Curing Crohn's? Man says he found way to beat incurable disease

[Igor_Passau]

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/...ed:+foxnews/health+(Internal+-+Health+-+Text)

 

[AllisonLee]

I watched this today. Very inspiring! I treat my Crohn's holistically as well and it has made all the difference.

 

[Price]

The problem I have with these kinds of things is that he was taking massive amounts of pills beforehand, yet blames his remission on lifestyle choices. It's just not possible to tell which brought about the remission with something like this (although I'd be willing to bet it was the pills).

I just feel like this as an example of getting better through diet changes and exercise has no merit at all.

 

[kiny]

He should do stand-up.

 

[Beach]

Nice article. It is unfortunate that dietary ideas are not successful for all, but encouraging to read this piece, along with seeing the success some have in the diet/ exercise section on the sight.

Along similar lines, I read a positive story yesterday of a school teacher with UC. She was able to find relief, and stopped taking Remicade after following a wheat free diet.

"Ulcerative colitis tamed"

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2013/03/ulcerative-colitis-tamed/

 

[kiny]

It's an article to generate hits by Fox news, these articles are detrimental to people with crohn's disease I believe.

He is not cured, he is in 6 month remission. None of the things he claims have shown to help for crohn's disease.

He particularly heralds reduced stress as a factor in his cure. There was a recent study that showed that after an extremely stressful event in Japan, the tsunami where so many people died, 357 people with crohn's disease had no change in their Harvey-Bradshaw index. http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=47436

Now you're going to have a number of people with crohn's disease copying him, taking cat's claw, doing yoga, garlic and krill oil thinking they're going to get cured.

There is a reason they do controlled double blind studies, it's to filter out the voice of people like him and snake-oil salesmen. If you give a voice to him and his doctor you increase the amount of noise, the goal should be to reduce and filter out the noise, by well documented trials, by peer review and self-criticism. This forum needs to act as a filter too, people have suffered enough that they don't deserve this.

 

[Guest2383]

Whenever I see something like this , I tend to be a little cynical . You can almost guarantee that the individual featured is promoting a book, product or whatever. Quitting smoking , no doubt would have helped, but I wonder whether ALL the foods he can eat includes 'Iceberg Lettuce'!!

 

[Sarah50]

Just a comment..... I quit smoking 2 years ago last fall. This past fall I was diagnosed with Crohn's. I know smoking can really aggravate Crohn's but not smoking obviously isn't a cure either.

 

[mnsun]

This is a curious article. I have a mix of emotions ranging from all the above posts, which are all valid in my opinion.

Firstly, this is Fox (mainstream, yet controversial) and of course there is a financial interest involved (his book/site). Secondly, the word "cure"--obviously salacious and definitely not warranted for the undisclosed amount of time off drugs, but definitely no more than 5 years. Thirdly, to say food/exercise/stress mgmt have no merit is absurd for anyone in any state of health or lack thereof. Fourthly, supplements wildly range in potency, effectiveness, impurities, purported benefits... Fifthly, everyone here can say there is not a satisfactory drug on the market to handle Crohn's effectively as the side effects are just as real as the benefits and the price tags.

Anyone can include most of the elements of "alternative therapy" with complementary pharmaceuticals or without, to your own degree of fanaticism or diligent adherence or not. Overall, the article equally does great disservice to the alternatives mentioned while at least putting the idea out there as a brief interruption to the continual push of Humira commercials constantly streaming on the television, sometimes commercial break after commercial break (in the states, you know what I'm saying). I think everyone has to decide for themselves, but this article is ridiculous.

 

[T.A.R.D.I.S.girl]

Every time I hear foxnews my fur bristles. And considering how much each of us wants a cure for crohns, it's irresponsible for people to throw the term around so loosely. I'm happy for anyone who is finding relief, but the only difference between him and anyone else in remission, is he has a damn good P.R. Rep! LoL

 

[wild_one353]

interesting article, but not science worthy document by any means. who knows why he is doing better, although they did mention cat's claw, and that wouldnt be the first positive testimony i had read that mentioned cat's claw supplement helping crohn's.

smoking has been linked to the suppression of some butyrate producing bacteria, which make up 60-80% of the bacteria that adhere to the intestinal wall. butyrate producing bacteria have been found to be "missing" in ibd patients. this is one way smoking may be a risk factor for developing crohn's disease.

combine heavy smoking with a low fiber, high sugar diet and you are encouraging many of the conditions that could lead to crohn's. fiber keep sthe good guys around, sugar brings the bad guys around, and smoking kills the good guys(bacteria).

 

[sid]

nothing new really...we already know reduced stress, diet and lifestyle changes help you get better and even achieve remission in some cases.

 

[kh216]

This is a joke for those of us who need biologic medicines. As a person who takes 6mp, the article makes me think. He writes that he began going off the medicines by eating as a vegan for 6 months. However, in the past, I have had two gastroenterologists tell me that I should not go vegetarian. I would love to know more about the biologics. Has anyone hear taken cat's claw or krill oil and found that they helped with symptoms or even with lessening or getting off medicines? The article does interview his doctor and the doctor does say that two-thirds of Crohn's patients end up needing medicines after a remission period.

 

[Ihurt]

I dont know, after reading the article I would say that probably the 6MP did help him go into remission. I also think that living a healthier lifestyle probably helps as well, especially maintaining his stress levels. Stress will make ANY disease worse, hell stress can kill a person. It was good that he quit smoking,I mean smoking is bad for anyone. But I honestly do not think smoking has anything to do with whether a person gets crohns or not. There are just Way too many people out there who smoke and dont have crohns.. But smoking has it's own set of problems it causes. My mom died from lung cancer due to smoking, it is deadly for anyone.

I really think everyone with this disease is different. I mean diet may help keep some disease free. I mean not everyone with crohns needs medications. My sons friend is one of those people. He was diagnosed when he was 16. All he took was prednisone for a few weeks and I believe it was asacol(sp) for a few months. He has no insurance so he has not taken any meds in the last 4 years. He is doing well, has had no other issues so far as long as he watches his diet. Now of course that can change, nobody knows. They do not even know what causes crohns so doctors really cannot say much about what is going to work or what wont. I mean I myself would take whatever works to help me get better, whether it is diet or a medication. I mean if it works then stick with it.....

 

[DustyKat]

Stories about people with Crohn's Disease that are doing well with traditional treatments, as they say...'don't sell newspapers'...more's the pity.

 

[Ya noy]

At least the article did mention the possibility that his medication may have been responsible for helping him go into remission. Alternatively, it could have omitted any mention of the 6MP, along with his doctor's comments.

I am automatically skeptical though of claims made by anyone seeking to profit from their recovery.