Winter, Xmas, stress and Colitis!

I realised I hadn't written a blog entry for a while, so I thought I'd give my experience of Xmas (or winter if you prefer) and the stress it causes in relation to Ulcerative Colitis.

A pattern is emerging for me, and I'm beginning to realise that the start of winter and the lead up to Xmas increases stress; lowers my immune system and leaves me open to symptoms of a flare-up - and it would appear that I'm not alone!

I've seen quite a lot of IBD sufferers asking whether anyone else experiences flare-ups each winter. Some of them flare-up every year, almost to the week, others noticed that they went on holiday and the flare didn't happen. Most surmise that this was due to the warmer, sunnier weather. Hmmm, perhaps us UCers should increase our vitamin D in the winter?

If I think back to the most recent flares I've had, they both started towards the end of the year in 2010 and 2012 - around the end of October and into November to be more precise.

So, this is actually quite useful knowledge for Ucers that have noticed a similar occurrence. It's rare that Colitis sufferers find a period where they can start preparing for a possible flare-up! However, that's precisely what I've done this year.

I've been through a couple of periods with cold symptoms that I've managed to weather, without descending into a full blown flare-up. A cold in 2012 was part of the reason of my worst flare to-date. I've also managed the stress of Xmas much better along with sticking to my 'real food' regime. In fact, I've kept more or less the same diet for the past four months.

The good news is that, so far, I've managed to stay away from the dreaded full blown flare-up. Don't get me wrong, I've had a few symptoms appear here and there, but nothing major. I've put a couple of them down to food changes I made for a couple of days and other symptoms down to feeling rundown.

I guess I've looked after myself a lot more this winter, whether that be sticking to my diet, increasing supplements when I felt changes or taking more rest at times I felt rundown. It would be great to take control of Colitis wouldn't it? Of course I haven't done this, but I have 'managed' it, to a fashion, and that's much more preferable than an out-of-control nosedive into a flare-up.

I'll include more details of my winter anti-Colitis 'campaign' on the UCer remedy ideas page. But for now, I'm still hoping to get through to New Year at the same level of health. I hope anyone who reads this has the same success.