Fighting Crohn's, without medication (My Story)

[behrooz66]

Hi people,
I'm new to this forum, and as English is not my first language I apologize in advance if you have any trouble understanding me.

I'm not still sure why am I here, and why am I sharing this, but I just kinda got a feeling that I have to write it here.

I'm 24 years old, diagnosed with "severe" Crohn's one year ago and my story and the way I'm approaching my disease might be interesting to you.

I'm Persian (means I'm from Iran) and I came to Canada two years ago for continuing my studies. less than a year after coming here, I started to feel some extreme bellyache and it continued with consistent diarrhea, night fever and a horrible weight loss. And as medical procedures in Canada are crazy slow, it took a few months for Canada's stupid health system to diagnose my disease (what took 6 months here, would take half a day in Iran).

Anyway, after diagnosis, they gave me some steroids for temporarily relief and after that, they wanted me to take some pills called "Aza thioprine" or something like that, which I didn't, because of what I'm gonna explain.

During my research here in Canada, talking to doctors and surfing web, I was informed that this disease is chronical and there is no way to cure it. Also I was informed that the only thing that doctors and medications can do, is to deactivate the symptoms, and not solve the problem. The drugs must be taken for the rest of life and other stuff like surgery might be needed.
I had a bad time and got depressed for a while. anyway...

But very randomly, through some communications with some people in my own country, I found some crazy interesting things! I found that there are some doctors back there, that specialists in "Persian Traditional Medication" and they confidently claim that using Persian traditional solutions, Crohn's can be completely cured in 20% of the cases, and for the other 80% it is possible to do the same symptom removal that modern medication does, but without absolutely any chemical medications (which everyone knows they have negative side effects, specially when we are supposed to take them for years)!

I finally got to find one of those doctor's phone number and right on the day that I was supposed to start taking "Aza thioprine", I called him. Talking a few minutes, and he strongly pointed out that "Crohn's is a gift of modern life! and it can't be cured with modern medication!"

What he said made a lot of sense to me, as I had studied a lot about Crohn's within past few weeks and I had figured out that modern and developed countries, have the highest rate if this disease and the "third-world" countries, don't have that much of it. I remembered that for example in my country, still food production is not as industrialized as somewhere like Canada and the amount of "artificial" food people eat, is much less than Canadians (and probably people of other "modernized" countries). Also, as far as I have investigated, for example 150 years ago such disease would not exist on earth, which was an approving point on "modern life disease". (Here I must acknowledge that although I'm a scientist, I'm not a doctor or historicist! my research might have blind points, these are just my personal ideas I wanna share).

Long story short, I told him about everything and he strongly wanted me to not take any chemical medication. He gave me a 40 days diet, in which I have to avoid eating a large set of foods and I also need to make some herbal medications based on his instructions 6 times a day and eat them. Plus, I have to change some of the living habits that he called them "modern life habits"! Performing all he wanted me to do was really difficult, especially some of the things he asked me to do, are very difficult to do in Canada (I can clarify later if someone's interested)! But I'm doing as much as I can.

It's been more than a month that I have been doing his instructions, and following up with him over the phone (I have sent him my colonoscopy results and all the medical reports). He seems pretty confident and I'm feeling really well. When I compare my current situation to a year ago, It's like heaven now. The worst thing happens to me nowadays is a little night fever maybe once in three days. He says after this 40 days, he will give me another 40 days of some other instructions and then will ask me to have another colonoscopy.

*************************

Now, the reason that I'm sharing this, is just to share this! I have chosen to go to a direction that most patients do not, I'm not taking chemical medications and I have a lot of motivation to defeat this disease. What I don't want you to tell me, is disappointing stuff! I don't need anyone to tell me that "this is not gonna work" and things like this, if you think so, just keep it for yourself.

But if you have questions, interests and even logical arguments against this, I would be more than happy to discuss. I have a lot of points and facts that convince me why modern medication is not going to the right direction, or better to say, why "capitalism" does not let science move in the right direction.

Before accusing me for being an "illiterate", I just wanna point out that I'll start my PhD in a few months :thumleft: I know what today's science is, I know how today's science works, and that's exactly why I don't fully trust it!

Also, by this text I'm not encouraging any people to do such a "crazy" thing. As I'm new to this myself, and not fully aware of the consequences. But I have a lot of motivation to come up with something and I don't give up

 

[TeacherMama]

HI there,

I'm in the middle of back to back flares, and I'm looking into changing my diet a lot. The medications that I'm on are giving me insane side effects- almost worse than the disease itself. I'd like to know more about this diet.

And you and your doctor are right; Crohn's is a modern "invention" of industrialized countries. Factory farming and processed foods to make life "easier".

Thanks, looking forward to hearing more of your story.

 

[mnsun]

Thanks for your unique perspective. I too would like to know specifics on the diet and herbs your taking. 40 days seems like a short time to notice positive effects. I too went a natural route for years NEARLY without symptoms, though if I stray from diet or supplements my symptoms will return within 2 days.

Please elaborate on your diet and herbs. See my post under the YOUR STORY>SUCCESS STORIES: MY Supps for MY Dis-ease

 

[behrooz66]

Here we go. Thanks to people who repsonded.

Here I wanna share the exact instructions I'm following based on my doctor. I start with the life style instructions and after that I'll write the herbal mediactions.


1. Stop eating any industrial food, cookie and drink such as: Pizza, Pizza cheese, Susages, Burgers, Chocolates, Pies, Cakes, Coke, Chips, articifial flavoured beverages,
and basically everything that is made "out there"!

2. Stop using teflon pots and pans for ever. (Even modern medicine acknowledges that those pots are very harmful, they can cause different problems for digesting organs including cancer)

3. Having back fire cupping done three times a week (If you don't know what I mean, look at this link). ( I don't get to do this as often as he said)

4. Having 2 to 3 times of yoga or aerobic excercise every week.

5. Stop eating any kind of vegetable oil (This sounds crazy! For those who are interested I can fully clarify the exact reasons of this later. Factory made
Vegetable oil is one of the worst things we consume nowadays). Personally I only use milk fat (which in English it's known as "Clarified Butter")

6. Stop eating any meat! No beef, no pork, no lamb, no chicken, no fish!

7. Stop drinking alcohol, completely.

8. Stop consuming caffeine, no coffe, no tea, no energy drink, nothing!!!

9. Stop eating any kind of sause, no mayonise, no ketchap, no mustard, ... .

10. No milk, No Sugar.

11. No canned food.

12. JUST NOTHING THAT HAS ANY CHEMICALS, ANY ARTIFICIAL THING, ANY FLAVOR, ...!

13. Vegetable are better be cooked, or at least a little bit cooked.

14. Drinking natural grape juice once in a while (I juice myself, don't trust factory made juice anymore!)

*** To make this easy to remember, first: you're a vegeterian, second: You can only eat things that grow in the nature!


Here is the herbal medication:

1. I blend the following 6 herbs, and 3 times a day before every meal, I boil one table spoon of that combination in one and half glass of water, until half
glass of water is evaporated. From the remaining on glass, I remove the scum and I drink it 20 minutes before having my meal.
The herbs include: Borage flower (not leaf or root, hard to find in Canada!!), Marshmallow (not the cookie, the herb!), Camomile, Thyme, Calendula
Officinails (I guess it's also called Marigold), Chicory. (They must be blended all with the same ratio)

2. I blend the following herbs, and I combine one table spoon of the combination with yoghurt and eat it after my meal: Cumin, Caraway, Caram,
Spearmint, Licorice. The ratio is a bit tricky: 5 Cumin, 5 Caraway, 10 Caram, 10 Spearmint, and only 1 licorice.



******************
For those who have tried herbal or any pure natural treatment, is anyone interested in putting all our information and experiences together in a well organized document? Maybe we can end up with something that changes a lot of people's life. Keep in mind, progress is not about knowledge, it's about idea.

 

[Bustersmom]

Crohns here

The diet and herbs sound good. I'm going to make a list and give it a try. Thank you very much for sharing it with us. I'm currently having an awful flare with abscesses and several fistula. Im going to get a MRI tomorrow.My doctor is considering a colostomy and I'm open to it. I've never suffered with anything like this stuff. I don't get the diarrhea, but I get everything awful anyway.I'm worn out and tired of fighting. I feel like its finally won. I sure agree that it's the junk we are eating that's feeding these bad bugs. Bree

 

[behrooz66]

I just forgot to mention that he said we must not go to swimming pools, must not smoke and better not use perfumes!

