Ulcerated Colitis

 

Just when you think you have a handle on all that life can throw you, I found out I have severe Ulcerated Colitis. 

If like me you didn't know anything about the condition you could be missing the bigger picture I certainly was, having ME you generally suffer with IBS at some point, I mistook my IBD for IBS.

Now the initials sound similar but the medical condition is in my view much worst.

Inflamed Bowel Disease is a disabling condition and limits what a person can do, as they need to be able to "get the seat down" in seconds when out and about it’s a case of going going gone...

I could write a very personal blog on the toilet habits of a UC sufferer but I would only be repeating what thousands of sufferers will tell you, instead I will guide you to the best source of information I could find in the UK below is a bit from a this most excellent source of information on the subject.

(https://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/)

“Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis are the two main forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, affecting more than 300,000 people in the UK.

Yet it is largely a hidden disease, and one that causes stigma, fear and isolation – it’s thought that many people with the condition go undiagnosed and suffer in silence. It doesn’t have to be like this.

What is Ulcerative Colitis?

Ulcerative Colitis is a condition that causes inflammation and ulceration of the inner lining of the rectum and colon (the large bowel). In UC, tiny ulcers develop on the surface of the lining and these may bleed and produce pus.

The inflammation usually begins in the rectum and lower colon, but it may affect the entire colon. If UC only affects the rectum, it is called proctitis, while if it affects the whole colon it may be called total colitis or pancolitis.

It’s one of the two main forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The other is Crohn’s Disease.

Ulcerative Colitis is a chronic condition. This means that it is ongoing and life-long, although you may have periods of good health (remission), as well as times when symptoms are more active (relapses or flare-ups).

What are the symptoms?

Ulcerative Colitis is a very individual condition and its symptoms will vary from person to person. They range from mild to severe and may also change over time.

Some people remain well for a long time, while others have frequent flare-ups. However, the most common symptoms are:

• Diarrhoea
• Cramping pains in the abdomen
• Tiredness and fatigue
• Feeling generally unwell or feverish
• Loss of appetite and weight loss
• Anaemia (a reduced level of red blood cells).

Find out more about the symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis

Who gets Ulcerative Colitis?

It’s estimated that UC affects about one in every 420 people in the UK (roughly 146,000 people).

UC is more common in urban areas and in northern developed countries, although we’re starting to see an increase in numbers in developing nations, too.

UC is also more common in white people of European descent, especially those descended from Ashkenazi Jews (those who lived in Eastern Europe and Russia).

It can start at any age, though it often appears for the first time between the ages of 15 and 25. It affects men and women equally.

UC tends to develop more frequently in non-smokers and ex-smokers than in smokers – but health professionals strongly advise against smoking as a way of treating Ulcerative Colitis.  See Smoking and IBD for more information.

Our Ambassadors embody the wide range of people who get Crohn’s Disease. Read their stories.

What are the causes & is there a cure?

Although there has been a lot of research, we still don’t really know what causes Ulcerative Colitis.  However, advances have been made in recent years, particularly in genetics and we now believe that UC is caused by a combination of factors:

- the genes you’re born with
- plus an abnormal reaction of the digestive system to bacteria in the intestine
- along with an unknown 'trigger' that could include viruses, other bacteria, diet, stress, or something else in the environment.

There isn't a cure at the moment but a lot can be done with medication and surgery to help keep symptoms under control.

Read about the research we’re funding into the causes and treatment of Ulcerative Colitis 

What treatments are there for Ulcerative Colitis?

Ulcerative Colitis can often be managed by medication (drug treatment), but surgery can be necessary if symptoms are very bad.

Your treatment will depend on the type and severity of your UC and the choices you make with your doctor.

Find out what treatments are available for Ulcerative Colitis.

Can Ulcerative Colitis have complications?

More than a third of people with UC develop other conditions outside of the digestive system, mainly affecting the joints, eyes and skin.

Inflammation of the joints (arthritis) affects about one out of 10 people with UC. Some people with UC also develop ankylosing spondylitis, a condition in which the joints in the spine and pelvis become inflamed and stiff. Drugs and physiotherapy are used to treat these symptoms.

