Anti-Surgery Suggestions?

I honestly don't have a clue, because I was in quite a different situation.

Probably would've taken my GI's guidance. I know from experience he is not remotely gung-ho about surgery, so if he was pushing it it would likely be for a valid reason. However, I wouldn't trust some of the doctors I read about on this board.

I'd also look into a dilation, strictureplasty or a resection before I considered a total colectomy. This is assuming medical therapy has failed of course, which it has in your case.

Chapter on colonic strictures in Crohn's here

And, finally, I'd also suspect Crohn's. Benign strictures are rare in UC.

Sorry. This whole post is probably utterly useless. I just don't really know what to say or advise.

I personally agree about avoiding surgery. I have had Colitis for 14 years now and have had relapses on occasions that pushed consultants to push the surgery on me every time. When I have had issues it has been severe, been on multiple medications but found way way off them every time after threat of surgery. While I know individual cases are different I found persevering with two main aspects in my life helped. Diet and Exercise.

have you seen or talked to a stricture specialist ?

I see none of the usual suspects have anything to say...

lol t6 !

It is two constricted areas of scar tissue, about 5 cm apart, with chronic inflammation (the only inflammation I have, but seriously friable tissue) between them. My doctor had to use her ballon to dilate them in order to get the scope through, so they're really tight. The scope is only about index finger sized. The friable tissue between makes further dilation dangerous.

I have a protein shake with coconut oil a couple of times per week.

I've tried a bunch of anti-inflammatory herbs on my own, not under the direction of any professional. They didn't do much for my colitis, but that is well controlled now.

I liked the way I felt when I took boswellia and NAC, systemically, but I didn't feel that it was affecting my colon per se.

I did vitamin E enemas for a while, but it seemed to exacerbate my urgency symptoms at the time. It might be worth trying again now that I'm off of other rectal meds and have no urgency, but I'm not sure if I can get to the proximal scar tissue that way.

I really like cayenne pepper. I have a huge jug of it in my kitchen, but it is a cheap bulk spice, and is probably not of the quality you'd select for medicinal purposes. I do a hot cider vinegar drink with it for sinus stuff anyway.

I had a lot of biopsies in December. No sign of Crohn's. My terminal ileum has always looked fine. No symptoms of Crohn's. I am not sure that I don't, but we've done everything we can do to check for it.

I don't think strictures in UC are all that uncommon- that's basically why I went ahead with surgery. After years of chronic inflammation, scar tissue will develop. I too had massive strictures due to scar tissue- like you, Tornado- I could have done a resection, but I'd still have UC, still be on meds, still undergo major surgery, etc. And nope, no dilation for me either- too friable! It's a tough situation- let's be real, I don't care if you eat that whole jug of cayenne pepper, it's not gonna shrink scar tissue. And like you- my path. report showed chronic severe UC- no Crohns, even though every surgeon questioned my GI's diagnosis- "Are you sure you have UC???"... I'm obviously not anti-surgery- but heck yeah, of course you'd want to avoid it at all costs. Thing is, like Judy said- you really can't ignore these- you'll wind up with an obstructed bowel or a perforation, either of which would lead to emergency surgery. Our situations are very similar- or they were, at least....

Scoville sale, not scottsville.

Clumsy fingers on this rainy morning.

Just getting the correct name of the scale in here so people can find the scale if they want to, so I figure that's a worthy addition.

I never once in my post suggested that Tornado get surgery- all I did was point out that our situations are/were very similar. Regardless of any scale, I've never heard of cayenne pepper being used to successfully shrink scar tissue. "Minimal scar tissue" is hardly the same as a bowel stricture. By all means, give it a shot. My comments are neither ignorant nor shortsighted, seeing as I've been thru the exact same thing as Tornado- I just chose to treat it differently. Obviously, some people (you) have nothing better to do than dispute any posts that differ from your own opnions/suggestions. My only suggestion was to not ignore the strictures- Tornado can deal with them any way he pleases.