Ulcerative colitis (UL-sur-uh-tiv koe-LIE-tis) is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes long-lasting inflammation and ulcers (sores) in your digestive tract. Ulcerative colitis affects the innermost lining of your large intestine (colon) and rectum.

And although the ‘cause is unknown’, scientists think that bacteria or viruses can mistakenly trigger the immune system to attack the inner lining of the large intestine. This immune system response causes the inflammation, leading to symptoms. There are also likely to be Genetic factors. Ulcerative colitis sometimes runs in families (and other autoimmune conditions).

The reason I wanted to share a tiny snippet of my experience is so that we can open up the conversation about previously taboo topics. Since being diagnosed I have spoken to a lot of people about it which I've found definitely helps, so I'm keen to build up a little community !

My next videos in this series are going to cover:

- What I can and can't eat?
- What medications I've tried
- What happened during my worst flare up
- Most embarrassing stories
- Dating with an IBD
- Living with Ulcerative Colitis
- How I stay fit with an IBD
- How to prepare for a colonoscopy

Please do pop a comment below because I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially on topics that are close to my heart.
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Видео Ulcerative Colitis | My Invisible Disease канала Louise Thompson