Hey everyone, I’m Alexa! I’m new to this group and wanted to share my story :) And warning, this might be kinda long! I’m 20 years old and have been diagnosed with UC for a little over a year now. Before being diagnosed, I was a freshman in college, just began a new relationship with my current bf, and was loving the way my life was going! In January of 2018 I woke up with some pretty major diarrhea, but had also just began my period and thought whatever a lot of women have diarrhea on their period. I felt really under the weather but pushed it off like I had some sort of stomach bug. 5 days later I was still having some nasty bloody diarrhea. Finally decided to go to the ER to figure out what was going on. I went to the ER at least 4 days in a row with no luck of figuring out what was wrong. The first doctor I had literally said “Have you ever heard of Imodium? You should take that”. I began vomiting the next morning. Everything made me feel nauseous. Smells especially 🤢 Finally had a colonoscopy at the age of 19 that gave an official diagnosis. Moderate UC. Began taking meds but was still no better. Getting worse at that point. Found out I was allergic to the meds they gave me. Was hospitalized because of my low K+ counts. Was anemic at that point as well. I thought after that hospital visit that I’d be better. Boy was I wrong. A little over a month later I was back into a different ER and hospital. (I’m from MN and very lucky to live near the Mayo Clinic). Hospitalized again for 5 days, multiple colonoscopies(which showed that I had severe UC), and hyperbaric chamber therapy for a study I decided to join. Before my hospitalization, I met an amazing doctor at Mayo Clinic that I give all my credit to for literally saving my life. He put my on a miracle drug called Remicade after my hospitalization. I haven’t even scratched the surface on how difficult of a time this was on everyone and everything in my life and I’ve left out some pretty gross, sad details. I thank God everyday for helping me get through that time. I dropped out of school, lost over 20 lbs in two weeks, and began to become depressed due to my chronic illness. But I survived and now I’m back in college going for two different degrees, working out, and trying to love me and my body again. If you made it to the end, thanks for reading this. I’ve never shared this story to anyone but close family and friends due to the sorta graphic gross content. I would love to hear your stories too! Share them in the comments so we can all support each other ❤️😊

This is a picture of me during my recovery. And one of the first times that I had felt beautiful in over 6 months. I look pretty thin in the face because of the major weight loss, but trust me, I’ve gained it all back and maybe a little extra 😅 But I’d much rather be a little extra chunky than be in the place I was in 😌