A variety of other health conditions can be associated with UC, including:

• skin problems, such as mouth ulcers, blisters and ulcers on the skin, and painful red swellings, usually on the legs
• inflammation of the eyes
• thinner and weaker bones
• liver inflammation
• blood clots (including deep vein thrombosis)
• anaemia.

It’s important to stress that Ulcerative Colitis is not a form of cancer. However, if you have had extensive or total colitis (pancolitis) for many years, you have a greater risk than normal of developing cancer in the colon or rectum. For more information about this, see our information sheet Bowel Cancer and IBD

Find out more about complications by downloading our Ulcerative Colitis booklet

What are the challenges of living with the condition?

Living with a chronic condition like Ulcerative Colitis  can have both an emotional and practical impact on your life.  There may be times when you have to make adjustments and take time to recuperate, for example, if you are having a flare-up.  On the other hand, when you are well you may be able to live life to the full. 

Most obviously, you are likely to see your GP and perhaps also your hospital IBD team quite regularly. It’s good to build up a good relationship with them, as that can make seeking and receiving treatment a less stressful process.  See our booklet My Crohn’s and Colitis Care for more information about to work with your IBD team to get the best out of your care.

Flare-ups can be disruptive to relationships and work – sometimes you may need to cancel engagements and take time off when you are feeling unwell.   It can be very helpful if you feel you can open up about your condition to those around you – your family, friends, work colleagues and employers.  Telling particularly family and friends at least something about your illness may make them feel reassured and more able to give you the support you need.

Diet is considered a factor in the appearance and severity of symptoms by many people with Ulcerative Colitis – although research has not produced clear answers on whether diet plays a role in UC.

Generally, the most important thing is to eat a nutritious and balanced diet to maintain your weight and strength, and to drink sufficient fluids to stop you getting dehydrated. 

However, you may find during flare-ups that certain foods affect your symptoms.  Bland, soft foods may cause less discomfort than raw vegetables, spicy and high-fibre foods .

Most women with Ulcerative Colitis can expect a normal pregnancy and a healthy baby. Also, for most women, having a baby does not make their UC worse. But if you do become pregnant during a flare-up, you may be more likely to give birth early or have a baby with a low birth weight. Your doctor should be able to help you to control your symptoms as much as possible, and it may be helpful to discuss your options with them if you are thinking of having a baby.

Around a quarter of people are children or adolescents when they are diagnosed with IBD, and symptoms in young people often appear around the age of 12. Ulcerative Colitis in children tends to be more extensive in children than adults, and consequently more severe.

Download our free information sheet on Staying well with IBD

- See more at: https://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/about-inflammatory-bowel-disease/ulcerative-colitis#sthash.qaiqa8jG.dpuf

Hopefully, upon reading this blog page you will have a better understanding of Ulcerative Colitis and I would like to thank chronsandcolitis.org for the information they gave me on their web site when I was first diagnosed in a NHS hospital in my home town.

So why have I chosen to blog about my UC on my Transgender blog site well there is a link.

Taking female hormones as transgender male to female as you have to do, in order to alter loads of incorrect things with your body, the hormones has the effect of increasing the risk for ulcerative colitis (UC), but not Crohn's disease (CD), according to my consultant at the gender clinic I attend. He sees many transgender M2F people discovering they now have UC. It’s not a show stopper as such on the transition side, and lower surgery can still go ahead in most cases but it needs to be under control and not in flair up mode for obvious reasons.

A transgender person’s BMI is taken into account so being on or below your BMI is a good thing as far as lower surgery is concerned so if like me you have UC just watch your diet as my weight yoyos between flair ups quite a bit.

When I have a flair up I tend to reduce my insoluble fibre intake and make more healthy 80% veg 20% fruit juice as meal replacements I live on a modified vegan diet or a heavily modified paleo type of diet, as it reduces my “seat down time” spent going the loo. 

