I have been pondering for a while about whether or not to publish this post. I am fairly reserved when it comes to discussing personal issues, and must confess that it took a fair amount of courage to post this on my blog. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (pancolitis) in September 2005. After an initial period of anxiety and shock, I was prescribed a cocktail of medication, ranging from corticosteroids, immunosuppressants and anti-inflammatory agents. For those who may not know, ulcerative colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease, in which the large colon can become inflamed. As there is no known cause for this condition, treatment measures are usually prescribed to help control symptoms, as there is no known cure. Going through periods of active symptoms and remission, my health was never quite the same as a pre-colitis state, resulting in some degree of impairment with leading a normal lifestyle.
Being somewhat of a cliche, I have always been very active with exercise, maintaining (albeit infrequent) gym training sessions since diagnosis. In fact, it is worth mentioning that just before my initial diagnosis, I was in very good shape. However after being afflicted with colitis, no matter what I tried, could never achieve the same level of physical fitness. This post will not be questioning the various hypotheses and research surrounding the cause of ulcerative colitis, but rather focus on what palliative measures one can take to prevent a relapse of symptoms.