Life With Hammy

Everyone struggles with something. Some people suffer from migraines, arthritis, or other health problems. Others might deal with addictions to cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs. We all have our own little thorn in the flesh that makes life more difficult for us. My personal struggle is with an illness called ulcerative colitis.

I have always struggled with stomach issues starting about the time when I was in middle school. My family was always a bit surprised when I would regularly ask for antacid tablets at that age. I understand that my parents did their best to provide a good life for me and I love them for it. And I also realize that they are imperfect human beings just like everyone else. But I would be lying if I didn’t admit that family stress was a huge source of my anxiety and the resulting physiological problems. My parents would argue a lot…often loudly and where I could hear it. My Dad was also very critical of everyone in our family.

Ultimately, this led me to feeling insecure, anxious, upset, and very stressed. I have never been a person to act out my frustrations. Instead, I would ball up my stress and bury it deep within my stomach. This was only the start of my stress problems. As I got older and gained more responsibilities, the stress would just grow and grow. Broken relationships left me feeling hopeless and I began to drink alcohol on a fairly basis. I was desperately trying to escape, to forget, and to mend my broken heart. Needless to say, drinking only made things worse.

After several more years, I got married and I had a son. It was during this time that I had to pull myself together and realized it was of vital importance that I provide for my family. It was at this time that I started my longest stretch of work in the IT field. And I absolutely love my job, although it comes with its fair share of stresses. Unfortunately, after several years, my first wife left me for another guy. So, here I was, a single Dad trying to do my best to raise my son, keep my job, and keep my head on straight.

After several more years, I moved on in my romantic life and I met my current wife. I’m happy to say that we will be celebrating 8 years of marriage this October. I am now a father to three children and they are each a blessing. However, with a larger family to provide for, stress is still very much a reality in my life. I found myself needing to be a rock for my family and found that I needed to be the strong one. And it is so hard. All of this stress, especially after the birth of my youngest daughter, really took a toll on my stomach. I probably compounded the problem by relying heavily on ibuprofen when I was struggling with a painful tooth ache for an extended time as well.

I came to the conclusion that something was wrong when I found that I could not go extended periods of time without having to have a bowel movement. Also, I would have very serious, sudden, and urgent needs to go to the bathroom. I would be gassy, bloated, and my stomach would cramp. And it always got worse in stressful situations. At the worst, I began noticing mucus and red blood in my stools. TMI? Sorry! I don’t know how else to describe this.

For several years now, I have been officially diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. This is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. It basically means that my colon (the large intestine closest to the body’s emergency exit) is inflamed and swollen. It is also considered an autoimmune disease because your body is essentially attacking itself and worsening the problem. When I first found out about the problem, my gastro doctor prescribed some anti inflammatory medications. I took these for a while and it seemed to help a bit, but to this day nothing has completely resolved my issues. In fact, there is no known cure for ulcerative colitis.

This basically means that I am stuck with this struggle for the rest of my life. Some days are better than others. My problems seem to improve or worsen depending on how stressful my life is at the moment and what food choices I make each day. I basically live taking two anti-diarrhea pills each and every day if I want to be able to get any work done at all without having to get up and use the bathroom all the time. It is super depressing and it makes traveling, especially for vacations, really unhappy for me.

Do you or anyone you know struggle with ulcerative colitis? If so, how do you cope and how has it affected your daily life?