Long time subscriber, but don't normally comment, just wanted to say thank you for being so open about all this. I hope your health improves now you're getting the right treatments, and wishing you the best of luck with any upcoming changes. Signed, a fellow UK "neurospicy" tech enjoyer.
I'm sorry to hear what you're going through. I was also diagnoded with UC recently having the same symptoms and should be starting Mesalazine as soon as my GP gets their act together.
I've been on Mesalazine (4g, the higher dose) for a couple mo this now. It's helped but not enough. I've actually just been given another course of Prednislone today, then I'm expecting to go on immunosuppressants. I hope the Mesalazine works for you - mine was particularly bad so it isn't keeping up.
If you have UC, should you be on Pentasa (slow release Mesalazine ) so that the active ingredient is available lower down the bowel? Powder form suggests the inflammation extends higher than is common in UC, but just ask the question. If the biological and/or steroids can get you into reasonable remission then Mesalazine will often keep you stable for months or years. I’d also trying Psyllium Husk powder chucked with water. Some people finds the “gel” it creates helps protect the bowel as well as being a probiotic for “good bacteria” in the colon. And (obviously) as it’s an autoimmune condition, try to reduce stress and avoid 😂pro-inflammatory foods ( high sugar, sunflower oil, red meat, coffee, alcohol). Following a low carb, high oily fish/olive oil/salad heavy diet has I think helped, but you know, self-reporting and hence sample size of one. Best wishes. P.S. Pred can do weird stuff to your brain in the short term, so make sure people close to you are willing and able to say if your behaviour is “off” and you’re receptive to those warnings. Amazingly effective drug for most people, but not without some very serious side-effects for some people, hence the warning.
@clivesweeting7338 Yep, pentesa is the one. The granules and all! Thanks for the advice (especially in such a self-aware way, I really appreciate that :D ). As for pred, this is my second course. The first one was fine so I'm hoping this one will be too, but my wife is always there for me so I should be good!
🫵💪 Early in diagnosis it can be pretty scary, especially if you “internet” it, but remember that for the majority of people UC is a manageable condition. For me, being aware of “early warning signs” of a flare incoming enabled me to concentrate on rest, really sticking to my “good” diet and often I’m able to ride it out on my normal meds. Early warning signs for me are skin flare up and much much stiffer joints than I have to put up with normally, especially in my lower back and hips. These often kick off a couple of weeks before the shite really hits the fan (pun intended), normally when I’ve been burning the candle. Now I recognise this, the frequency and severity of flares has dropped off significantly. It’s been 15 years now and for most of the time it’s perfectly tolerable, averaging a flare every year that Pred slaps down quickly. One thing I would definitely say you want to avoid if at all possible is any other infection/assault that might kick your immune system into high gear, including vaccinations. COVID jab (3 courses) certainly didn’t help the UC in the short term, but that has to balanced against the risk from whatever the particular vaccine protects against and the current state of your immune system. But other people and their plague ridden bodies are very definitely not your friends in keeping an autoimmune condition under control. STFU now with the unsolicited advice…
Sorry to hear Andy. I have a friend who has colitis and it affects him badly. Im not sure honestly what meds his on, but i know it affects his day to day alot and his work and home arrangements. Hopefully your gettign the best treatment possible and taking care of yourself first and foremost. We'll be here supporting you on and if you need time off for yourself to get better, by all means do it.
"I'm sure I can talk at length" Dr Andy, spending 9 mins to say 2 mins of stuff /s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s/s.... Congrats on the House, Commiserations on the extra illness, and GOOD LUCK!!! with the changes to come!
Most of positive thoughts for you Andy. You're a mad lad (meant in the best way), and we're right here with you. Congrats on the house too BTW, that's awesome news!
As a fellow UC person, man it sucks. I take entyvio and it works pretty well with the benefit of not being a total body immunosuppressant But ugh I hate how much hassle it adds to your life with managing healthcare issues, calling up pharmacies, getting infusions, just so much (also as an audhd person ughhhhhhhh) After trialing drugs, when you find the right one, it gets better, and things for the most part become normal again. But you really come to appreciate non inflammatory days, and come to love fiber and water lol
Hang in there, stay positive as it is a big plus in health, gone through my own share of health issues so aware the strain and stress produced, Godspeed!!