 

[David]

Greetings and welcome Thank you for taking the time to write all of this up. I wish you continued success!

 

[Angela]

Wow, thanks for this post! I found it informative and interesting. Especially the part about perfume, I find that sometimes strong smells (from someones cologne), or even a drastic temperature change (like walking down the frozen food section in a supermarket) can trigger stomach pains and urges to go to the bathroom. I wonder why. In any case I completely agree, coming from an Armenian family and currently studying in Armenia, it seems that everyone here believes in good healthy natural healing and prefer it to medical and chemical treatments

 

[glory_h]

Thanks so much for these posts! The diet sounds very reasonable and in line with a lot of other research that is out there. I have a few questions:

Milk is not allowed - but it seems like yogurt is okay - is that correct?

Can you explain more about why vegetable oil is to be avoided?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Feather]

Thanks for sharing your story! This looks similar to what I'm trying to do. I try (as much as possible) to just eat natural foods -- I've been doing a lot of juicing lately. You said you have yogurt; is the fermentation of milk better? I got a yogurt maker recently and have found that homemade yogurt and hard cheeses are much easier on my system than any other dairy products have been.

I didn't know about vegetable oil -- can you say more about that?

 

[David]

I've personally cut out canola oil (when my inner child doesn't take over like tonight causing me to binge) because of this stuff. I'm curious what the OP's doctor's reason is.

 

[archie]

Can I ask have you had a repeat colonoscopy and has it shown physical improvements since starting this diet? I agree with the healthy diet and trying to control your condition naturally but this diet is so disciplined I personally would struggle to give up some of lifes little pleasures and I certainly wouldn't have the time or patience to practice the herbal side of it before every meal. To me life is about balance and i too am in remission and dont require medication. Don't fret I'm not knocking it or trying to be negative I can totally understand where you are coming from about trying to control your symptoms naturally and it does make sence about limiting the amount of chemicals into our bodies. My only advice is please don't give up on modern medicine if your symptoms worsen as called me old fashioned but evidence based practice and western medicine has evolved for a reason for which many people benefit from. I wish you good health and hope you continue to improve.

 

[MADiMarc]

Please keep us posted. I wish you all success. And I really, really hope it works!

 

[behrooz66]

Thanks to all you guys who are continuing this discussion.
Here I'd like to answer you guys, first I'd like to respond to my friend "archie" and then I'll talk about other guys who are more curious about the "vegetable oil" thing.

"Archie";
Thanks for your advice. I'll ask for a colonoscopy on February when I meet my doctor again. But, first, I don't have anything against western world! Don't get my wrong! I'm living in the western world and I'm studying science and I exactly know how scientific approaches evolve. What western medications have done is adorable of course, millions of lives has been saved by them, no doubt. My point is that as a scientist, I think I'm seeing that science is "owned" by money nowadays and is going to the direction that money wants. Let me give you an example. I have studied the diaries of a doctor in the US who was researching about the harmful effects of the material used in diet cocacola. He figured out that a lot of his patients who suffered from some specific problems, just felt better after stopping consumption of any "diet" product. But you know what happened? He could never publish his result in media, just because he was confronting a monster, CocaCola! Yes, They spent millions of dollars to filter all this results!!! And yes, in a "free" country!

Let me tell you about how science works today! Nowadays, when you wanna prove that something is right scientifically, you have to show a reference, a paper, an article or anything that is approved by a well known publisher. The way these papers are gathered is as follow: you find out that there is a conference held by publisher X in location Y, the topic is for example, air pollution. You and tons of other people submit the results of their research as papers, posters and articles. There are a few referees, who read them all, and make decision about which one must be "accepted" and which one must be "rejected". Those that are accepted, will become a reference, those that are rejected will be known as bullshit!

The horrible thing is that currently, most of the scientific conferences that are about medications, are sponsored by the companies that produce medications! Now, just think about it for 1 minute, would you really expect them to accept a research that shows "their medication is harmful"??? Of course not! And after every conference, of course a book will be published with tons of papers all in favour of that medication...

