Easing the Stress of Ulcerative Colitis for Families

If someone in your family has Ulcerative Colitis, prevention of flare-ups should be high on your list of family goals. The biggest contributors to tensions related to Ulcerative Colitis are managing diet, medical care, income expectations, rest and poor communication. To manage these well, honest communication is a requirement. No one wants to discuss bowel movements or hear someone gag. Yet, hiding difficulties ensures that they will continue and grow into worse problems.

Income Expectations

Many type A personality individuals push themselves beyond healthy limits in pursuit of their goals. Husbands and wives need to discuss how much income is necessary to their long term survival i.e. after the bills are paid, how much extra income is required to make life comfortable, and how the duties of wage earner and life style support are covered.

By the time my husband and I realized that the tax, hired help, and commuting consequences of us both working brought my wages down to 1/3 of my base salary, it seemed a logical step for me to stay home and follow my dream of writing. It eased my husband's last years of work before retirement because I was there to clean the house, cook the meals and buy the groceries etc. It eased my stress and my colon difficulties improved enormously. Our quality of life greatly improved.

Couples need to discuss the quality of their life as well as their income.

Medical Care

An insurance policy is very helpful because ulcerative colitis can be expensive. A colonoscopy runs $2000. A stay in the hospital to prevent colon rupture for three days is more. A course of antibiotics can run over $100 with insurance, much more without. Life decisions need to include how to pay for medical insurance.

Sometimes doctors will treat you like you're a hypochondriac. It's helpful for a spouse to go to doctor's appointments. Two people giving the same message has more impact. A spouse can also provide information that the patient is too nervous or embarrassed to mention.

Diet and Exercise