Colonoscopy time again - eeekkkk!

I hate the thought of having to have a colonoscopy and that time has just come around again!  July 26th to be precise.

The thought of the prep fills me with trepidation.  How long will it take to work? Then the constant back and forth to the bathroom!

I'm scared up to the point when they are just about to put you to sleep and then the fear of the results when you wake up.

Last came I came around, I saw my GI immediately and shouted across the room at her.."Do I have cancer?"...I couldn't help myself and up until that very point in time, I hadn't realised how scared I was.

This time around I feel even more scared about the results.  I fear the worst as thing have been 'normal' lately.  Good things always come to an end. 

Yes, sorry, I'm pretty negative about my future at the moment and I have no reason to be.

The power of positive thinking goes out the window in the lead up to the hospital visit.  

Any ideas on how to lift this dark cloud?

Amalgam Fillings and Ulcerative Colitis - Is there a link?

"Mercury is one of the most toxic substances on the earth, surpassed only by plutonium, according to Dr. Paul Gilbert of the Academy of General Dentistry. Mercury amalgam dental fillings have been used in the United States and UK since 1833 and 50 percent of their composition is toxic liquid mercury. Mercury poisoning is pervasive, affecting the entire body, according to well-known advocate of amalgam removal, Dr. Hal Huggins. Recovery from mercury poisoning is long and tedious."

So my question is to all you UC suffers....Do you have amalgam fillings? 


I know mercury is extremely dangerous but hadn't actually made the link between UC and mercury fillings before until 2 days ago when I went to see Greg Emerson who specialises in Nutritional and Environmental Medicine.


I'd just about sat down in the chair for the 1hr long consultation when I was asked to open my mouth so Greg could have a look in.  He started counting my amalgam filling and given the fact I grew up in the 70's in the UK, I have a mouth full of amalgam fillings - 10 in total of which I'd say 5 are really big fillings.


So to cut a long story short, he basically said I needed to have all the mercury fillings removed before he could treat me any further.  Apparently Root Canals also pose issues for your health.


Greg Emerson showed me the following video - Smoking Teeth = Poison Gas - and based on this, I have decided to proceed with having my fillings removed in the hope it will cure my UC for ever.  I also have a gold crown that needs to be looked at as it may contain mercury and as you may have seen in the video - gold and mercury is a big no no! 


I have found a Holistic dentist to remove my 'silver' fillings as a "normal" dentist may expose me to more mercury when he drills out my teeth. Yes, of course it's going to cost me a fortune to have all this work done, but I have actually been thinking about having these fillings changed for quite a while now and if I do manage to rid myself of colitis, what a miracle that would be.  Yes, you are hearing the skepticism now, as how many times have I thought I might have found the cure, only to be disappointed.  But for me, this could be a win win situation.  I have had these fillings in my mouth for the last 25 - 30 years and they have been leaking into my body and maybe this is what is causing me all my problems and ulcerating my colon.  It does kind of make sense!  What have I got to loose?  Yes cash, but at least I'll have a nice white mouth.


I hate dentists with a passion, as some of you may have read in my previous blogs, but I'm going to do this.  My first consultant is on 4/4 so I'll let you know how it goes.  If anyone has heard of the mercury / UC link or of has any theories, please let me know.


And finally, here's a link to another story I found - Amalgam Removal Ends Colitis.  Again I'll be the skeptic until proof is supplied...unfortunately, previous experience shows that people trying to sell you something are out to make a quick buck.  But here's hoping!

Summer is nearly over

Time really does fly.... thats us nearly half way through February already!  I honestly do think, the older we get the quicker time goes and I do wonder if I really appreciate my life enough.  I remember my Dad saying a few years back, that although he was 75, in his mind he felt in his 20s-30s, but his damn body was the thing letting him down.

Maybe that is why I was given this crappy disease to try and make me appreciate life to the full instead of squandering it away.  In times of remission (even if short) I certainly do appreciate being able to go places and not having to panic too much if I can't see a toilet straight away.  That doesn't mean I don't find out where the toilets are...just in case!

I also wish I could make travel plans for the future without first panicking over whether I'll be ok to do a plane ride or not.  I want to go back to Canada skiing again next winter and I'd love to spend some time in New York, all I need is the courage to book the flights and accommodation.

I'm getting there though.  If I can just keep this UC at bay for most of the time I might just make that trip next year!

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I'm going to see a guy in Brisbane called Dr Greg Emerson - http://www.drgregemerson.com/ - he's quite famous in his field apparently.  His waiting list is 7 months long, so I'm hoping for a cancellation by Easter.  If any of you have heard about him, please let me know either way as he's very expensive and I hate to be wasting money on a lost cause.

How much would you give for a 'normal' life?

