My new understanding of the way colitis develops

I had a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis (uc) based on colonoscopy and colon biopsy. Yes, it looked awful, and the red awfulness was labelled pancolitis (whole of colon involved) but there were no ulcers.

It was explained that uc is an autoimmune disease. That meant that my immune system was to blame for the development of the disease. My immune system was attacking my own tissues, presumably because it was unable to differentiate what was self (auto) from what was foreign. I accepted that because many websites agreed.

The diagnosis then put me on the anti-inflammatory drug treadmill. After unsuccessful months on mercaptopurine and prednisolone (a steroid) the specialist was keen to get me off the steroid and onto the next one on the list, called Humira. This process was based on the assumption that what I needed was the right anti-inflammatory drug. Wrong.

I then decided that Humira was not for me. In any case, the success rate was modest at best. I also decided to read every scientific research paper on UC which had been published recently.

It was a revelation to find that UC was not an autoimmune disease at all. That conclusion was based on this research review paper, available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6375348/

My response was to:

a) Add probiotic by eating fermented food several times daily. For me it is natural, organic, low sugar (means less than 4-5 g/100 ml) yoghurt.

b) eat more of the foods that the lactobacillus and Bifida bacteria like to eat, so supporting their production and maintenance of the mucus layer in the intestine. This is prebiotic - the food that good bacteria like to eat. The prebiotic is fibrous food that are relatively rich in soluble fibre. Yes, there are two types of fibre! Examples of foods with low total fibre (less than 4 g/100 ml (cup) and which include soluble fibre include rolled oats, carrots and spinach. Yes, rolled oats and yoghurt for breakfast!

The fact that I am writing this article reflects how good I feel today. I hope it helps others. Like me, you might also need to consider a drug for irritable bowel syndrome, which can occur as a legacy of chronic inflammatory bowel disease.

I have got my life back. Good luck to all.

David