Posted by Nikhil Thirumalai on April 07, 2021
My name is Nikhil and I am 17 years old. I am currently a junior in high school, and I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in September 2016, when I was 12. One thing most of my friends don't know about me is that I absolutely love going to school. There is just something about learning new information that makes me feel great.
I started Remicade last September, and it seems to be working so far. One thing I have struggled with due to my colitis is playing sports. I love playing sports, and I was always the most active person around. One symptom of colitis that struck me pretty early was the tiredness. There were some days when I just felt like doing nothing, which had never been a common occurrence in my life. It was also shocking to see how quickly my physical fitness deteriorated in the beginning. But I soon realized that the only way to cope with this, was to stay active.
Although I have a heavy workload as a high school junior, plus all of the recent COVID restrictions, I have tried to get some form of exercise each and every day, whether it be biking, playing outside with my brother, or playing tennis. Watching sports has also helped me overcome my struggle with colitis. I have always been into sports, but my addiction to watching sports went to another level after I was diagnosed with colitis. Watching sports gave me something to take my mind off of whatever else may have been wrong, as well as a great source of positivity (It helped that the Warriors were dominating everyone at the time!).
I was attracted to ImproveCareNow because I do not personally know anyone with any form of IBD. Also, I have read many blogs by IBD patients, and while many of them talk about their experiences with IBD, I thought that it would be practical to blog about something that may help people cope with their IBD. As a vegetarian who has also tried various different diets, I decided that my niche would be to write about my experiences with different foods. I think the PAC provides the perfect opportunity to do this because there is already an audience who will be able to read what I write, so I can share my experiences with a larger group of people.