5 years into this crappy disease, I often wonder what it would be like to be 'normal' like everyone else again. But what is normal anyway and is it all really only a facade? People put on such false faces all the time and why, just to look better in front of other people or pretend they have more than they really have. What a lot of wasted effort. UC unfortunately teaches us all about humility. I don't even know how many little 'accidents' I have had in the last few years, but each time it happens in public I deal with it and clean myself up and deal with the pity others show for me. How humiliating but with it comes inner strength. So maybe I'm richer for my own type of 'normal' life but no, I wouldn't wish it anyone else.

Update on life :D

As I sit here typing I have the unfortunate pleasure of listening to Duff-Duff music from a teenagers party next door on a working week night close to 11pm !!  My brain is saying "Shut the F@$! Up your little shits as I need to be up at 6am, but my heart says let them have fun...they are young..their parents (one an ex MP) are away and it's summer holiday time here....come 1am though my head will be telling me to just call the police the get them to be quiet if it's still going!!

Oh good god..we've now switch to Dexy's Midnight Runners and "Come on Eileen"..well at least the DUFF DUFF has gone.

I had my GI appointment yesterday and still no mention of the dreaded Colonoscopy procedure...so I'm sorry...but I'm not asking for that procedure ... she'll have to tell me it's time!  'Chicken' - I know, 'Get it over and done with' - I know, 'See how everything is hanging in there' - it hasn't been!  It's angry and inflamed.

I did however tell the GI the facts as things stand right now and we're making a few med changes just to see what happens over the next 5 weeks.  I can still work though and I'm getting through the days without too many 'OMG...run!'

Life isn't that bad really....it could be worse I could be a spotty teenager going through all that hormonal stuff again!

Happy New Year to all that read it.

........ and just in case your the same age as me and have had the memories of your teenage years brought back by the thoughts of Dexy...here's the link to the tune :D - Dexy's Midnight Runner - Come on Eileen

but here are links to some of my favourite songs from the 1980's and the good old days :D

Visage - Fade to Grey
Icehouse - Hey Little Girl
Ultravox - Vienna
The Human League - Don't You Want Me  - I grew a rat's tail because of them too!!!! :D
The Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays

there's plenty more...but you go find your own :D .... ah...the 80's ....when boys wore makeup and had perms and nobody thought that was strange .... I loved the 80's!!!

On the edge

You know when your on the precipice ...and you really don't want to fall over it...well that's me and my UC on my 6 months anniversary of using Imuran.  I was actually hoping I would be symptom free by now, but maybe that just me asking for the world again.

So here's the state of affairs after 6 months on Imuran

• Months 1 to3 - slowly the tables started to take affect and I was able to get off the pred after 2 long years being on it and loosing half my hair
• Months 4 and 5 - looked like things were on the up...no symptoms
• Month 6 - Some bleeding, occasional urgency - bugger...was hoping that all had gone

The good news is that it's not gotten any worse as I would have expected by now, so I'm hoping the meds are sort-off holding it in check and it's my current stress levels and lack of sleep causing me to slightly digress.

So what to do now...we'll I'm going to do a version of the SCD diet again to see if 2 things will happen.  The first being a get rid of the blood and the second is to loose some weight.  Now that I've been better gut wise, that means weight gain and with Christmas and summer just around the corner, I need to loose some weight within the next 6 weeks or I'm going to be disappointed with my self and my lack of discipline chocolate and chip wise!

I've got an appointment with my GI on Wednesday and I'm really hoping she'll not bring up the dreaded colonoscopy just yet...but I know it's coming soon...it's only a matter of time now.  I know I shouldn't put it off and yes, she really does need to have a look there soon...but please just don't ask me to do it just yet as I've already decided I can't say no and offer up a lame excuse.

Hope you guys are all hanging in there and life isn't too bad.  If we can't beat the bugger, let's not let it pull us down! 

FINALLY!!!!

Yep, it's been a while since I posted, but with work and the kids and coming home, it's been busy busy busy.

What a few months! Landed a great job in a great team. Kids doing well back in school. House back to nearly normal. Just UC to deal with.

On the UC side of things, I can't believe it. I think I'm finally back into remission after a long 2 years on Pred. My saviour (with some side affects) is Imuran. I'll risk the side affects if my life is back to semi normal. You still get the odd "OMG toilet run" moment, but that for me seems to be down to eating food that does not agree with me...a bit of IBS I think.

I was reflecting with my husband my UC life and he reminded me of the time just before UC when I went through a very angry period. Looking back I wonder if this was part of the UC. Did something change chemically in my body with kicked off a chain of events that lead to UC 2 years later? There were various UC initial symptoms from about a year before the big UC attack.

Anyway, if any of you can remember a very angry period in your life before the onset of UC, please can you let me know. I'm going to talk to my GI next week about this to see if she has heard it from anyone else who had an initial angry stage before UC onset.

We all go through so many stages with UC. I'm just happy I made it back to this stage no matter how long it lasts! I need this time just to feel semi normal again and no matter what happens next I know I can cope!