 I think People think a person just wakes up and decides to be transgender…

 

 

 

 

The newspaper headline reads, “Gender identity clinic services under strain as referral rates soar” like it is our fault we identify as transgender.
Such headlines sell papers and get airtime I guess but there is another side to headlines like that, as the funding for all NHS care becomes squeezed and people are denied care and treatment for various conditions. It is easy to target a venerable sector of the population isn’t it? (In the UK approximately 650,000 people that’s about 1% of the population, are estimated to experience some degree of gender non-conformity)

 

With some new GIC patients waiting up to four years for appointments figures show referral increases of up to several hundred per cent. The increase in referrals to gender identity services runs parallel with society hopefully becoming more accepting of transgenderism.

 

The number of Britons seeking gender identity treatment has shot up dramatically in recent years, leaving vulnerable people waiting years for a specialist appointment. They unfortunately become trapped in a situation that can be devastating to them and their families. Most GP’s will not know or understand what this situation feels like to the transgender person, just waiting having their whole life on hold. Waiting for the first of many appointments with months between each appointment and medical evaluations and assessments made before any hormone treatment is granted only then can the transgender person start their slow transition from male to female or female to male. There is the additional period of living in role that has to be completed on top of the wait to see the Consultants in the GIC’s.

 

It is not a short journey you embark upon when you identify as being in the wrong body, it is not a whim or a phase this rise in the numbers of people seeking to transition it is just human development.  As we all develop a greater understanding of who we are and how we feel, and how we should be viewed in the world by everyone else,  plus the development of western society to move away from the binary thought of male/female, to having a third gender where we accept that a person is able to change from one gender to another in order to continue to live.

 

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal increases in the number of referrals to all of the UK’s 14 gender identity clinics (GICs) in recent years, with a number of clinics experiencing increases of several hundred percent.

 

At Charing Cross in London, the oldest and largest adult clinic, the number of referrals has almost quadrupled in 10 years, from 498 in 2006-07 to 1,892 in 2015-16.

 

A clinic in Nottingham reported a 28-fold increase in referrals in eight years, from 30 in 2008 to 850 in 2015. It expected this to increase to more than 1,000 referrals during 2016.

 

The Laurels clinic in Exeter has seen a 20-fold increase in referrals in a decade, from 31 in 2005-06 to 636 in 2015-16.

 

Referrals to Sheffield’s clinic went up from eight in 1998 to 301 in 2015.

 

At a GIC in Leeds, referrals tripled from 131 in 2009-10 to 414 in 2015-16. The increase put such a strain on the service that last October it estimated that new patients would have to wait four years for their first appointment.

 

While the clinic in Daventry, Northamptonshire, which I attend, has had a five-fold increase in the past year alone, up from 88 referrals in 2014-15 to 466 in 2015-16. The latest figures released by the trust shows that most people attending their first appointment with the clinic this month had their referral accepted over 40 weeks earlier.

 

My only hope is that the government doesn’t put the squeeze on the funding that covers the gender clinics as suicide rates in the Transgender community is already way to high and cutting the funding for clinics, medication and surgery will leave people feeling all is lost and suicide an answer to their sufferings, which we know it isn’t. 

 

Leaving the EU and triggering article 50 may have an impact on the lives of transgender people living in the UK, It’s down to the UK government to raise the bar on Equality and set an example for the rest of Europe to look up to and to follow. 

 

 

 

Happy Christmas 2016

Well for the first time since I don't know when I'm happy... well I should say since coming out as transgender I have never been so happy and feeling complete as I do nowadays. I sleep better at night; I am told I smile more than before and I’m not as grumpy to be around as I was.

It’s quite complex being transgender and taking the necessary hormones to transition does affect you in many ways some good some not too good. My blood pressure went through the roof as they say so I now have to take meds to control it. This is a side-effect of the hormones I take every day, I have a dislike of needles so getting my 3 month jab of Prostrap 3 (leuprorelin acetate) takes me a day or so to get ready for it. Its something I have suffered with all my life and despite being told it will become second nature and it will be nothing to worry about I still nearly faint/ pass out every time.

Christmas is just around the corner and the shops are full of shoppers spending and spending on items to make them and others happy on the big day, they can never match the happiness I feel every morning knowing I am doing something positive and life changing.

