If you are like me, you really enjoy the summertime or maybe the winter time because you are going camping.  And, if you are like me, you are an ulcerative colitis patient, that’s right, you also have UC.

To many people, enjoying camping and having UC seems like an impossible idea.  That’s exactly what I thought too.  But it’s not.  It is entirely possible to enjoy a camping trip while you are struggling with ulcerative colitis.  Of course you will probably be using the bathrooms more than most of your friends or family, and of course you will probably not have as much energy as others, but don’t let that stop you.  Just over a year ago, I was out camping for the first time since being diagnosed with UC.  And yes, I was a bit scared of having to run out from the tent late at night when it was dark, and needing to dig a hole to take a crap in near the tent.  I made sure to bring a nice shovel to help complete the job, and also made sure to bring extra amounts of toilet paper.

But guess what, not once did I run out of the tent looking for the toilet paper.  It was actually rather bizarre.  I had been doing ten plus bowel movements per day leading up to the camping trip, and once we arrived, I was down to two or three.  Yes, they were still bloody.  And yes, we were camping on the side of a river, not at a campground, so each time the shovel was invovled. But, the change of scenery when going to the bathroom in the woods is so much more peaceful than the bathroom I had been spending several hours in per day leading up to this campout.

So here is my advice on how to enjoy camping with colitis:

1) relax, be comfortable with your need to use the outdoor facilities

2) tell the others you are camping with not to worry about you, and tell them about your disease, be proud of it, think of yourself as special

3) enjoy the fact that you are finally using mother nature’s big outdoor toilet, instead of your cramped small walled in bathroom at home

4) bring lots of toilet paper(and bring some wet wipes too, I don’t know if they biodegrade as well, but they sure will make things more pleasant)

Arthritis, Joint Pain, Getting Old, Pain in your limbs, etc…

Joint pain is many times a side effect or manifestation of ulcerative colitis. Whether the real cause of joint pains and arthritis like symptoms are from the ulcerative colitis or side effects from colitis medications is another story. For now, I just want to talk about how joint pain seems to be somewhat common with other colitis sufferers.

As if just dealing with ulcerative colitis isn’t tough in and by itself, dealing with stiff and painful joints and other body parts is sometimes what happens to UC patients. I know from first hand experieince all too well. Even before I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis I can remember what I recall as lower back pain. The pains at times would be so strong that it would keep me awake at night. I looked to some forms of self medication to allow me to sleep through the night. There was a time period when I even went to a chiropractic type of doctor to try and fix the back pains but they just wouldn’t go away. I was always trying to figure out if I recently lifted something heavy, and always just couldn’t figure it out. The joint pains were there, but I couldn’t tell why.

And after being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, there were times when I began to have really really bad joint pains. And, then there were times when the joint pains would get much better. All along I was changing my colitis medications, going up and down on steroids, taking colazal, asacol, sulfasalazine remicade, Humira, pretty much everything.

It was all at its worst when I was on a low dose of steroids and a high dose of Humira. That’s when the joint pain became unbearable. I was pretty much diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis along with my Ulcerative Colitis. Doesn’t that sound like fun. And of course, the recommendation was for me to jump up the prednisone intake to 60mg per day until it slowed down. Which eventually it did, but it has never really gone away.

Arthritis is looked at in many ways as another autoimmune disease or disorder. I can’t quite tell what is happening with the joints, and I am very thankful that the joint pain has become much better over the past few months. But I am starting to wonder if my pain subsided at one point in the past when my colitis was nasty because of the medication I was taking at the time. Back then when the joint pain became better was during my phase of sulfasalazine. And it seems to be that many people also take sulfasalazine to help relieve joint pain… So maybe there is a connection there. I have met one other person who said the sulfasalazine has helped her with joint pain also while she had active colitis.

One of the strangest parts of ulcerative colitis is that it involves your poop.  And for the most part, people don’t talk amongst themselves about this daily habit of going to the bathroom.

If you have ulcerative colitis, you have probably experienced hundreds if not thousands of bathroom breaks where you notice blood and bleeding in the toilet bowl.  Also, you very well might have noticed dark blood or even bright blood in your poop.  Unfortunately, that is quite normal for ulcerative colitis patients.  And, if this is something that you are noticing and are yet to talk to anyone about it, you should immediately begin speaking to your doctor.  Blood in your poop that continues for a long time is not a normal thing.  It is something that can be very serious.  For me, the blood in my poop was signs that I had ulcerative colitis.  My big mistake was taking so long before telling any doctors or even my wife that there was blood in my poop everytime I went to take a dump.

There are many potential reasons for blood in your poop.  If you are diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, the blood that is mixed in with your poop is usually from bleeding that is taking place within your colon walls.  Since there are many cuts or ulcerations to the colon when colitis is active, it creates bleeding.  The idea is really that simple.

If you are noticing bright red fresh blood on your toilet paper, that potentially could be something different than ulcerative colitis.  That may even be common hemorrhoids.   As an added bonus, ulcerative colitis patients are prone to having hemorrhoids, and especially when the colitis is very active.