photo credit: Eddi van W.
Late last summer I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis or UC. I haven’t written much about the disease (they say it’s chronic) since the diagnosis – not here, or in any of my freelance pitches or even in my morning journals.
The only place I’ve given it any energy at all has been in the daily diet and life moments that I jot down. This jotting is for me – so I can monitor the disease, the flare-ups and what seems to affect me adversely as well as what helps me keep flare ups at bay.
The reason for the silence on the UC isn’t because of embarrassment or fear. I prefer to keep my attention on my health and wellness, rather than feed the disease by continuing to refer to it as “this thing I have.” Does that make sense?
The energy we all have is limited and I simply don’t like to spend an undue amount of it feeding the disease. I feel like I would about feeding the ego of an annoying critic or bully. I can choose to engage the fool or I can choose to monitor my reaction to the fool.
I’ve never been a big fan of the Pharma industry (and dear friend who works for the industry is so gracious she doesn’t give me a hard time about it) and although I’m currently on medication for UC, I hope to someday find an alternative or a more holistic approach to keeping it in check. Hell. I hope to some day watch it disappear from my life altogether. That’s my approach to this disease – take my doctor’s guidance and live my life forward to create a plan for complete healing.
Our bodies are endlessly amazing, mine is too.
UC is a 3rd Chakra disease (see Dr. Mona Lisa Schultz’s FB page here for more details) This completely resonates with me.
It’s also an annoying and crappy disease (sorry, couldn’t resist because it’s true).
Having the diagnosis makes my life easier. Instead trying to suffer in silence (which is not possible) I finally had a name. I just don’t want the fact that I have a name for the disease to be reason to let it run my life. At the moment, it’s part of who I am and it does factor in to choices I make (stress and diet can play a major part in UC).
Up until today I hadn’t felt the need to talk about the disease, but today I do. More than 3 weeks ago my old pharmacy replaced my prescribed meds with what they considered to be a ‘reasonable alternative.’ (It wasn’t). They insisted that they’d received my doctor’s blessing to do this (she has no record of doing so). And they told me that the prescribed medication was no longer being manufactured (untrue). As a result the disease flared up with attitude. Add to that holidays and the requisite stress and not-so-fabulous eating and it’s been a hellish month.
Then with Dr. Mona Lisa’s post the other day and then Charlie and Angela Gilkey’s story, it suddenly seemed important that I give this disease some sort of respect. It’s time for me to own the disease without giving in to it. It’s part of my life and part of how I address choices – like who to work with, how many hours to work each day, what to eat (and people I LOVE food) and how often to exercise.
I’ve committed to delving into the spiritual and mental spokes of this disease this year. I’m dedicated to avoiding flare-ups and taking my health into my own control. The first part of this journey for me is to do some work on the Third Chakra. I’ll be meditating and journaling on it this month as well as working with my trusty yoga teachers to focus on the third chakra (yay, lots of twists!).
Each month I’ll check in with you and share the journey. There are many people suffering with some sort of illness and I think it’s high time we help each other out.
If you have UC or a related disease – feel free to give a shout out or email me. I’d love your thoughts, insights and tips and hints – share them in the comments!
