I thought it could of been my diet, so i decided to change it (bad idea). I started eating lots of fruit, wholemead bread and realized I was going to the toilet even more!! For some reason i did not tell anyone, i left it for a few months then people at work would comment about my weight, saying i looked like i had lost alot. They was right, I’d lost a whole stone in one week. I was getting extremely weak, but yet i still chose to ignore it and carry on working (big mistake). My mum was very concerned and i started to throw up so she rung an ambulance and the lady was very rude and told me to stop tensing my stomach (which i clearly wasn’t) whilst she felt it and tried to tell me i was pregnant. I was then rushed into A&E and they told me i was ver y dehydrated and immediately gave me a bag of fluid through a drip, i was given 5 of those, i was then sent home…still running for the toilet and loosing loads of blood, the whole toilet was filled with it. I was then booked in for a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis on the 21st November 2009. I was given Mesalazine tablets to take, 6 a day…they worked for 2 weeks then i was back to square one. They started to irritate my bowels, by this point it seemed to get worse and i had lost so much blood now it was impossible to stand up, my vision was blurry and every time someone spoke to me, it would go through one ear and out the other, i was just laying there, useless. They told me i had lost half of my blood and if i had lost any more that would of been it. as i was rushed back into hospital to get my bed that they had ready for me, the nurse told me there was a miss understanding on the phone and there was no bed for me, but thankfully a lovely nurse from another department of t he hospital saw i was in desperate need and took me in herself.I was then given 3 bags of blood, and the drip kept clotting which then they had to pump some liquid through my veins which was very painful, but i was just happy i had my blood and some energy back, i was then given steroids to take…they worked wonders, i put on tons of weight and i felt fantastic!!!when it was time for me to come off of the steroids, things were ok…but i started to get a little more tired quickly and was loosing my appetite. I was then given a new tablet before my 18th birthday called Mercaptopurine, a very small pill but made me very very sick. this is when i thought enough was enough, i couldn’t care less what would happen to me and to be completely honest i just wanted to die, the pain was unbearable. Without telling anyone, i decided to come off all of my tablets (i have been off of them for almost a year now) and i feel brilliant!!! I told my consultant, she told me i would have flare ups and what not, which is obvious as i have had a couple, but its all about watching what i eat and that’s how i control it. I know what agrees with my bowels and what doesn’t. I’m glad that I made that decision, i’m working part time and enjoying life!!! I now do believe in miracles.

Stay positive, there is definitely a light at the end of every tunnel x

-Samiya

Samiya’s story is now entered into the 2011 Ulcerative Colitis Writing Contest!!! You can Join too, click here for details