Last night I logged on to Forum on the CCA (Crohn's and Colitis Australia) website for the first time, and I'm glad I did. There's not a huge amount of chat yet, it's only been around a couple of months, but it's really good to read about other people who have Colitis. The best part was the Ask an Expert section. I found out a few interesting things. The type of medicine I'm on is not actually an immuno-suppressant, it's only an anti-inflammatory. So I don't have to worry any more about having a depressed immune system. I'm still going to take my Mum's advice ("make like Howard Hughes!") though because I've only gotten a cold once since I started doing that, and I used to get sick quite a lot. So it seems to work.
The other interesting thing I read was about the risk of bowel cancer. Well, when I first got Colitis I read that there's a much higher risk (30% of sufferers will get it given enough time) and it's always been in the back of my mind ever since. But last night I read that it all depends on how much of your digestive system is affected and how much of the time the area is inflamed. I have a much lower risk than people with Crohn's because the inflammation is limited to the colon whereas for people with Crohn's, it can be anywhere along the whole doo-whacky. Which is very sad for them. The other important thing is keeping the inflammation to a minimum. So as long as I keep my tummy nice and calm, the risk isn't much higher than the general population.
Interesting stuff.
As for keeping the tummy calm, well sometimes I feel like I'm my own guinea pig. :) Since I started Bye Bye Fructose on Monday, I've only felt sick once, and I'm pretty sure that was an unrelated thing, so I think I'm doing pretty well. I'm also taking all the vitamins, etc that my specialist has told me to take (for once) no matter what the cost, so I'm hoping to feel pretty good, pretty soon!