A MESSAGE FROM A 3 DAY CHALLENGE RECIPIENT

A MESSAGE FROM A 3 DAY CHALLENGE RECIPIENT

YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR PEOPLE WITH ULCERATIVE COLITIS; SALBA IS TRULY A GOD SEND!

In January of 2005, I experienced a slight belly ache. Within 3 days, I made a doctor's appointment as it was getting progressively worse.I saw my doctor the next day, but by that time it was nearly impossible to apply any pressure onto my belly and my bowel movements were mostly blood. This confused him as I was a healthy, fit, non-smoker ; with absolutely nothing in my medical history indicating abnormality. Six days later, an appointment was made for me to get a colonoscopy. By the seventh day of this pain, my wife had to rush me to emergency, where I was immediately admitted.
The first night was spent in relieving my pain & getting more comfortable. I was given a pic line so I could ingest food immediately, as I was losing weight very quickly. Holes in my colon were discovered the following day, through the aid of a CAT scan. That night my colon was removed. All of this occurred within 10 days of my initial discomfort.
This is where my life begins without a colon. I had lost 45 lbs and almost lost my life. Thankfully, I don't remember much about the dying part. I do remember being thankful. I had a iliostomy, because it enabled me to stay alive and live pain free. It is a huge lifestyle change and I learned a lot in the next three weeks that I spent in the hospital ; mostly what our colon does and why I had to have mine removed.
I recall two important moments in all of this; firstly when they informed me of the removal of my colon and secondly, when I found out it was ulcerative colitis that had attacked my colon.
With the notion of death looming over me, I didn't care about the mere loss of my colon. I was more intrigued with what ulcerative colitis was. What I discovered was shocking! It seems as though I got off really easy with the disease and that the symptoms were horrific.
Ulcerative colitis strikes kids first, then pokes its ugly face back in during the teenage years, and appears yet again in mid life.
For myself, it appeared only in mid life. I cannot imagine this pain being inflicted upon children., especially the bloody urination that could occur up to 20 times a day. This can last up to 5 years, in and out of remission.
Prednizone helps with the flare but it comes at the expense of extreme weight gain.
I am just touching the tip of the iceberg on the horrors of this disease. I am very fortunate and did not suffer as much as others have. I no longer have a colon/ulcerative colitis.
So what happened after that?!
There is a reconstructive surgery called a J pouch. In this procedure, 12 inches of your small intestine is used to make a pouch, which is then connected to your anus, allowing us to function without a bag on our side. It takes approximately 2 years to adapt to this new system, and while some recover, others continue to suffer.
As waste passes from the end of our elium and enters into our J-Pouch, it is extremely runny and acidic. Afterwards, this passes to the anus and is extremely painful. Eventually our small intestine will learn to act like our colon would; which is mainly to remove water & salt and to store waste.
However, our small intestine will never learn to remove salt, and the pouch is where we store our waste. Watery stool is a problem because it burns like acid, and is extremely painful. So the key in all of this is diet.
J-pouchers use the washrooms excessively, up to 12 times a day. It would be even excessively more than that if we ate the regular amount of food most people ate.
Therefore, we try to eat the best of foods, in turn allowing us to intake smaller amounts, which then leads to less waste. Unfortunately, J-pouchers have a difficult time passing gas and it can be extremely painful.
So great foods such as veggies and fruit become not so great, as they create gas and render an uncomfortable situation. So what we look for is a perfect food, one that will absorb water, not create acid, and most importantly, supply us with nutrients that our body requires in order to stay healthy and remain functional.
Until a few months ago, this food did not exist to us J-pouchers until I read about SALBA in a magazine called Life.
From the add, I requested a sample to try this so called perfect food.
THE VERDICT
It's perfect, simply perfect! I continue to get e-mails from people all over the world about this product I posted on the J-pouch site.
You have no idea what you have done for us; Salba is truly a god send. I can now enjoy a simple soup that I couldn't before. I have tons of energy even though my food passes through me in just 3 hours. I'm getting what I need and I don't require Immodium at all.
My entire family is using SALBA, as it is not only for J-pouchers, but for everyone.
This is my body and it is the most important tool I have and I have absolutely no intention of short changing myself.
I hope someone reads this and benefits from it.
As for the people from SALBA, thank you so much- you have no idea how much I thank you.

Matt Frillman
Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada