“Living with ulcerative colitis (UC) is not easy. You will have good days and bad days. Although it may not be easy, it is important to try to control your stress whenever possible and maintain a positive outlook”. From Living With UC Website “Managing Stress With Ulcerative Colitis”.
This has definitely been the challenge for me over the past week. With continuous problems with diarrhea and ongoing abdominal cramping everyday, it’s been challenging for me to eat on a regular basis. I’m basically eating a soft diet primarily consisting of noodles and cooked vegetables. Tuna casserole has also been a helpful dish in the evenings. Now for the stress part.
Theres been an unbelievable amount of stress and tension in my building as the continuing saga of “Colon in the Hood” via my neighbors unfolds. The fighting escalated to criminal behavior that brought law enforcement officers to the building no less than 7 times since the last post. On one night in particular, there was the equivalent of 8 police cars in front of, near and on the property and a search of the neighborhood was in full force for the individual who assaulted the neighbor who was now sitting in the driveway bleeding. I think everyone, including myself had dialed 911. What is so crazy about all of this, besides the fact that it’s even going on, is that this is not the norm at all for where I’m living.
My colon obviously had no business being anywhere near such a drastic situation, but due to circumstances beyond my colon, the victim showed up at my door only minutes before he was assaulted, so I had only gone to get my sneakers on when I heard the violence escalate. By the time I was out my door, the victim was bleeding from a stab wound, and the police are approaching me to ask me questions. Whew!!!! An ambulance pulled up and I just wanted them to put me in it and drive me and my colon as far away as possible. Now, no matter how much all of this disturbs other tenants in the building, the ONLY recourse we have is to call 911. Unless we are actually being physically threatened, attacked, or shot, we can not have our neighbors arrested, put out, restrained, or anything else according to an officer that we spoke with. As long as they are fighting among themselves, even if it spills out into our shared common area, there’s nothing we can do, so little bursts of uproars continued for several days after that with the neighbors themselves calling the police on each other a few times.
I’m not wining here. I’m in a flare up that’s being flared up by real stressful events while experiencing stress and anxiety as a result of the flare up! Geeesh! Now, every time I eat anything at all, I immediately feel the cramping and I’m having more diarrhea. As soon as I have some tests done coming up, I’m going to take a break somewhere away if I can. Oh yeah, the barking dog is now hoarse from all the barking she’s had to do over the last week. I’m almost positive I heard her say “Help! Somebody get me out of this place! Please rescue me from here!”. The other day, the dog just started cussin’.
If you have UC, it’s imperative that you eliminate as much stress from your life as you can as it does contribute to ongoing inflamation. Here’s some other info that I hope you will find helpful.
Get Educated
Sometimes a chronic illness can make you feel like your life is out of your control. One way to regain control is to learn everything you can about ulcerative colitis. By educating yourself, you will better understand what is going on in your body and be able to take an active role in your treatment.
Let It Out
You don’t have to be happy all the time. Sometimes it’s OK to feel sad or frustrated. So allow yourself a “bad” day once in a while. Then put those feelings aside and remember that even though ulcerative colitis is often unpredictable, people still live active, successful lives.
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