Control with diet

[bootless48]

My name is Ron. I am 65 and have had Crohn's since I was about 28. I have had 4 surgeries. The first was exploratory, the second was to remove a fistula that traversed from the sigmoid colon to the ileo-secal area. The third and fourth were to repair the two surgical sites from the second surgery.
About 8 or 10 years ago my doctor put me on two drugs which I took faithfully. One was a generic immune suppressant and the other was Pentasa. My condition continued to worsen for 4-5 yrs. At some point I became aware that the Pentasa seemed to be making my symptoms worse. When I stopped taking it, my diarhea and cramps eased up.
I then put myself on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. The diet worked well for me. All my bowel movements were good, my cramping went away and all heartburn gradually disappeared. The diet is not easy, but being sick all the time is not easy either. I do not get too fancy, but keep it as simple as possible. I eat very well, just not much carbohydrate. I followed the diet religiously for a solid year and could feel myself healing from the inside.
The diet is a tool to heal the gut and subscribes to the theory that the inflammation in one's gut is caused not by auto immune action, but by toxins produced by colonic bacteria in the small bowel. You feed them every time you eat sugars and starches with an impaired gut.
Go to breakingtheviciouscycle.info and/or read the book: "Breaking the Vicious Cycle". Your doctor will not tell you about this. It is very hard to do, but it may work as well for you as it did for me. Read the theory and see if it matches your experiences. Lay off the sugars and starches.

 

[nogutsnoglory]

Thanks for sharing your story and congratulations on your renewed health. We have an SCD forum here http://www.crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=288 and many have tried or currently follow the diet with differing degrees of success. Glad it has worked for you.

 

[Jennifer]

Hi bootless48 and welcome to the forum! Thank you for sharing your success story with us.

As mentioned we do have a section on the forum for SCD. Do you continue to see your GI to make sure that the inflammation is gone by doing regular testing (or do you plan to)? Hope your success continues, keep us posted.

 

[JasonatFollowMeg]

Ron, wow, excellent that you are achieving success through diet. My wife has Crohn's, yet it's a relatively mild cause. She hasn't needed any surgeries, anyway. She learned to change her diet completely and lives, mostly, medication free. I now view all foods through the filter of: "is this safe for Megan?" Soon we are going to do a digestive cleanse series. Specifically, we will be targeting the bad bacteria like you are talking about. If you are interested in how it goes, then let me know, and I'll keep you updated. I'll definitely get the book you suggested. I want to help my wife in any way I can.

 

[followmeg]

:applause: Ron, I am so glad you've found success in changing your eating habits and finding out what works for you and what makes things worse. I have been very fortunate to have been diagnosed so early. I'm totally with you in that changing your diet isn't easy, especially when it comes to your favorite foods. :chef: I love to eat, so that is especially hard for me, but my Crohn's is also helping me realize the importance of health. Through battling not getting to eat what I want, I have found ways to substitute unhealthy, more processed ingredients for healthier ones and made Crohn's friendly recipes of healthy versions of my old favorites. :dance: Happy dance. It's great. I'll have to get a hold of that book. I'm always looking for more information about how to beat Crohn's disease at it's own game. Thanks Ron.

 

[NatashaChampion]

Im glad to here a success story that has come out of being able to change your diet and not through constant medication. I am only 19, and the thought of having to change the way I eat scares me a bit but feel like it will probably make the most difference for me!
Definitely going to look in to that book!
Thank you for the confidence boost, it was needed

 

[mnsun]

Jasonatfollowmeg, please do fill us in on the basics of what you are doing--maybe in another thread? I also have managed my issues without meds, except LDN for the past couple years, through diet mainly for 8 years. Click a couple pages into the SuccessStories if you care to read through my ramblings under the thread MY Supps for MY Dis-ease.

I definitely subscribe to the ideas surrounding starving (via diet), crowding (probiotics), or cleansing (Sonnes #7 clay or zeolites every so often) out pathogenic (myco-bacterium or plasma?) bacteria. Additionally, I rely on a few grams of actual omega 3s, enterically delivered, in attempts to keep localized inflammation at bay. SI joint pain is the main symptom I've struggled to manage naturally, but I may be close to resolving.

Lately I've been taking zeoforce zeolites, 1 cap a day, and nascent iodine in a glycerin base which has substantially lowered my dependence on quality probiotics (previously 1-3 a day, at least a few billion per cap, usually mixed strains--for 6+ years). Now I might not NEED any, but I'll still take one for all the other preventative/neuro benefits. Not sure if its one, the other, or both, but zeolites are like adsorbant anti-pathogenic cleansers while the iodine probably kills off bad bacteria--the question is whether this gets absorbed way further up the digestive tract (like in the throat, near thyroid) before killing off both good and bad bacteria indiscriminately. I don't eat within an hour of taking these, first thing in the morning.

Concerning digestive "cleanses", I would advise against anything with large amounts of fiber for any extended period of time. If you have even a slightly narrowed tract, this could cause blockages (slight to major, depending on individual stricturing) which are painful once passing--or may even cause hospitalization. I would closely monitor bowel movements and make sure to very slowly increase such "cleanse" dosages every other day to make sure movements aren't skipped. That being said, it just takes common sense and close monitoring for there are definite benefits if done in tolerable dosages every month for a couple days.

 

[JasonatFollowMeg]

mnsun, what a thorough an excellent response, thank you! I'm aware we need to take it easy on the fiber. You've offered many great ideas for me to consider. In some ways I want to keeps things simplified. Basically, my wife, who has Crohn's and is a blogger, and I want to create a road-map that others could follow. Because of Megan's Crohn's, I also eat better. I think we have learned something valuable for everyone, even those without IBD. I'm still in my research phase and I would greatly appreciate any additional thoughts you have. I will try to chase down some of your other threads, perhaps you could link some of your highlights?

 

[HealthyLady]

Hi, I healed myself of Crohn's disease after suffering for 10 years. I was really ill and had bowel incontinence, the works! I bought an amazing book called Tummy Love from Amazon and it just opened my eyes to how much I was contributing to the problem. I decided to take responsibility for my own health and started living an anti inflammatory lifestyle as outlined in the book. I saw an improvement within days. I am not just controlling my symptoms because tests have confirmed that I have no inflammation in my digestive tract at all now! I never gave up hope and looking for answers and I am so glad I found this book because it gave me all the info I needed to heal. I now have my life back and I am passionate about sharing this knowledge and helping people access the truth about this disease. Take care everyone and good luck with your healing. Stephanie x

 

[chuckmya]

Anybody tried the low FODMAP diet?? I hear it works wonders for crohns!!

 

[bootless48]

Hi everyone, I am Ron and I posted about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. This diet is designed to starve out colonic bacteria that have migrated from the colon and are causing havoc in the other parts of the digestive tract. If the diet is followed to the letter, these bacteria can be largely eliminated from the places that they are not meant to inhabit. These bad bacteria eat sugars and starches and produce toxins that cause inflammation in the gut and also get into the blood stream, causing other health problems, including mental. I was always plagued by extreme black moods until I went on this diet.
Since the diet restricts most sugars and starches, it eliminates these bad bacteria by starving them out. The diet looks daunting, but I have found that it is better for me to eat simply, i.e., meats, veggies, cheese, legal yughurt, honey, etc., than to go to the trouble of making the nut flour recipes, etc. in the book. My gut is healing and as long as I don't stray far from the diet's principles, I have no symptoms.
Has anyone else had success with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet? The name of the book is Breaking the Vicious Cycle, The website is breakingtheviciouscycle.info. Thanks taking time to read this, Ron.

 

[Forristicat]

Hi Ron, thanks for your input. I have started the diet today, I will see how I go.

Question- did you get a colonoscopy/blood test to verify that your inflammation was going down as well?