h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Folks may have noticed I have been a bit quiet in the last couple of years or so - I've been having my own adventures a la Inflamatory Bowel Disease (as opposed to Irritable Bowel Syndrome).

In brief - Went to the Doc with extremely painful mouth and throat ulcers which disappeared by the time I got in to the dermatology clinic, but when after 3 months I'd not had a solid motion (I wasn't really ill yet, it was just very uncomfortable) and they got me into proctology we were on the right track they first thought it was Crohn's (I only had to go through having a biopsy taken through a sigmoidoscope, I got off lightly I think), have been 'downgraded' to UC, fortunately for me only mild but 6 weeks off work with my only major relapse so far had my boss seething a little...

I've found NSAID's made me feel worse so have been taking a variable amount of Prednisolone for much of the last 30 months...my GP is getting concerned about the long term effects of steroids (he's not a great one for pills in the first place) only to find the kinds of sports that would help guard against things like osteoperosis, all steroids are a banned substance I did get in touch with the governing body of my old sport from my Uni days (fencing, by the way) and have been told I can effectively 'get away with it' up to county level, now I've just got to find a club...

If anyone fancies a chat in private, my e-mail address is on my page, if anyone wants to start a thread of conversation here that'll churn the stomach's of non-sufferers that stumble across it, we could discuss it in public here

Anyone up for a go at swapping triggers/recepies that are gentle on the gut/decent publications?

Peace and good karma

daSilva

PS: Any UK sufferers who come across this had trouble with the gastric flu bug that's been going round for the last few winters? This 'thing' (I don't want to swear) made me lose about 20kg in the space of a week and put me in hospital fo my only real scare so far.

Hi daSilva,

I hope you're well.

We have two things in common - Crohns and fencing!

I'm fine at the moment, and have been for some years. I've been very lucky, and long may it continue I wouldn't worry too much about drugs and fencing - a friend of mine who is a pharmacist and a fencer said that while it's technically illegal, it's not a performance enhancer, and to go to the media and kick up a stink if the BFA ever try to take action!

TTFN

Otto

I'm fine, or at least I will be when I recover from yesterday's lunch (I suppose we know the real meaning of 'eaten something that disagreed'), c'est la vie

I thought I'd check with the BFA first before jumping straight in (after a decent warm-up of course *lol*) and they've said there is precedence of people fencing up to county level on the steroids (my consultant said the health risks aren't the same as performance enhancing steroids either, so I wont be doing an Arnie and getting pig parts ) - I don't think I'd be pushing those boundaries anytime soon anyway after 5 years away from the game...hopefully with all this fuss over James Bond it should make it a bit easier to find a club!

I also read somewhere that alcohol's an illegal substance in our game - boo, shame *lol*