Renewed hope

This is my first post here. I've been lurking around the web for some months doing research.

Male
Age 35


about 4 1/2 years ago I experienced symptoms of what I now know to be associated with UC. For a number of years I assumed my symptoms were caused by hemorrhoids. I would experience small amounts of blood and mucus, along with mild constipation. There was no pain, and no diarrhea. If I was under a great deal of stress I might only pass mucus with some blood. A few times I farted clear mucus.

Fast forward to two months ago. I had a cold/flu for about a week, and after that I started to experience diarrhea and mild pain in the area of my ascending colon. So, right side, not left side. I started to come to grips with the fact I had more than just hemorrhoids. I was having bloody mucousy diarrhea. For awhile I was getting worse and worse. I saw some improvement when I drank unfiltered beer, or took probiotics containing Saccharomyces. However it was minimal improvement. I scheduled an appointment with a Gastroenterologist, and resigned myself to trying a bunch of nasty drugs that may not even work. I'm an active person who hikes many miles per year. The idea of destroying my heart and bones with prednisone caused me to begin contemplating suicide. Basically, from everything I've seen, most doctors treat you like a guinea pig, and then when the drugs fail advise ripping your colon out. No thanks. At 35 I'd rather be dead than wear a colostomy bag.

Long story short I found out about nicotine. After smoking two cigs I felt immediate relief in my gut. Things just felt normal again down there, and the rumbling and gurgling mostly ceased. The amount of gas I had normalized, and it did not feel blocked on its way out. The mucus disappeared completely overnight. Normally I wake up and my first BM is nothing but mucus. However, when I woke up the morning after trying cigs I had a mostly normal BM with just a little blood. That day I had only two BM's, which were mostly normal. I had been having as many as six per day, mostly consisting of blood and mucus. The next day I woke up and things were even more normalized. I switched from cigs to ecigs after the first day.

So, it is still early to tell, but so far my results seem promising. If I have to wear a nicotine patch the rest of my life so be it. It beats nasty drugs, surgery, and the years of not knowing if you will ever get better.
I'm grateful even at its worse, my colitis is relatively mild, and that I found nicotine before I destroyed by body with drugs.

FYI - I am a former smoker who quit in 2006. Began having symptoms of UC in 2012.

The recommended surgery for UC is a j-pouch which does not result in a colostomy bag. Rather you poop like you do now. Only 25 percent of UC patients ultimately need surgery.