Auto immune?

[racingnut]

Does anyone else share my history? I am trying to establish whether my IC is auto immune in origin.

I developed ulcerative colits at the age of 17 for no apparent reason and it ruined my life for 30 years. It went into remission spontaneously (although over the years I tried many many remedies, all alternative, and helped myself I think to a great extent). Bliss - I then had 10 whole years of remission - nothing apart from Fibromyalgia and general malaise (I think due to previously undiscovered low thyroid function). Then bingo - 3 years ago I woke up at 4 am, went to the loo to discover I had cystitis. It got really bad and bled. I went to the doc, got antibiotics, it went away. 2 weeks later it returned and I had another lot of antibiotics. Yes, it went away again but returned. Next time i saw another doc who said it wasn't an infection and there were to be no more antibiotics - she also happened to be a homeopath and gave me some staphysagria, whcih turned out to be an absolute life saver and worked during flare ups for about 18 months.

Now I am really suffering again and no-one and nothing seems to help. I am wondering if the ulcerative colitis (inflammation of the bowel lining) has simply moved to my bladder. Does anyone else share this sort of history and/or have any advice re auto immune disease?

Strangely, my Fibro has gone now and apart from the IC and thyroid I am generally feeling better. However, the IC is pretty bad; I have tried every therapy known to man and all didn't make much difference. I am currently in week 3 of the worst flare up I have experienced - I have recently moved from England to France - does anyone think this could have triggered something and if so why?

Would love to hear from anyone.

[amaranthe]

:hi: and :welcome: to the ICN! Sorry to hear about all you have gone thru. I dont have UC, but I was just reading the other day about a relatively new treatment they have for it, fecal transplants. I know this is gross as all get out, but from the studies I read, it worked in something like 90% of the cases that they tried it on. Apparently, they harvested fecal matter from a donor (usually a close relative) and either implanted it into the patients colon or used an enema or NG tube or something to get it there. The patient was hospitalized for this and this all took place a little at at time over a period of 4-5 days. It says that the bacteria from the healthy donor recolonized the patient with ulcerative colitis with the necessary probiotiocs that are in healthy colins and intestines.

Please go and read about this for yourself. Look upfecal bateriotherapy in wikipedia, and it will explain all about this.

Hope this helps you and anyone else out there suffering from UC.

Sincerely,
Amaranthe

[racingnut]

Thanks Amaranthe - how weird and wonderful yet it will be great if it works! I am lucky in that my UC now seems to be in long remission (touch wood 10 years or so now) and I take a good probiotic daily which i swear helps.

I wonder if something similar could be done for IC? I hope that the research bodies have thought along these lines - what a wow that would be - I personally would go to any lengths to get my life back.

Thanks again - anyone else out there know much about auto immune issues and best way to treat them?

[MamaKay]

I would love to know what good probiotic you take. I also have UC/IC and every other C in the world.

[racingnut]

I take Acidophilus Forte vegetable capsules. I swear by them and think that acidophilus is a huge factor in controlling UC. I hope you improve by taking them. They certainly helped me. Pity they don't do anything for the IC! Good luck.