The horrible thing you should never forget is that nowadays drug production companies are working just like every other company, for example, McDonald's, what they are looking for is to sell, sell, and sell! Then what do they need for it? Patients, patients, and patients!

I guess most people agree that in the current world run by capitalism, everything is run by money. Media, news, even science. Don't expect them to tell you that the secret of being healthy is to eat natural food and nothing else. There are huge monsters out there who don't want you to know that, say, CocaCola, Pepsi, McDonald's, A&W, KFC, and tons of other shit you know better than me...

Do you know that a lot of "artificial" foods that you're eating nowadays use a material called "aspartame" as sweetener? Do you have any idea how this horrible material was approved by FDF (food and drugs foundations) in the US? Do you know that FDF doctors rejected it several times, until Donald Ramsfeld (the defence minister of the former government of US) bought it and used his political power and forced them to approve it? And do you know that this horrible material exists in a lot of artificial products, drinks, and cookies all around the world now?

My point is that unfortunately, in the current world, everything smells like "business", even health system.... They only care about selling more...

************************************


Now! Here we come to the vegetable oil problem. Based on what I have talked to my doctor and also what I have tried to investigate, there are two main reasons for avoiding vegetable oil except olive oil.

The first reason needs a bit of explanation. We all know that all live creatures, among them human, are the result of evolution. Human has been living on this planet for millions of years and except past 100 years, his diet was always almost the same. After world started to become industrialised, new food products start to appear that never existed before. So now, we (by "we" I mean all people who are alive now, from 1 year old to 100 years old!) are in fact the first generation who has started to eat different things, things that our ancestors have never eaten for millions of years! We are the first generation who eats sausages, burgers, mayonise, sugar, cocacola, chocolate, etc.! Those who have migrated to a different country know that in the first months of settling down in a new environment, and keep eating new foods everyday that you have never eaten before, your body starts to react. "Change" is difficult, even if your new foods are all natural. Now imagine that you have never eaten artificial food, and you start to eat them everyday, this change is much more difficult and harmful. The story of vegetable oil is that. For centuries, they didn't exist the way they do today. As human species, our bodies are not "designed" to handle them! and this change can't happen over night. Maybe 500 years later, human body will adjust and can handle them, but not now, not for us the first generation who are eating them! Specially when you get "inflammation" in your digesting system, it is important to make sure what you eat can be easily handled by your body.

The second reason is again about money! I don't know about every country, but let me tell you how vegetable oil is produced in north America. There are companies that have farms and plant the required seeds for making that oil. There are other companies who take the seeds, and process them to produce oil. This is the good part of the scenario. The bad part is that, those who plant seeds, after a few years of working on their seeds was able to improve its quality, which is great, but the sad story starts from here. When they would sell that seed to oil producers, these companies would take advantage of this opportunity and keep some of that seeds, so next year, they wouldn't need to buy high quality seeds anymore, they could plant them on their own and didn't need to spend money for having good quality seeds! So what happened? The first set of companies looked for a way to put a "copy right" on the seeds, so no one can reproduce them!!! They did a lot of experiments and finally, they found out that they can modify the seeds genetically. Nowadays, they have seeds that can only be used for making oil, but no one can't plant them! If you plant them, nothing grows... Conclusion: If you are a little familiar with genetic modifications, you'll know that after such operations, those seeds are not "natural" food anymore, and anything that is made of them is not either.

Notice: As far as I have tried to find, olive oil is fine, unless you overheat it. So if you use olive oil for frying for example, don't overheat it.

*********************************

There was a few questions about milk and yoghurt. Yes yoghurt is fine and as one of the people said, it is much better if you make them at home (which is easy even without a yoghurt maker and is much cheaper too).

My doctor asked me not to drink milk, but I honestly don't know the reason.

I like this discussion! Thanks all!

 

[archie]

''Let me tell you about how science works today! Nowadays, when you wanna prove that something is right scientifically, you have to show a reference, a paper, an article or anything that is approved by a well known publisher. The way these papers are gathered is as follow: you find out that there is a conference held by publisher X in location Y, the topic is for example, air pollution. You and tons of other people submit the results of their research as papers, posters and articles. There are a few referees, who read them all, and make decision about which one must be "accepted" and which one must be "rejected". Those that are accepted, will become a reference, those that are rejected will be known as bullshit!''

