I have ulcerative colitis and my current UTMB doc is ready to move me to Humira, which is bringing in the big guns. I'd like a second opinion because I'd like to keep the drugs as minimal as possible. Recommendations for GI docs in the Houston area that deal with ulcerative colitis would appreciated.

This guy was able to diagnose my wife's issues when no one else did. Good guy also.

Dr Xavier

Dr. Brian Douglas - St. Lukes Tower. I'll warn you right up front the lady that runs his office is a no nonsense person. Terrible on the phone - short, to the point on everything but she runs a good efficient office, once you realize that's her motivation.

My mom swears by Dr. Kaur, Baylor

I use Dr. Peter Schwarz at Methodist, but you will likely have to wait two months for your appointment.

Dr. Schwarz

I was diagnosed with UC in December, and my doctor immediately wanted to start me on mesalazine, but after reading about side effects I didn't really want to go down that route.

I'm not a hippy whole earth kind of person AT ALL but I wanted to at least try a couple of things before jumping onto a medicine that makes you gain weight and your hair fall out. So after trying a few different things, I bought a bottle of probiotic that has bacillus coagulans (found it on Amazon). This is a spore-forming soil bacteria, and the literature on it is definitely spotty, at best. All I can say is that it improved my symptoms within 24 hours, and by day 3 I was pretty much symptom free. Since then I've read a few more sources suggesting that this probiotic can have a positive effect on your gut biome, basically outcompeting some of the harmful microorganisms that get in there.

Of course, every single person is different, and I certainly don't think this will be a magic bullet for everyone. But it sure as hell worked for me, and I would recommend giving it a shot. Apart from some occasional minor discomfort when I eat a lot of sugar, I haven't had any serious symptoms for the past 6 months.

Another thing that helped me a bit, before I tried the probiotic, was magnesium supplements. I know for sure that when my symptoms were the worst, I wasn't getting enough vitamin D. First of all, I basically got zero sunlight exposure over the winter, which is the main way your body produces vitamin D. Also, it turns out that your skin requires magnesium to produce vitamin D from sunlight exposure. Apparently lots of Americans are now magnesium deficient, partly due to our crappy diets, and partly due to a decrease in magnesium in grains and vegetables from increased crop yields. Anyway, there is plenty of literature out there showing that vitamin D is important for regulating immune response, so it would probably be worth checking out to see if you're deficient in vitamin D, magnesium, or both.

Good luck. UC sucks, and I really hope you find something that works for your case.

CDUB98 said:

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I use Dr. Peter Schwarz at Methodist, but you will likely have to wait two months for your appointment.

Dr. Schwarz

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Love Dr. Schwarz and highly recommend.

Thanks for the info. I pulled up some stuff via A&M's library (perks of being staff/grad student) and found some support for using probiotics to assist with UC remission.

MAROON said:

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Dr. Brian Douglas - St. Lukes Tower. I'll warn you right up front the lady that runs his office is a no nonsense person. Terrible on the phone - short, to the point on everything but she runs a good efficient office, once you realize that's her motivation.

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Thanks Got an appt for next Monday. She wasn't an issue, but I was ready with everything she would need.

Untimed Down said:

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CDUB98 said:

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I use Dr. Peter Schwarz at Methodist, but you will likely have to wait two months for your appointment.

Dr. Schwarz

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Love Dr. Schwarz and highly recommend.

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Third. One of the best in Houston.

Stasco said:

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I was diagnosed with UC in December, and my doctor immediately wanted to start me on mesalazine, but after reading about side effects I didn't really want to go down that route.

I'm not a hippy whole earth kind of person AT ALL but I wanted to at least try a couple of things before jumping onto a medicine that makes you gain weight and your hair fall out. So after trying a few different things, I bought a bottle of probiotic that has bacillus coagulans (found it on Amazon). This is a spore-forming soil bacteria, and the literature on it is definitely spotty, at best. All I can say is that it improved my symptoms within 24 hours, and by day 3 I was pretty much symptom free. Since then I've read a few more sources suggesting that this probiotic can have a positive effect on your gut biome, basically outcompeting some of the harmful microorganisms that get in there.

Of course, every single person is different, and I certainly don't think this will be a magic bullet for everyone. But it sure as hell worked for me, and I would recommend giving it a shot. Apart from some occasional minor discomfort when I eat a lot of sugar, I haven't had any serious symptoms for the past 6 months.

Another thing that helped me a bit, before I tried the probiotic, was magnesium supplements. I know for sure that when my symptoms were the worst, I wasn't getting enough vitamin D. First of all, I basically got zero sunlight exposure over the winter, which is the main way your body produces vitamin D. Also, it turns out that your skin requires magnesium to produce vitamin D from sunlight exposure. Apparently lots of Americans are now magnesium deficient, partly due to our crappy diets, and partly due to a decrease in magnesium in grains and vegetables from increased crop yields. Anyway, there is plenty of literature out there showing that vitamin D is important for regulating immune response, so it would probably be worth checking out to see if you're deficient in vitamin D, magnesium, or both.

Good luck. UC sucks, and I really hope you find something that works for your case.

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I'm glad I ran across this post. I don't have UC, but several issues with my digestive tract due to surgeries. I'm going to give this stuff a try. Thank you.