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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/3/2007 6:08 PM (GMT -8)
Hi -

I'm on a posting frenzy tonight.

I was diagnosed with UC about 11 years ago...a year after my husband received the same diagnosis.  His UC is not anywhere near as nasty as mine (thank goodness), but it is weird.  I know UC is not supposed to be contagious, so all I can guess is exposure to the same bug or weird cosmic coincidence.  Has anyone else heard of other couples with UC?  We had been together several years before either of us got sick.

Thanks!

Kris2336

Posted 10/3/2007 7:11 PM (GMT -8)
Colitis is probably more common than we realize, and since it is embarassing, most people don't talk about it.
Posted 10/3/2007 7:44 PM (GMT -8)
Yes, I'm really glad to know this actually. My late husband (his death wasn't UC related) was diagnosed about 1 year prior to my diagnosis. The docs could only explain that it was environmentally triggered; the only thing I could figure was that we went swimming in a lake that was warm, and had ducks all around. We didn't realize how much duck crud was in the water until after we dove in as it looked pretty clear (we had kayaked out to an island.) We realized after we swam to the island how icky it was and quickly came home and showered....so who knows....could that have been it? That's just suspect, and no doctor has ever made a confirmation on it. It's odd how we both contracted it within such a short period of time of each other.
Posted 10/3/2007 8:21 PM (GMT -8)
yes, it's environmentally triggered but one still has to be predisposed to getting it (genetics) I believe.

So many people are getting DX with IBD anymore, so it's likely a coincidence that I'm sure more and more couples will be experiancing together....it's gonna end up making one bathroom homes become obsolete.

:)
Posted 10/3/2007 9:38 PM (GMT -8)
What do you mean by environmentally related?  I thought it a disease primarily related to having an overactive immune system.
Posted 10/3/2007 10:26 PM (GMT -8)
Sandi...The trigger comes first...and for many it's unknown. Most times once "established", especially for those where the tendency or inherited quality, the initial trigger/offender/etc is long gone and the immune system continues to automatically react against the body in a specific established pattern in speciically established areas.

I'll assume a stimulation in the body that causes the colon to react normally can cause it to overreact in a way toward a flare. Some people call the colon the second or little brain....so, it's definitely related/connected to much of the body's natural/immune processes anyway. 

The body has a long memory, and trying to break the pattern or at least slow it down to not continually overreact would be a good way to deal. 

If only many of us had the initial trigger dealt with...maybe the disease pattern wouldn't have been established.    I had continual diarrhea foryears before I was sent to a GI who did the tests and diagnosis.    Most of us wouldn't think that diarrhea would lead to UC anyway unless it's already known in a family and early signs are dealt with early.

quincy

Posted 10/4/2007 6:29 PM (GMT -8)

Thanks all!  I've long been certain that my husband were exposed to the same initial trigger, whatever it was...I don't have any ducks to blame, so maybe some bug.  :-)   Carol, you are the first person with a similar experience that I have ever heard from so thanks for sharing. 

Neither of us is aware of any family members with UC or any similar types of conditions, but who knows?  It isn't always the topic of conversation at family gatherings.

Kris2336

Posted 10/4/2007 6:37 PM (GMT -8)
If UC is a combination of pthogen+genetics, then it can be thought of as 'partially' contagious. I was together with someone who had another autoimmune illness rumored to be caused by a pathogen for a few years, and it was a year after we, err, 'united' that I came down with UC. I never thought it was a coincidence, but I also realized quickly that my genetics were primarily to blame, and if not through her, then I would have picked this up somewhere else.
Posted 10/4/2007 6:48 PM (GMT -8)

Hi AKB -

I've always wondered about that angle, too.  I was talking to a friend who is a doctor a few years back.  He was really interested and intrigued by the fact that we both had it and asked about the contagious thing -- he said "it's not like you guys are brother and sister," so why else would you both have it (inferring the "united" thing).

So I can blame my husband for this whenever I am mad at him now, right?

Kris2336

Posted 10/5/2007 7:16 AM (GMT -8)
I would like to see no more one bathroom houses!!
Posted 10/5/2007 8:26 AM (GMT -8)
yes, 1 bathroom is not enough!
Posted 10/5/2007 8:31 AM (GMT -8)
When we were looking at houses I wanted a minimum of 2 1/2 baths! One just DOES NOT work!
Posted 10/14/2007 10:45 AM (GMT -8)
Not a couple, but I was just diagnosed a few weeks ago with UC.
One of my very best friends was diagnosed last year.
Her roommate was diagnosed with proctitis, and they are thinking that it might actually be UC now. Get this...their CAT was diagnosed with Colitis by a vet!
Things that make you go hmmmm.
Posted 10/14/2007 1:09 PM (GMT -8)
riversprite, that's pretty crazy.

there could also be something common that all of you are exposed to in close proximity, e.g., pesticide in the air or food supply etc. I'm fairly convinced the 'trigger' is a pathogen, but it could be inorganic too. Who knows (yet). I do find it odd all of you (including an external species!) have the same genetic 'weakness' to allow UC to happen, as I believe that's what prevents most people from getting it despite being in the same conditions as the rest of us.
Posted 10/14/2007 2:25 PM (GMT -8)

Interesting!  Also, when I was hospitalized last weekend, I was talking to one of my nurse's about my husband and myself.  Her 25-year old son is in the Navy and was recently diagnosed with UC and will likely be forced to leave the service.  She said that one of his shipmates and good friends was diagnosed several months before and they believe that they, too, were exposed to the same trigger...whatever that might be.

Kris2336

Ulcerative Colitis, 11 years

Prednisone 40 mg

Colazal

Flora Q probiotic

Cipro - one more day!

Flagyl - one more day!

Posted 10/15/2007 6:15 AM (GMT -8)
I guess you all missed this.. It appears that UC may be a communicable disease.

www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2007-releases/press10042007.html
Posted 10/15/2007 6:55 AM (GMT -8)
Wow, thanks for that link, Harpo.
No, I had not read that. I was just diagnosed at the end of September and I am just beginning my research now.
Posted 10/15/2007 7:43 AM (GMT -8)
Yep, Im being careful with wife and kids now.. hands washed alot. toilet lid closed when flushing.. etc.. you can imagine..
Posted 10/15/2007 8:47 AM (GMT -8)
What about the children getting, UC and no history in either of the parents, but a pet has symptoms (I was thinking of Hailey's Letter)?

I had my first flare a couple of weeks after my daughter had the same symptoms (her first flare too), she was 22 years old at the time.  She went to emergency, they diagnosed it as a virus, sent her home.  She continues to get flares, exactly the same as mine.  My GI is very perplexed about this little coincidence.  No history what so ever of any IBD, IBS in my family.

 

Posted 10/17/2007 11:10 AM (GMT -8)
I was diagnosed with UC when I was 14, and I've been dating my boyfriend for almost three years now and in the past year he has been starting to show a lot of symptoms. Going to the bathroom immediately after eating, going several times a day, sometimes blood in the stool, not gaining any weight (probably even losing weight) always feeling sick and tired... Unfortunately he doesn't have health insurance and won't until January so there hasn't been any official diagnosis. But it is a strange thing...
Posted 10/17/2007 3:38 PM (GMT -8)
Well you might not beleive this one but it is true.

When I was  about 2 or 3 years old this is 1951 or so my mother and myself were walking down

I guess Market Street in Philly. Eisenhowers motor cade went by, I guess he was on the campaign trail, it stopped he got out

gave me a small flag and shook my hand. I remember none of this.

Eisenhower had Crohns, dont know when he aquired it, never looked into it.

When I was around 18 went on a few dates with a girl who had Crohns.

Makes me wonder.

Old Mike.

 

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