dietary change necessary?
I stumbled upon this website when looking for information about ulcerative colitis. Frankly, I have been surprised to see how little discussion there is about diet. (Have I just missed one of the threads?)
I was diagnosed with this in December of 2011 (on a scale of 1-10, I was at an 8 or 9), have lost 20 pounds since, and have been told by my GI doc that "we'll just have to see if it gets worse." He sent me home with asacol and told me to eat a low residue diet. When I looked up the low residue diet, I realized that things that were recommended tended to make me feel terrible in recent months. These were things that I already ate lots of--white bread, refined pasta, and milk.
Also, my GI doc had no ideas about why an otherwise healthy person would get colitis--I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I drink enough water. I exercise moderately. My diet was, compared to most I've seen, relatively healthy--although an attempt at being a vegetarian led me to eat lots of breads, pastas, and dairy. Which might have been part of why I got sick.
I felt like my GI doc was little more than a plumber who knew how to use the colonoscopy equipment. He had no satisfying answers. I had no patience and began my own research immediately.
When I stumbled upon sites that talked about diet, advice there made lots of sense. If I put something bad in my system, I'll get bad results.
I eliminated all sugar, gluten, dairy, and alcohol, caffeine. I started drinking lots of fresh green juice drinks. I discovered quinoa as a substitute for pasta. I learned about kale and chard, vegetables I had heard of but nobody I knew ate them. I started using coconut oil to cook with and have even taken to putting a teaspoon of it in mint tea twice a day. I started taking a high dose of probiotics twice a day. And I take the asacol religiously.
There's nothing fancy or even super expensive (except for the probiotics) about what I'm doing, but I'll admit it is a bit challenging to avoid all these things. But the amazing thing is that I'm feeling lots better. No more blood or mucus in the stools. Constipation is gone. One bowel movement every morning (after, I'll admit, sitting for 20 minutes) My energy level has risen significantly--I hadn't realized that I'd probably been living with depression for so long that I didn't know I was depressed.
I know the asacol is helping, but I also think the foods I'm eating and not eating are making a huge difference. If I go out to eat with friends and I end up eating bread or cheese or succumbing to dessert (which I've done three times since my diagnosis), I feel bloated and crampy and sick, and I see mucus (and blood once) in the stool the next morning.
I'm afraid that I may be in a temporary state of reasonable health--so many stories on this forum about people in remission for month or years who then suddenly find themselves bleeding and in the ER. But for now, I'm going to stick with eating as much green stuff as possible.
I have an appointment to see my GI doc soon, and we'll see what he says, but through my own internet and book research I have come to believe that this colitis was caused by a combination of a few rounds of heavy antibiotics in my life (which probably wiped out all the good gut bacteria) and 25+ years of birth control pills (which I was told might be good to help prevent certain types of cancer--Argh!).
My hope for all of us with various confusing colitis diagnoses is that we realize how important our food choices are in our own health. Doctors giving us meds may help relieve symptoms (which I like!), but those meds won't get to the root of the problem. I don't think I'll ever really get better if I don't understand why I got sick in the first place.
Is there a food that works thread here?
I'm interested to see if others are also making drastic changes in food choices.
I stumbled upon this website when looking for information about ulcerative colitis. Frankly, I have been surprised to see how little discussion there is about diet. (Have I just missed one of the threads?)
I was diagnosed with this in December of 2011 (on a scale of 1-10, I was at an 8 or 9), have lost 20 pounds since, and have been told by my GI doc that "we'll just have to see if it gets worse." He sent me home with asacol and told me to eat a low residue diet. When I looked up the low residue diet, I realized that things that were recommended tended to make me feel terrible in recent months. These were things that I already ate lots of--white bread, refined pasta, and milk.
Also, my GI doc had no ideas about why an otherwise healthy person would get colitis--I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I drink enough water. I exercise moderately. My diet was, compared to most I've seen, relatively healthy--although an attempt at being a vegetarian led me to eat lots of breads, pastas, and dairy. Which might have been part of why I got sick.
I felt like my GI doc was little more than a plumber who knew how to use the colonoscopy equipment. He had no satisfying answers. I had no patience and began my own research immediately.
When I stumbled upon sites that talked about diet, advice there made lots of sense. If I put something bad in my system, I'll get bad results.
I eliminated all sugar, gluten, dairy, and alcohol, caffeine. I started drinking lots of fresh green juice drinks. I discovered quinoa as a substitute for pasta. I learned about kale and chard, vegetables I had heard of but nobody I knew ate them. I started using coconut oil to cook with and have even taken to putting a teaspoon of it in mint tea twice a day. I started taking a high dose of probiotics twice a day. And I take the asacol religiously.
There's nothing fancy or even super expensive (except for the probiotics) about what I'm doing, but I'll admit it is a bit challenging to avoid all these things. But the amazing thing is that I'm feeling lots better. No more blood or mucus in the stools. Constipation is gone. One bowel movement every morning (after, I'll admit, sitting for 20 minutes) My energy level has risen significantly--I hadn't realized that I'd probably been living with depression for so long that I didn't know I was depressed.
I know the asacol is helping, but I also think the foods I'm eating and not eating are making a huge difference. If I go out to eat with friends and I end up eating bread or cheese or succumbing to dessert (which I've done three times since my diagnosis), I feel bloated and crampy and sick, and I see mucus (and blood once) in the stool the next morning.
I'm afraid that I may be in a temporary state of reasonable health--so many stories on this forum about people in remission for month or years who then suddenly find themselves bleeding and in the ER. But for now, I'm going to stick with eating as much green stuff as possible.
I have an appointment to see my GI doc soon, and we'll see what he says, but through my own internet and book research I have come to believe that this colitis was caused by a combination of a few rounds of heavy antibiotics in my life (which probably wiped out all the good gut bacteria) and 25+ years of birth control pills (which I was told might be good to help prevent certain types of cancer--Argh!).
My hope for all of us with various confusing colitis diagnoses is that we realize how important our food choices are in our own health. Doctors giving us meds may help relieve symptoms (which I like!), but those meds won't get to the root of the problem. I don't think I'll ever really get better if I don't understand why I got sick in the first place.
Is there a food that works thread here?
I'm interested to see if others are also making drastic changes in food choices.