My laser hair removal has sort of worked but on my face its less than I had hoped for with quite a few hairs continuing to be a visible reminder each morning. the process has worked better on less visible areas like my chest and back. I guess it will have to be electrolysis hair removal for the rest, I hear it's much more painful than the laser, but needs must, there is a useful web page http://www.electrolysis.co.uk/faqs/  if any body need further information on the process etc.

I have an upcoming appointment at my GIC so I will see what's next on the long list of boxes that need ticking... fast it is not, easy it is not, and cheap it is not.. but worth it yes.

I suffered my first hate crime by two "dick heads" shouting abuse at me in a shop, I avoided raising to the abuse and simply went on line the next day when I had calmed down and reported it. I was thinking of reasons why I should report it as in the past I would have stood my ground and had a fight. 
But hate crimes and incidents hurt; they can be confusing and very frightening. By reporting them when they happen to you, you may be able to prevent these incidents from happening to someone else. 
You also help the local police understand the extent of the hate crime in your local area so they can better respond to it.
Reporting makes a difference, to you your friends and your life.

A transphobic hate crime is:

“Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.”

Head over to http://report-it.org.uk/home and check out the website. 
a quick link to the reporting page is here http://www.report-it.org.uk/your_police_force

I expected some harassment in a small working class town in the North of England. However I'm still happy and on course despite the two low life's, who had a pop at me. I have the UK law The Criminal Justice Act 2003 section 146 to help in putting these people away for their actions.

CFS update

Sorry for the lack of posting on the blog but the ravages of CFS /ME had me in their deadly grip on a 5+ week relapse, so life just stopped for me. Asleep most of the days and nights and in pain when I was awake, it did not inspire me to do much on the blog as I didn’t want to make pages full of my CFS when being transgender and transitioning is the main focus of the blog.

 

 

Gender Identity Clinic’s UK first appointment.

 



Your first appointment will normally be an hour and you will be doing a lot of talking. You will talk about how you feel about your gender and your body, about what you want out of transition, what you expect to happen and when - there are no wrong answers.

It’s just to prep you for the process ahead. You will talk about your transition so far, so if you have officially changed your name amended your driver’s licence passport informed work or made any other efforts toward transition, then take all the evidence you can to support your case. I found it useful to write an open letter detailing from early years to present day, showing feeling and events that confirmed how I felt and whom I should be.

There is quite a bit differences between the FtM and the MtF pathways, so I cannot really explain from first hand experance at how it might go if you're FtM.

But the common areas will be you will need to be booked in for blood tests and a psych evaluation, and then sent another appointment for about 3 to 6 months’ time. I travel to my clinic, which is 135 miles each way by road. I get all my blood tests done in my own surgery practice and send the results back to the GIC, or I will perhaps take them with me on the next appointment at the GIC.

Your experience will vary depending on your needs, everybody is different and your disposition, where you are in the whole process and the outcome you wish to receive is taken into account.

The treatment you will get does make a big difference to your pathway. If you are after hormones and hormone blockers, (FtM people may be more hoops to jump through I don’t know.) However, everybody has to undergo about 2 years real life experience (RLE), and possibly additional requirements to fulfil for longer if the GIC thinks you need it.

To the best of my knowledge, the pathway is nothing like clear-cut, I have read many conflicting recollections from people and each experience differs to the next.

It used to be that clinics were reluctant to prescribe/refer people if there were not clearly identified 'gendered' outcomes to aim for; this was due to the irreversible effects from the treatment. People who go into the process without a clear picture of what their desired outcomes are, tend to bounce around the system for much longer. So from your first appointment have a clear understanding what you want from the appointments and the GIC.

 

Is surgery on your list? If so, have a clear understanding what is involved and how you go about it. The GIC’s like everybody to be 100% sure before and medical assistance is offered they have targets you need to meet or hoops the gatekeeper’s demand you full fill. In fact, they like us to be really really sure, before any medical/surgical intervention. The surgeons will have additional waiting lists for the operations, so if you are requiring full surgery make sure you are within the agreed BMI range the surgeon needs you to be within it is for your own benefit. (Just search prolapse womb on google) Not nice… and being above your BMI raises the risks significantly.  

Another question many others and I asked is what to wear?

