Should I start smoking again?

Hello to everyone here. I'm deeply concerned and mostly convinced I have UC and thinking about going right back smoking cigarettes.

Some back story. My sister has UC and I am 32 now. I had a couple of dramatic episodes in my early 20s that were very similar to IBD involving intense stomach pain and weird looking diarrhea with blood and mucus in my stool, and subsided within a couple days and back to completely normal bowels with a couple weeks. That only ever happened to me again after getting the stomach flu. I never thought anything too serious of it since I've been otherwise fine the rest of the time.

Fast forward, 3 weeks ago I quit smoking on my mom's bday. I switched to vaping and haven't had a cigarette in 3 weeks. Almost immediately after I quit smoking I got constipation and bloating for a week, which turned to diarrhea which turned mucus-y the next week. Today I'm starting to get trace amounts of blood and went 5 times already today.

I started reading all these horror stories about people getting diagnosed with UC after they quit smoking, A LOT of really sad painful stories to read. I don't want that to happen to me and already have considered going right back to cigarettes. I haven't been to the doctor, but I feel convinced I do have UC I've kept mostly in remission from smoking and don't want to start taking meds.

Any advice before I go back? I really don't want meds, even with all the health risks of continuing to smoke.

Thanks Gary, this is kind of what I was thinking of doing. I am talking to my dad about seeing his gastroenterologist for a diagnosis and smoking a cigarette tonight. I have to work tomorrow and have an hour of public transit both ways. I'm already freaking out if this ends up getting worse tomorrow in the middle of the day.

smoking will not cure your UC if you have it
only mask its symptoms
see a competent GI who can diagnose you and prescibe medication to help keep it in check
the meds used for UC are often safer than smoking
esp. the first tier drugs like mesalamines etc..

Btw... Nothing cures UC, and smoking is prob better than most options.

Is there any other medical conditions besides IBD and CC that would cause one to have diarrhea with mucus and small amounts of blood in their stool right after they quit smoking? I can't really find any, and the genetic pairing with my sister having UC makes me believe that's what is going on. I feel so depressed and worried right now and already lit up again. I do have work today and afraid this is going to get worse again before it gets better.

Try vaping Nicotine (depending on how much you normally smoke, you might have to come in high at 21mg to 28mg) and see if that works just as well to keep your UC symptoms at bay. Overall, it's cheaper than smoking and while the health risks of vaping Nicotine long-term aren't understood yet, we do know it's a heck of a lot better than smoking : )

It helped with my crohn's colitis but didn't put it in remission but I'm all for taking whatever help wherever I can and I've always been a smoker, I simply enjoy it, health issues or not I love smoking, always, have, always will!

I've heard it has helped cut symptoms way down for many UCers, might not have likely gotten a full remission but for the milder cases they sure have seen big enough improvements from it to help them.

Like everything else, it's individual for each, works great for some while does nothing for others.

I think you need to weight the pros and cons, and see a GI immediately. to me, having COPD or Lung Ca is far worse than the Ulcerative Colitis, especially because there are a lot of different ways to treat UC. You should definitely try to get into a GI to get tested, you may not even have UC, it could be something easier to treat. Best of luck to you!