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Patients Ulcerative colitis
Smoking: does it help or hurt UC?
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Courtney_J
Community managerGood advisor
@pancake Hello pancake, thank you for starting this discussion. Let me tag some member who can maybe weigh in on this topic.
Hello everyone, how are you today? Have you heard anything about the impact of cigarette smoking on ulcerative colitis? Does it help it or hurt it? Are you a current or former smoker yourself? Feel free to share your thoughts with us here!
@Teddysmum @Fahima44 @kentishmagic @Stonenessa @MariaannT @JC1969 @Paingoaway @Dawn6791 @MariaannT @JC1969 @Paingoaway @Dawn6791 @Caro62 @AlisonFox @Karen. @Svetik @keithjohn @Marnie64
Take care,
Courtney
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Courtney_J, Community Manager, Carenity UK
MariaannT
Hey @Courtney_J I’m a current smoker I find that I do get pain whilst smoking but on the other hand it does help me go to toliet sometimes. I’m just on the end of another flare up (3rd one in 2 months) and at the moment it isn’t helping😫
JC1969
Good advisor
@Courtney_J I was a smoker when I was younger & within a few months of packing in, I was diagnosed with UC. My gp at the time commented that there was an (unsubstantiated) article in the Lancet that there were suggestions that nicotine could keep uc symptoms at bay. He was not suggesting I smoke again it was more of a fly away comment.
pancake
Good advisor
@MariaannT Yes, I smoke too and I hadn't thought it about it really, and then when we were talking my friend showed me a few articles and it said that can help with symptoms, and once people quit it launches them into a flare up. Doesn't really help motivate me to quit!
cactus
Good advisor
@JC1969 @pancake @MariaannT Wow this is so very interesting to me. I think at one point my GP mentioned to me too that research was showing that the reverse was true for Crohn's. That it really irritates it and can even make one more likely to develop it.
Caro62
@Courtney_J I started displaying symptoms of UC 1 month after giving up smoking. Maybe coincidental I dont know.
I was 56 at the time and had smoked for most of my life.
Caroline x
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Caroline
MariaannT
@pancake yeh I have read that to! I wanted to give up but if it will cause another flare up I think I’ll carry on 😅 I stopped last year when I was pregnant and I had a flare up then ( didn’t have the dignoses then) so I just thought it was pregnancy but I guess it could be because I stopped because it was right at the beginning !
JC1969
Good advisor
@cactus I'm going back over 25 years ago. I struggle to remember my own age sometimes 🤦♀️ but distinctly remember this conversation.
Stonenessa
Yes when I gave up 8 years ago this is when my Crohns started doctor says that smoking underlined the problem
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Vanessa
JC1969
Good advisor
@Caro62 I was about 25, had smoked heavily since 16. So not a relatively long time but I had a huge flare up when I stopped.
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pancake
Good advisor
Hi, I was talking with a friend from my UC group on Facebook and she was telling me that quitting smoking can flare up UC and make it worse. Has anyone heard of this? Are any of you smokers?