There is no set dress code as I can see, but they do expect you to be “fully” expressing your chosen gender as soon as possible. So being male to female I always made sure I’m dressed correctly for a female, either smart wear or casual, but I always have to feel comfortable and at ease first in whatever I have chosen to wear. Don’t worry too much was a comment I got and be yourself… I took they were referring the new female me and not the old male me! The GIC’s generally expect you to be full time living in the chosen gender within 12 months (or sooner) of your first appointment at the GIC.

Don’t self-administer medication and buy from the internet, the GIC’s really frown on such activities as the medication is unknown and unmonitored and you can damage your body which in turn will then take you longer to achieve the results you were after. Hormones do so much to your whole body so wait as the GIC’s request you do, when they are happy to prescribe hormones and blockers they will. It’s like changing a Mini to a Rolls Royce both are cars but totally different in every way so is the male and female bodies, you would expect a DIY’er  to do the work nor do the GIC’s so don’t mess…

 

 

Have a look at this NHS page for official info from the NHS.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Gender-dysphoria/Pages/Treatment.aspx

 

Where do you get your eggs?

Now there's a question...

 

This has nothing to do with transgender but has everything to do with doing the right thing in life and being accountable for your actions.

So please read on.

 

I was busy shopping the other day, stopped at the isle with the eggs neatly stacked on the shelves, and thought about the choice on offer and importantly the price of eggs. Why are some so expensive compared to others on the shelves, a chicken egg is just a egg after all isn't it.

So I purchased our normal box of eggs and carried on shopping which is what 99% of us do every time we go shopping I guess. Only this time when I got home I started investigating the price difference and to my shock and horror discovered the multiple ways egg laying chickens are kept so let me explain further just in case like my you didn't fully understand the farming process for eggs.

Most commercial hens for laying can start to lay at 18 to 21 weeks old the commercial producers will keep the birds generally for no longer, than a little over 51 weeks, they then go for slaughter. A very short life for them, if they lived this life as perhaps we thought they did it would be a shame at least however, the majority of egg buying people don’t have any idea of the type of conditions the chickens live in.

The photo below is how caged bird spend the short life, not as you might of expected is it?

 

This is how caged battery hens have to live in some countries still…

In 1999 the EU agreed a Directive on Laying Hens (1999/74/EC) that resulted in the banning of the most inhumane of these systems, the barren battery cage. Producers were given a 12-year phase-out period, bringing the ban into effect on 1 January 2012.

In 2015, Compassion in farming’s Investigation Unit visited farms in four European countries to see what the impact of the barren battery cage ban meant for Europe’s hens, almost 60% of which continue to live in so-called ‘enriched’ cages. What they found were hidden factory farms where productivity rules the roost.  https://youtu.be/q_1omgiUWko

‘Enriched’ cages, whilst an improvement on the old barren cages, still do not permit Europe’s hens to carry out their natural behaviours’.

After all, a cage is still a cage.

 

 

 

The birds in the photographs above have no real space and nowhere to hide they are at times being pecked to near death by other chickens its hot and smelly and very noisy in these buildings.
The current law allows them to have a minimum of 9”x7” approx. for each chicken, it’s the size of an iPad not much is it, and as the farmer need to make a profit to keep in business I'm sure the bird's will get just enough to be within the legal requirements and no more.

I found out many chicken barn houses in the UK are a single level part-litter, part-slatted floor. In this system, the EU Welfare of Laying Hens Directive allows a maximum stocking density of 9 hens per square meter. (that's 9 fully grown chickens in one meter x one meter) The UK's Lion Quality Code of Practice stipulates that there is a maximum colony size of 6,000 birds that's not much space for the birds to live in 24/7. The heat inside and the smell of places like this takes your breath away when you enter the building, these poor birds are forced to live out their short life in such conditions is so wrong.

The hen house conditions for organic hens in the UK are set by the EU Organic Regulations and stipulate a maximum stocking density of 6 hens per square meter of useable area and a maximum flock size of 3,000 birds which is much better for the birds.  Hens must be provided with nest boxes.  Adequate perches, providing 18 centimeters of perch per hen, must also be provided.  Litter must be provided, accounting for one-third of the ground surface - this is used for scratching and dust bathing. So organically kept hens have a better but perhaps still not ideal living area, than the poor birds kept in the other "approved" methods of production farming eggs.

