Most patients with ulcerative colitis will show at least partial improvement with medication, but Judith did not.
When Judith consulted me for a fresh opinion, my first impression was that the diagnosis of ulcerative colitis had been made perhaps too quickly, without taking into account all the features of her case that are not typical of this condition… She had no bloating, but she continued to experience diarrhea three to four times a day, was becoming seriously underweight and the quality of her life was severely impaired. For the next year and a half, she lived on buckwheat, millet, sweet potatoes, lettuce, peas, carrots, chicken and lamb - foods she found that she could eat. A decade earlier, she had found that eliminating sweets and dairy products from her diet had cured her lifelong eczema (inflammation of the skin that causes itching, blisters and redness), so she decided that this new disease might really be caused by eating the wrong food. Concerned about possible side effects, she refused.įrustrated by her doctors’ inability to treat her condition, Judith started reviewing her own history to look for patterns. Her second gastroenterologist wanted to perform another colonoscopy and suggested treatment with a powerful drug used to treat autoimmune diseases, including ulcerative colitis. Her doctor prescribed the anti-inflammatory drugs sulfasalazine and prednisone (a steroid), but Judith felt no better - perhaps somewhat worse. Finding extensive inflammation in her large intestine, he told her that she had ulcerative colitis (chronic inflammation and ulceration of the lining of the rectum and colon that leads to diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever).
Her first gastroenterologist performed a colonoscopy (a test that uses a lighted tube to examine the lining of the colon).
She soon found that most of the foods she loved, such as bread and fresh fruit, increased her bouts of diarrhea and caused uncomfortable swelling of her abdomen. Her doctor diagnosed food poisoning, and her pain resolved within three weeks, but the diarrhea continued. Life changed quite suddenly for Judith at the age of 52, when she developed a serious episode of abdominal pain and diarrhea.
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