How Do You Manage Stress With UC?

Lesson #1 with ulcerative colitis: Stressing out about things in life you have no control over is a recipe for disaster. After a fight with his ex-girlfriend led to a massive flare, CJ Cabrera, an ambassador for Color of Crohn’s & Chronic Illness, vowed to cut stress out of his life for good.

I did a lot of journaling. I would write out my feelings. I would write love notes. I’d get so much information out of that, that I could use.

You can induce a flare, just through stress. There was one time it was my cousin’s birthday. Something happened towards the end of the night, my ex didn’t like. On the car ride home, she was complaining to me about it and I was like, Calm down. But I’d tried to keep my cool, because I knew if I stress out, my UC is going to hit. And then when we got home, my UC had enough and instantly straight to the bathroom. I felt like a razor was cutting through my intestines and I was just in the bathroom just like, Ahhh! After, like thirty to forty-five minutes, I got out of the bathroom. I was like, Look, that can never happen again.

Stressing out about things that we have no control over, cannot happen because it’s just going to make my UC worse. I knew that even if I was feeling horrible, as long as I had my mental health in check, I could keep going with it.

I want to consider myself a writer a little bit. I would write out my feelings. I would write love notes. I just like to write sometimes. And I found that when I would write it and I would read it, I’d get so much information out of that, that I could use. So I just kept with it.

So I’m gonna read a little section out of my journal real quick for y’all. I decided I was going to take control of my emotions this weeken and just feel them all/grieve them. Hit me hard. I was in a funk, but conscious of it. They didn’t let myself fall too hard, but I just wanted to feel something other than rage and hopelessness.

No matter how hard the road gets, remember, it gets worse before it gets better.