Background Story - Part 3

2025 – A New Beginning

When the December 2024 flare ended exactly on December 31, I took it as a symbolic sign that perhaps the new year would bring change.

Blood tests from that period showed elevated blood sugar, cholesterol, and creatinine levels. My doctor advised eliminating sugar and fried foods and starting daily walking.

On December 31 I enrolled in a 100-day walking challenge.

At the time my bowel movements were still erratic, often occurring three or four times a day. Initially the challenge was simply to walk 5k steps daily, but gradually I increased the distance every ten days until I was walking 12k steps regularly.

In mid-January my brother suggested post-meal walking to reduce sugar spikes. Since this could be done indoors, I felt comfortable doing it even on days when my stomach felt uncertain.

By May 1 my weight had dropped from 78.3 kg to 71 kg, and my blood markers had begun improving.

Life intervened again between mid-May and late June when I had to pause walking to care for a family member with health issues. But I restarted in June and gradually regained momentum.

By July I began running again after several years.

This time I decided to train with structure rather than simply running by feel. A hand-me-down  Garmin watch was a blessing in disguise. I followed a 10-kilometer training plan. I began the program hoping to finish a race in around 70 minutes.

On September 30 I completed the run in just under 63 minutes. For someone who once used to run 10kms in 55 minutes every month, till a few years back and then not going out of house for 3-4 years, I felt I was back in the game. 

Around the same time, my August 2025 colonoscopy results showed significant improvement.

During this period I also read a book called One Word That Will Change Your Life by Dan Britton and others. The book encourages choosing a single word that guides your focus for the year.

For the final months of 2025 I chose the word Consistency, although I struggled to fully live up to it.

Later in November, after reflection and re-reading the book, I chose a new word for the coming year:

Live.

By December my walking and running had become consistent again. I completed two long walks—20 km and 30 km—both at an average pace of about 6 km per hour.

For the first time since my diagnosis, I went through the entire year without a single flare.

That alone was a blessing.

More importantly, my mindset had begun to change. Through online support groups I met people dealing with far more severe forms of IBD. Seeing their resilience helped me shift my perspective.

I focused more on reading —something I had always loved—and by the end of 2025 I had completed 82 books for that year. My total movement for the year crossed 5.3 million steps through walking and running.

By the end of the year I had begun sketching a plan for the future.

A plan guided by one word:

Live.

I made up my mind to Live. Not just exist. 

First step was to get fit. And what better way than run. I started a 15 week half marathon training plan in December. 

Second, to keep the momentum going, planned to do a full marathon and a 50km walk to Mahabalipuram by end of 2026. This was to test both my fitness and my health condition to see if they can withstand the long journey that i had dreamed about during college: a walk across india.

The pilgrim’s walk may be beginning now, but the inner journey started 35 years ago. 

Welcome to my journey. I hope it  will be  fascinating for you as it will be for me - God willing. 

Background Story - Part 2

The early IBD Years

By early 2015 my weight had stabilized around 73–75 kg, which felt healthier than the very lean 63 kg I had reached earlier.

In late February and early March 2015 I began noticing blood during bowel movements along with increased frequency. Initially doctors suspected infection or piles, but when the symptoms continued, a colonoscopy was performed in April 2015 along with a biopsy.

That test confirmed Ulcerative Colitis. Thankfully, the biopsy returned “ negative “ for Cancer. 

Yes. Cancer.

I spent a sleepless week waiting for the biopsy results, fearing the worst. 

From that moment onward my life changed dramatically. For the first time in my life, I realized that health is not something we control completely. 

Someone who loved traveling, visiting temples, exploring historical places, and running, i suddenly had to deal with an unpredictable autoimmune condition. 

Between 2015 and around 2018 I experienced frequent flare-ups, often every six to eight months. Each flare would last four to six weeks. Over time my dosage gradually increased in an attempt to control the disease.

A short detour - what is a flare - thats when the inflammation peaks, which leads to bowel movements anywhere 5-8 times a day with blood and mucus. Anything i eat, would make me visit the toilet within 1.5 - 2 hours. Even drinking coffee. 

Around 2017 my gastroenterologist suggested consulting a Siddha specialist. For the next several years I followed a combination of allopathic and Siddha treatments. The frequency of flare-ups reduced slightly, occurring roughly once every 9 to 12 months.

However, the disease still had its difficult moments.

