Hello everyone
I've got pretty aggressive crohns, been unwell for a year now, going through different drugs without success. I'm so tired of being ill (fast weak pulse, low blood pressure, nausea, fatigue, no appetite, feeling like I'm going to collapse). I could also really do without having to phone in sick again for a good while work wise.
So my question is, have any of you had good results from any of the diets, and if so, which one? I just want to know if they're worth trying.
Thank you very much.
I have been doing a very restrictive diet over the past few months that has worked wonders for me. I talked about in in another thread, but it is relevant here as well. In short: I had my colonoscopy in March to confirm Crohn's. In April, I began a very restricted diet with the goal of improving my well being as much as possible before my first gastro appointment (which is forthcoming next week). I knew that it was likely that meds were going to be pushed at me, so I wanted to avoid that as much as possible. My doctor was also pretty adamant that diet was not a factor, which just didn't make much sense to me. I just told her, "we'll see".
Well, I have attached two blood tests. One I had last November (when symptoms were at their worst) and my latest from today. Here were the results:
November 2018:
Sedimentation rate: 33
C-Reactive Protein: 23.9
Today:
Sedimentation rate: 2
C-Reactive Protein: <1
As far as the diet is concerned, here was my basic regiment and philosophy for each decision:
I have been a vegan for seven years now, so I already didn't eat meat or dairy, so this is not in the diet. I also eliminated: processed foods, oils, grains, beans, nuts, most vegetables, and additives. Pretty much everything that could be hard to digest or have a hard time working its way through my system. I whittled myself down to two basic meals that I found were "safe and soft meals" for me and have stuck with them for over two months now (boring as hell, but it appears to be working).
For two meals a day, I make a BIG smoothie that includes:
bananas, skinless dates, 100% pure pumpkin, gooseberry powder, ground clove powder, cinnamon, and filtered water. Sometimes I put some avocado in as well to add more calories and make it creamier. My logic for this meal is that it is calorie dense (dates and bananas are high in calories, low in fat), pretty tasty (tastes like pumpkin pie filling), and is VERY SOFT on the system. Gooseberry powder and cloves are two of the best anti-inflammatories, and this is an "inflammatory" bowel disease. I soak the dates in water overnight so that I can peel the skin off of them easily and avoid any hard material going through my system. I figure if there are open wounds inside my system, scratching them as little as possible is ideal while trying to heal.
I also take a few swigs of a probiotic during this meal (I have been using the "Gut Shots" fermented drinks, as well as a fermented Kvass - nothing with any carbonation, added sugars, caffeine, etc.). Bananas are a great prebiotic, which is why I include my probiotic drink with these smoothies.
For my third meal, I have a soup comprised of:
sweet potatoes, vegetable stock (free of any additives), and spices (turmeric, coriander, onion powder, ginger, cumin, and cinnamon). I blend that soup into a paste (usually with avocado so that I am getting some fat into my diet). I know some people with Crohn's are sensitive to sweet potatoes. I found I was not and that they soften to the point of basically melting in the mouth once boiled, but I take it a step further and blend it after it's cooked. Again, I'm trying to make food as soft and easy on the system as possible.
INTERMITTENT FASTING: I try and pack all three of these meals into an 8-10 hour time span, so that my gut is mostly resting for the remaining 14-16 hours of the day. I have read about people having success with intermittent fasting, which is why I've included this. I started off the diet spreading it out over six meals for the entire day and the progress was not as drastic as it has been since doing the fasting.
LIQUIDS:
I drink a special blend of teas with a liberal amount of unpasteurized, raw honey three times per day (first thing in the morning, one between meals, and one before bed). The tea is a combination of slippery elm powder, marshmallow root powder, and fresh ginger (I shave the ginger and steep it, no hard pieces in the tea). My logic here is that honey acts as an anti-bacterial and these teas are again providing me with more anti-inflammatories.
I also only drink filtered water from home. I do not drink water that is not filtered, no bottled water, drinking fountains, etc. I don't want to take the chance of any outside forces messing with my gut microbiome while I'm trying to heal. It's a countertop filter that removes a lot of stuff, but a level down from reverse-osmosis.
That's it. It has been my regiment for three months. I did lose over twenty pounds on this diet, which could be looked at as a positive or a negative, depending on where you're at weight-wise. It is not a sustainable long term diet, but for the short term it seems to have served its purpose in eliminating my blood inflammation markers. I do not know if there is anything else still going on within me unmeasured by the blood tests, but I no longer have any symptoms and my stool is the best I can ever remember it looking. I will soon begin to slowly reintroduce other foods back into my diet.
. Can’t put it all down to diet as I started entyvio once the Remicade had worn off. So who knows. But I’m grateful to be well enough to be functioning so I will be sticking with the diet.
