• Hayduke@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    Had ulcerative colitis. Went about a month on Gatorade and clear vegetable broth. Another month or two on TPN after surgery with very little to no veggie broth.

    Went from 175 to 115. 0/10 would not recommend.

      • Hayduke@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Ha, oh man. When I finally got unplugged from everything, about two weeks later, I sorta sprinted up a small flight of stairs and felt every muscle in my legs tearing. It was a very strange and uncomfortable feeling. It probably hurt a lot but they had me on some gnarly painkillers. I did feel it the next day though when I got home. That was about 13 years ago. I hope they have better treatments for it now than surgery. It seemed like a better option than Remicade at the time. Oh well, what’s done is done. Basically back to normal after all this time.

    • hayyy@thelemmy.clubOP
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      23 hours ago

      Wow that’s amazing. I think I might have UC. Did it help your symptoms?

      What’s TPN?

      • Hayduke@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        I hope you don’t. In my case nothing helped so I had my lower intestine removed. The made a facsimile with a section of small intestine and re-plumbed me. It was during that recovery period that I went on TPN to effectively reduce the usage of my digestive system.

        TPN is Total Parenteral Nutrition. Basically it’s a large bag of glucose, lipids, vitamins and minerals that is fed through a PICC line (in you upper arm) directly above your heart for thorough dilution and distribution through your bloodstream. An external peristaltic pump doses it into you throughout the day. It’s a trip, albeit cumbersome. Oh, and it does spikeTF out of your blood sugars so you have to take insulin during the process, which sucks.

          • Hayduke@lemmy.world
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            15 hours ago

            The surgery did, but it was a long recovery period. I think it was three months with a temporary colostomy bag while my intestine healed and then at least a year for my body to get used to the new setup. After about 5 years I noticed that I was closer to normal, or as normal as you can be after getting a j-pouch. But it’s better than going through continued episodes. I don’t think I would have survived more than a couple additional bouts. Plus living with UC really increases your risk of colorectal cancer. Fun stuff

      • Hayduke@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        Yeah, this was the fourth recurrence of it and by the time I went into the hospital I had lost nearly half of my blood or something. I think I needed four pints iirc. I don’t remember exactly, I was near dead. Kinda sucked. After surgery and a year of healing I was able to regain the weight it and get back in shape. Haven’t had another issue with it since. Plus I don’t have a lower intestine, so no colon cancer! Silver lining and all.

        • Gordon Calhoun@lemmy.world
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          12 hours ago

          Sounds like the J-pouch is also working out well, thank goodness. I’m sorry you went through that. Makes my own recent ordeal look like easy street in comparison.