Going Green with Ulcerative Colitis

Having ulcerative colitis affects every decision I make. When my family decided to become more environmentally friendly, there were some things that were easy to adjust to and others were more difficult. While I feel bad about the things that I cannot do to help the environment, I know that every little bit helps.

One of the main things that we do now to help the environment is walking or riding bikes to places that are close to home. As a result, we are healthier because of the extra exercise. Of course, during a flare up, this is not possible. During a flare up, driving is the better option simply because it is faster. Driving may not always be the best option but, it makes me feel better.

We have worked on conserving water. During a flare up, I still use a lot of water because I take sitz baths. I have stopped taking multiple full baths even during a flare up. I guess sitz baths are more environmentally friendly than regular baths since they use less water.

One major change that we have made is that we use toilet tissue made from recycled material. This has actually been a blessing because it is much softer than regular toilet tissue. Another plus to this is that I can wet it and wipe off without worrying about the toilet tissue tearing or breaking.

We eat a lot of organic vegetables. During a flare up, I usually have to pass these up since some of them make a flare up worse. Other organic foods, such as all natural meat, which is meat without antibiotics, seems to be easier on my digestive system.

One way that we have gone green that I did not think would affect my ulcerative colitis is changing to all natural cleaners. When you clean, you inhale some of the chemicals. These can enter your blood stream. Since I have been using all natural cleaners, such as baking soda, lemons and salt, when I do have a flare up, there is not as much blood in my stool as before.I asked my doctor about this and he thinks that is because I am not inhaling dangerous chemicals that affect my blood.

Overall, going green has been fairly easy despite my ulcerative colitis. Just as with every other aspect of life with ulcerative colitis, going green is possible if you think outside of the box and decide what you are willing to accept as fact and what you aren't. Almost anything is possible as long as you are willing to compromise.