AgentB here. Sorry I haven't been on the streams or Discord lately; my head has been in a weird place these last couple of months. But I just wanna say that no matter your health, and through any changes - I'll be here continuing to support you and your channel, because I appreciate your work and the edutainment you provide, and (even though I don't use them) the tools you build. You've made a prideworthy contribution to the tech hobby, and I really want to see it continue. Stay strong, and congrats on the house!
So turns out alot of my friends are neuro-a-typical. And so are most of the people I watch online. Not officially diagnosed yet, but online tests suggest "extremely high likelihood of being autistic" I wish you good luck with your health. I love your work man. I'm rooting for you, tc my friend ❤️
I don't know if it makes you feel better or worse, but there is a Finnish rap star that also had UC. He is alive and well today. (Käärijä) Wishing you good luck with your health issues. 💖
I had UC for 4 years and put it into remission by doing these two things: 1) OMAD - One meal a day 2) Zero carb diet (Carnivore) I was on dozens of meds and immunosuppressants every 6 weeks. Now I'm off ALL medications. If you continue to take those medicines they will eventually decide to remove your intestine and colon and give you an external pouch. If you don't want that then look at an extremely low carb Keto diet, or what I have done which is more extreme but will heal you far quicker. Best of luck.
Whilst I agree that diet can play a big part in keeping people in remission, “those drugs” are often what stops people needing surgery years earlier. Different people have differing disease profiles, progression, remission, so your positive experience with remission through diet won’t sadly be universal. Mesalazine is a very well understood drug and for most people can be tolerated for decades - just remember to get your annual blood tests to check for kidney issues. Having said that, I am also following a low carb, low sugar, high veg, higher protein diet and I think it has some benefits for me personally. Red meat however is definitely not good for me, so I would suggest others are very cautious about going “full caveman”.
Been there, had the cameras, took three years to finally find the cause.... the toxic food enviroment we live in ! Solutions is hard but i stuck to it because the alternative was such shite :) Started up by saying to myself 1 teaspoon of sugar is 4g, and then saying to myself I'm not gonna consume more then x teaspoons of sugar per day (with no artifical sweetener substitues allowed) .. soft drinks are the worst thing ever man when it comes to sugar content Had to start cycling to get over the *HUGE* sugar withdrawl lows, but they passed after a few weeks, yay Then after about 2/3 months all the previous boring foods started tasting really really nice ! Now ... i'm a veggie and rarely drink alcohol (never thought i'd say those words ever!), but biggest thing is ........ 1) *never* eat anything processed and/or with a shelf life of more then 2/3 days 2) only cook what i eat (stopped having *any* resteraunt food unless really really expensive, so hardly ever) 3) eat whole grains only and avoid white bread like the devil, love my organic steel cut porridge in the morning :) Outcome ... feel brilliant, inflamation gone, lost all my "pudginess" (look like someone from the 70's when food wasn't toxic)..... why the hell didn't i do it years ago :)
Yeah, those corticosteroids are amazing aren't they? I've had prednisone a couple times for lung issues and they leave you feeling awesome, too bad they have such nasty long term effects...
Well done buddy in sharing the issues with your health, not many would do that but it's good to get some things off your chest....got to be honest, your just blending in with the rest of us 😁, oh and by the way, this over the next year or so change...you better not be turning English...sorry English peeps 🤣
Speedy recovery mate FYI ( covid has not gone away people have just forgot about it and got on with things ) the same as people should do when X-pox is rammed down our throat's
Sorry to hear about those stool issues. It sounds like you've had a schit time. Sorry, but I had to. Congrats on finally getting diagnosed, though. I know it can be hard (in the UK) to get diagnosed, with these kinds of conditions, due to social benefits, and the overburdened and underfunded NHS (thanks Tories). I hope you did go through the NHS, as I know someone who went private, and as a result the NHS, and local Autism services do not officially recognise her condition. She does not get help, financial support, or ability to join things like social groups. Hope everything works out alright for you.
Not the best of news and very sorry to hear it. I first got into your videos looking into monitors and ended up subscribing due to your chill, wholesome demeanor and enthusiastic educational videos on these subjects but always watched your videos for concise and thorough information on tech products I was interested in. Wouldn't say I watch the videos religiously but certainly kept the channel in mind. Seems a lot of youtubers from a certain generation are getting quite sick and it really sucks to hear, with your situation sounding a lot more on the serious side. I would wonder if some of this has to do with the stress of running your own channel and all that that entails(As a lot of people don't understand how stressful it can be - myself included - I'm sure). If you don't mind me asking, what age are you? I'm guessing around 32-35? Seems to be the age where people really need to start looking after themselves. On a more personal note: I'm sure you likely exercise, but if you don't you should look into joining a gym and walking for about an hour or two in fresh air when you can. I was very unfit until I became more active earlier this year and completely changed myself in six months by going to the gym three days a week and eventually walking the four other days for an hour and a half to two hours on those days. My gym instructors were genuinely concerned about me when I started stating I was probably the worst they'd seen(And there are people there twice my age with proper physical health problems). Of course they said this after the improvement over the last six months. I couldn't even lift any weights or finish the exercises while mimicing the actions without weights for the first month but six months in I can lift, bench, squat and do any other exercise like anyone else there squatting 120kg now(couldn't even lift the bar six months ago), deadlifting 130kg and bench 75kg(again, couldn't lift the bar at all six months ago). With the walking I've lost a lot of, if not all of, the weight I put on the last three years(Almost back to my previous weight), feel healthier than I have ever been and genuinely happy to see more definition in my physique to the point I have confidence I never had before even when compared to when I was skinny and actively dating before the last 3-4 years. My suggestion would be to join group sessions(Strength and Conditioning which is very popular these days) three days a week and just focus on your own progress - Everyone in these group sessions in my experience are very friendly and all there for the same reasons more or less. Once you settle into that really get into walking as the cardio will benefit your health in general and you'll see it improve your performance in the gym then start looking at cutting down on the bad foods/drinks in your daily diet. Anyway, I don't really comment but really hoping for the best for you. You genuinely come across as a genuine wholesome guy which is something you just don't see enough of these days. Wishing you all the best, mate.
Thank you for the kind words and support. I'm actually 27, but have been chronically ill since I was 17 when I got a stress induced stomach ulcer, and I think 20 when I got palindromic rhuematism. I'd love to exercise more - and I do free weights and rowing at home along with mountain biking when I can, but I'm in so much pain every day that some days I can barely stand let alone lift a weight, so I'm doing what I can without ruining myself!
@@TechteamGB Sorry, I added an extra five years to your age. I generally think people who look younger and are more mature are older than they actually are. :| That's unfortunate re the palindromic rhuematism however not surprised to hear you do exercises as you do look like you do some(probably the rowing as your arms look a lot bigger than someone who wouldn't). Wish I could get into mountain biking or biking in general but finding a route in my area really turns me off(Something safe and scenic) and looking into getting the right gear and bikes from my initial investigation is like a bottomless pit - I find it very intimidating to find the right information on and reluctant to spend what could be thousands of euro on a bunch of gear that just isn't right for me or something I find I simply can't get into. Really rooting for things to improve, I know it must be very hard to deal with.
Ulcerative Colitis is an autoimmune condition For those, blackseed oil, D3+K2 and Omega 3 can help According to Dr. Berg also Zinc, maybe other Antivirals If you take Zinc probably also take copper to not deplete it too much (copper regulates iron and is part of enzymes and collagen and would result in hernias for example if missing) I would definitely also look at nutrition, maybe elimination dieting, some people with ulcerative colitis say it helps to avoid dairy, probably also gluten and fibre might be an issue Alternative medicine, supplements, herbs and such
