Part 3: Diet and Pain Spasms

If you eat a meal with me, you may wonder if I was ever educated about the food pyramid. Surprisingly, I was actually raised like a normal person, even though I did some weird things like make families out of matchbox cars and believe that bears could talk until I was eight. 


Although I always liked brownies, they have become a major element in my UC diet. As diet may contribute to flare-ups and remission, I am very careful about what I eat. My diet excludes red meat, whole grains, alcohol, caffeine, carbonated beverages, raw fruits and vegetables, milk, tomato sauce, acidic food, hot chilis, high fructose corn syrup, corn, cold things like ice and ice cream, MSG, fried food and greasy food. It is important to remember, however, that each UC-sufferer has a different diet and that diet may change with remission and flare-ups. To take the example of my dad, when he is in remission, he eats raw cauliflower like none other. He's weird. The main take-away point of this depressing list is that I can still eat brownies, cake and cookies. Sometimes I eat eight cookies a day. That takes effort! I used to be resentful of all the delicious food I couldn't eat, but at this point I have accepted the way I have to eat. In fact, I have no desire to eat a french fry because I know that I might be sick for days afterwards. 

Sometimes I say "sick" and it sounds vague. While it is in one part because you probably don't actually don't want to know the details, I will do my best to enlighten you. More than having the gross symptoms I outlined in my first blog post, pain spasms are the biggest element of being "sick" for me. They start above my belly button and are extremely painful. The best way I can describe them is like a snake of stabbing pain traveling through my intestines. They can be set of by walking, running, arguing or obstacles. For example, if someone walks into me when I'm not expecting it or if a door is closed when I thought it would be open, I might have a pain spasm. They often end in a trip to the bathroom palace. Sitting down, counting to ten and breathing slowly helps. For me, pain spasms are about mastering the pain and not collapsing. When I'm in public, I don't want to draw attention to myself because I'm falling all over the place. Sometimes this can be extremely difficult and I collapse anyway, but as I have gotten better since my semester off, I can usually act normally. When I have a pain spasm in class it can be difficult to concentrate and listen to a lecture or participate, but since I usually feel better after a couple minutes, I can get back into what the professor is talking about. 

In terms of the bigger picture of how UC has changed my life, my focus is now on my health. I can't go to developing countries, which was always a dream of mine, because of health care and dietary restrictions. I took a semester off and I couldn't study abroad. Because I love foreign languages, that was hard for me. Now I have a different perspective on the important things in life, which is in some ways a great gift. Little things are just little things, and as long as I'm not in the hospital (and maybe even if I was in the hospital), I have many things to be thankful for. At the same time, I am still scared beyond words of getting so sick again that I can't get out of bed for months. UC is a chronic illness, so I will always have to address it. At this point, you might be wondering if I forgot about the surgery. I haven't, and I'll talk about it next time. Before then, I will eat 10 cookies.