In 2018 I experienced one of the worst flares—nearly three months of bleeding and mucus. During that period I lost around eight kilograms in just eight weeks, and almost fifteen kilograms over several months.

My Siddha doctor then placed me on an extremely restrictive diet: four types of steamed gourd vegetables, moong dal, and curd. What was initially meant to last two or three months ended up continuing for almost a year. Gradually, through 2019 and into 2020, foods were reintroduced one at a time until my diet returned to something close to normal.

During the COVID years I stabilized around 65 kg and resumed walking and occasional running, despite getting affected with the virus and spending 17 days in isolation. Between 2020 and 2023 I remained reasonably disciplined whenever I was not in a flare.

But the uncertainty of the condition slowly began affecting me mentally.

A flare in 2023 triggered a period of mild depression. My bowel movements became erratic and unpredictable, and I began to fear leaving the house. Gradually my physical activity declined, and by mid-2023 I had stopped exercising altogether.

Weight began to increase again.

Then came another turning point. As they say, life happened. 

In April 2024 a severe flare forced me to seek a second opinion. A new gastroenterologist performed another colonoscopy and re-evaluated my condition. The diagnosis was revised from ulcerative colitis affecting the colon to proctitis, meaning inflammation limited to the rectum.

This led to change in treatment protocols.

For several months things improved. The medication dosage was reduced. But another flare appeared in December 2024 and lasted until the very last day of the year.

Somehow, I felt that when the bleeding stopped on 31st December it was a sign of better things to come. 

May be, God had better things in store for me. 

Background Story – Part 1

For more than a decade and a half,  I worked in the technology sector. Like many in that field, my life revolved around long hours—often 10 to 14 hours a day. Stressful deadlines, irregular eating, junk food, and no exercise. It was a typical technology professional’s lifestyle.

The first signs that something was wrong appeared around 2007 when I began experiencing persistent lower back pain. Sometimes the pain was sharp and radiated down my legs. Over the next three to four years I visited multiple doctors, went through X-rays, physiotherapy sessions, and various treatments. Most provided temporary relief, but nothing seemed permanent.

Around 2008–2009 I developed high blood pressure. Doctors advised exercise and dietary changes, but work pressure (an easy excuse) made it difficult to implement those suggestions consistently. By mid-2009 my blood pressure had reached 160/105, and I started medication.

By 2010 my weight had climbed to 86 kg. That same year a severe episode of back pain left me on bed rest for two weeks. An orthopedic doctor diagnosed disc degeneration of L5–S1. He warned that if the pain recurred at that level of severity, surgery was the final option. He even advised me against running—“not even to catch a bus,” as he put it.

That was the moment I began to realize that my health was steadily declining.

Around mid-2010 I made my first real effort to change course. I began exercising, reduced junk food, and started walking regularly. I also explored Ayurvedic treatment for my back pain.

In September 2011 I took a career break that lasted until March 2012. In hindsight, that break turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. It helped me focus on health, a new interest in photography and solo non-temple travel. By end of 2011, I had visited all 82 divyadesams (Vishnu temples in Tamil Nadu) wanted to travel outside of the temple circuit. 

Coming back, by mid-2012 I had lost about six kilograms. Daily walking helped stabilize my blood pressure, and I was able to stop my blood pressure medication. During this break I also underwent Ayurvedic massage therapy, which significantly improved my back pain—reducing it by nearly 90%.

These experiences changed the way I looked at life. I realized that life was a marathon and not a sprint, and I have to slow down. 

By mid-2012 I stepped away from full-time corporate work.

Over the next year I spent time traveling around Tamil Nadu, visiting temples and historical sites. Life had slowed down, and my health had improved considerably.

Then, in August 2013, circumstances shifted again. A close relative underwent surgery, and I stayed with them for few months to help during recovery.

What initially seemed like a pause in my life turned out to be another turning point.

During that period I focused even more on my health. In early 2014, at the age of 41, I started running for the first time in my life. And for pleasure. 

Over the following year I lost nearly 15 kilograms, going from 78 kg to around 63 kg. Running became a daily habit. Ironically, just three years after being told not to run at all, I was participating in 10-kilometer races. My personal best in first race was 60 minutes and 3 seconds.

Things seemed to be moving in the right direction. I started thinking of planning for my early adulthood dream - traveling all over india, especially north India 

Then, in April 2015, life threw a completely unexpected curveball.

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, an autoimmune disease under the Inflammatory Bowel Disease category. Unfortunately, there was no cure for it.