Joelle- 1 Colitis- 0

Hello!!

It's 2017 and life has been pretty crazy since I last posted....

I better get the best part out of the way first. --If you follow my Joelle's World Twitter account (@worldofjoelle) then you may already know this--

So this week I received the greatest news yet since being diagnosed with Ulcerative colitis in early 2015.

Even though i haven't touched a hospital-prescribed drug in over a year, my consultant at Basildon Hospital was kind enough to still want to have me as a patient so he could monitor my condition (and probably because he wanted to know how i got on with using alternative medicines!).

When i have a blood test every 6 months or so now, the consultant looks out for my CRP levels- I'm not sure what it stands for but basically means how much inflammation i have inside/how swollen my ulcers are.
Back when things were really bad, my record high reading of inflammation was 47. That was taken almost exactly 2 years ago this month when i was taken into hospital for a second time due to a reaction to the high dose of steroids causing eruption in my esophagus, this condition soon lead to another flare up and i was back in hospital and you know the rest....

So, 47 was my worst. On the screen i could see a table of all my past blood test with all my fluctuating CRP levels, gradually coming down as months went by (the months that correlated with when i started the Chinese herbs i should add) all the way to the latest reading from my recent blood test.

I looked at the reading and i couldn't believe my eyes. My stepdad, Andy had come with me (going back to that hospital always makes me anxious) and he leant forward, squinting his eyes as if he wasn't seeing correctly.
My jaw just jumped and i remember saying out loud "what does that say?", even i was doubting myself now.

One. It just said one.

I then quickly asked what the normal, healthy person's would say.

He just replied "a healthy person's would normally be 5 or below."

My eyes started going puffy and i thought i was about to burst into floods of tears. It was then that the penny dropped for both me and Andy that my body was telling the same story as my mind. I knew i had been better for months now, but i never had the scientific evidence to prove it.

Andy lent over the side of the chair and kissed me on the head and said "we did it, we won."

I still cant believe i can actually tell people and even tell myself that i am officially in remission now. Remission. Me. I never thought it would ever end. I thought i was going to be a weirdo that got tummy aches and ran to the loo for the rest of my life.

My body has been put back to its natural balance. Peace has been restored and the war between my colon and me has been abolished. Just like Dr. Mazin said it would.

The other amazing thing to now know is that if i ever have a flare up in my life, as i'm sure i will, i know my first point of call will be Avicenna and a course of herbs will sort me right out. No nasty drugs with a side effect list as long as my arm, no waiting for weeks just to get a reply from the nurses and no more times of agony, lying in a hospital corridor screaming just because i need a painkiller (aka. Morphine)

I've said it a million times on this blog now, I want my experiences to help others as i do believe in my heart that Ulcerative Colitis can be abolished at it's early stages just with a bit of positivity and open-mindedness. There are so many young people out there who i know are scared because they have just been diagnosed and they're being told they'll have it forever and will have to take 20+ tablets a day for the rest of their lives. It doesn't have to be that way for everyone.

If you would like to check out my YouTube channel I started here's the link! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxSRKgpd5lGSszxPPIxNTtg

Share this blog if you know someone who has Colitis, you never know who needs a little bit of optimism in their life.

Thank you for reading xxx