Additional requirements of the UK Lion code for Organic Egg production

The higher standards governing flocks producing British Lion organic eggs include the provision of outdoor shading, additional height and width of pop holes, open for 8 hours daily to allow access to the outside; and a maximum range area stocking density of up to 2,000 birds per hectare. 

If you need to buy eggs these are perhaps the best available form supermarkets and shops, buying organic really does make a difference to the hens operating under this system as public demand will change the way egg farms operate so please avoid the cheap eggs they are cheap for a reason and when you look into it the reason is not at all nice.

 

Upon finding all of this, I decided to rescue a few birds and have them in the garden at home, several hen charities in the UK arranges to collect the birds from the egg farms, before they are sent to slaughter.

The general public who express an interest in saving some, can collect the hens on a given day from a charity point most areas in the UK.  Sadly most of the rescue hens look almost “oven ready” when you pick them up which is very sad, but with some love and care the birds generally recover and soon begin to grow new feathers and look like a chicken should.

The egg producing farms tend to withdraw feed before they are disposed of, so rehydration and famine relief is required most of the times when you collect your ex-batt hens. Mine started to lay eggs after settling in, which was about 4 days. However, it's close to autumn time and chickens tend to go into an egg laying rest period during the winter months, unless stimulated by artificial heat and light. Ex Battery hens need this rest period and will continue to lay good quality eggs for many years but not as prolific as they once did in their prime.

I have a simple wooden coop and a wire enclosure for them to walkabout in, scratch for food as well as looking for the additional treats I leave them, (meal worms, corn and maze) as well as a large open area for them that is now protected by specialist electric chicken netting to keep foxes and the alike away from the hens. The ex-battery hens will lay for perhaps a further 4+ years and will enjoy retirement in the garden and bring the family great joy.

If you have any garden space that you think is suitable please investigate to see if you can rehome a couple of birds. Your partner and friends as well as children and grandkids all love to see the birds and really enjoy collecting the eggs when they are in lay.

The chickens will eat layers pellets or mash as well as garden worms, slug and snails also most garden weeds you have and they love to trim the lawn, aerating the grass as they scratch for the food. (The manure they produce is good fertilizer for the veg plot and borders as well!)

If you are a “prepper or survivalist” it’s good to keep chickens

If you care, where your food comes from, it’s good to keep chickens

If you want to live the “good life” it’s good to keep chickens

 

If you are happy with productive pet's it's good to keep chickens

I could list thousands of reasons to keep chickens and why it is important to me to keep chickens and rehome ex-battery hens but I will leave it to you to decide if you have had enough of the visible cruelty to animals in the food that you buy to do something about it.

(If you don't keep egg laying chickens at home and you buy eggs in the UK always avoid eggs laid in barren battery cages. To do this look for the British Lion mark on eggs and egg packs, which guarantees that the eggs are both legal and produced to slightly higher animal welfare and food safety standards.)

This is Ginger in the garden having a quick cuddle from my daughter.

Ginger is one of the ex-batt hen's we rescued in Aug 2016 

 

 

 

 

 

Having a ball...

Enjoying summer in the UK... It's always different every day, other countries can more or less guarantee their summer weather, but not hear in the UK my Dad would often say as I was flying through the door, take a coat with you... if it's raining please yourself, it still makes me smile as I tell my children the same thing and they reply in a similar way that I did haha.

We are just not set up for anything above the mid to late 20's centigrade every year we wish for a dry hot summer and as soon as it arrives we wish for cooler weather. What I wasn't ready for was the difference I found this year with my hair extensions on my head! Would you put a tight fitting woolly hat on in 30'c+ heat? Well with a full head weave you have just that going on 24/7. There is nothing you can do during the day, and certainly nothing you can do when you try to sleep. Shopping in a large store with air conditioning really helps for a short time since we don't have air con at home that's the only time during a heatwave I feel normal again, well if scouting the store for the cool breeze is normal😜.
On saying that I do love my hair extensions and I'm very happy with my hair length and style even this unseasonably hot Brittish weather, I guess I'm having a ball as Nicola.