u/BaeBeeLychee

I have been diagnosed with left sided ulcerative colitis. However I have skip areas on left side. I am newly diagnosed and was not treated before. Another doctor mentioned that skip areas are Hallmark of Chrons. Did anyone have similar diagnosis? Did it evolve in Chrons later?

Colonoscopy Diagnosis: Normal mucosa from terminal ileum to transverse colon. Distally, from splenic flexure, mucosa showed complete loss of vasculature, friability, granularity and superficial ulcerations, with normal appearing mucosa in between. Colonic inflammation, likely inflammatory bowel disease with skip areas.

Biopsy report

1] Normal colon biopsy : Biopsy show intact colonic mucosa with maintained crypt architecture. Lamina propria is edematous with sparse infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells and histiocytes. No cryptitis. No crypt abscess. No evidence of granulomas or malignancy.

2] Abnormal mucosa biopsy : Biopsy show colonic mucosa with surface ulceration. Lamina propria reveals moderate inflammatory infiltrate of lymphocytes, plasma cells, eosinophils and neutrophils. Crypt architecture is distorted. Cryptitis and crypt abscess is noted. No evidence of granulomas or malignancy.

MRE report:

Hyperenhancing mucosa involving the splenic flexure, descending colon and sigmoid colon with paucity of haustra in the descending colon. Features could be suggestive of inflammatory bowel disease.

I understand flare ups can screw up mental health but what is it like during remission? What is your mental health like during remission?

Asking because I am newly diagnosed and in my first flare

The cause of UC is unknown but a storm of environmental factors is known to trigger it.

I had a chronic stress of a bad breakup for almost two and half years along with sleep issues. I did not at all get sick while I was dealing with this. I had some stomach tenderness throughout this time so I would eat more fibre and yogurt. If I would go to sleep on full stomach, I wouldn't get sleep or would get disturbed sleep during this time.

I came to India for vacation. I started to feel happy in life and I was fine for around two months. My stomach was also at its best eating fresh food from India.

I came back to US, I got hit with a bad upper respiratory infection along with a high fever. I took antibiotics and boom, a week later I had bloody stools.

I feel the chronic stress of many years coupled with antibiotics did create a perfect storm of events to trigger my UC. However, I do feel saddened by the fact that when I got UC I was happy in life along with no stomach issues.

Body keeps the score!

Just knowing that I would be dead without modern medicine sometimes humbles me. I think we take our lives too seriously and should just live more and worry less.

However the idea that I am alive only because of medicines is equally frightening at some points and the disease affects the quality of life. It's a vicious circle.