Thank you for your reponse it is certainly a topic you are very passionate about. I am not aware of this process for scientific research and I have no doubts that it can be very corrupt but as regards current medical practice any researcher(s) usually medical practitioners can submit a clinical trial as long as it is ethical and then it can be reviewed by any intellegent person as to how rigorous it is regarding blinded controls etc and a decision can be interpreted on it's results therefore giving us evidence based practice. As I am also aware that not one treatment path suits all for crohns disease as it is so diverse. I do not disagree with you regards the fact that yes western society do consume many chemicals and obviously it is well proven that diet and lifestyle can have a detrimental effect on our health and it is well publicised that these foods will lead to cancers, stroke and heart disease.

However crohn's disease although it's exact etiology is unknown is commonly believed has both intrinsic and extrinsic factors hence the fact not everyone who consumes processed food will suffer from it. I also agree that we should if possible eat natural organic foods and limit processed foods to give our bodies the best chance to heal. My only concern is that at 24 you might forget to live a little and experience some of the fun things living such a regimental lifestyle but thats your choice as we all have freewill. I would be interested to know what your diet was like prior to you having crohns and have you only been living like this for one month or do your thoughts stem from years back. How have your blood test results, pathology reports etc varied from your worst status to when you finished taking steroids and since you have started this diet.

My only concern for you is that you are not completely in remission as you are still suffering from regular fevers. As I have stated I wish you goodluck with your treatment choice and it is refreshing to hear your views.

 

[behrooz66]

Thanks Archie! I appreciate your ideas.

First I should clarify that I don't really have "regular" fevers, they happen maybe once in a week and in a very light amount. Nothing really annoying. (Last year, I would sleep for 5 minutes I would be like someone who has just come out of a pool!)

The other thing is that I haven't really lost any "fun" thing. Yes, I can't drink alcohol anymore (which I used to do maybe once in a month), but is it really a big deal? besides, this regimental life was a pain in the ass in the first week, after that it became a habit. I may still have some issues when I go to someone's dinner party or things like that, as I can't eat most of the things they make. But here's the deal, I can choose one among these two: having an active disease and taking lots of medications and accepting all their side effects plus accepting surgery and cutting a part of my bowl with the advantage of eating everything I want, OR eating healthy, refuse some not very important "fun" things and not even feeling that I'm sick. I chose the second one, hoping (and deeply believing) that it works!

You are so true that I should postpone my firm comment until I have some blood work or stuff that practically shows my health level. And I can't wait till I see my doctor again (Canada's health system is stupidly slow. Takes several months!)

And in summary, thank you so much for your concern about my life. I greatly appreciate it.

 

[behrooz66]

People, just a quick question. Is anybody interested in having a group video conference with this doctor I'm working with? I was talking to him over the phone last night, and he was willing to have a video conference for those who are interested.

He also told me that I can give out his email address to those who may wanna ask any questions.

 

[mnsun]

I absolutely concur on the GMO issue. It is absurd that the US doesn't require labeling, though even Russia and China do. If these products are so great, why don't these companies (Monsanto, DOW, Syngenta etc.) advertise their "enhanced" ingredients? It is impossible for these companies to have any extensive, intergenerational data to assess the long term health effects of such products. (the dystopic movie Children of Men comes to mind...)

We should consider the fact that GMO crops are in most, if not all, boxed foods (soy, corn, canola oil, cottonseed oil, up-and-coming beet sugar will be labeled "sugar" on nutrition factsheets...). There are currently lawsuits challenging the legality of labeling foods "All Natural", if they contain gmos.

Experts like Jeffrey Smith have done yeoman's work treking across the globe, dissecting the cooked statistical books that have "legitimized" GMO foods' safety. Go here, responsibletechnology.org, for non-GMO shopping lists and current studies, including the AAEM's (American Academy of Environmental Medicine) findings that: "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food,” including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. The AAEM asked physicians to advise patients to avoid GM foods.

The fact that our food is being tampered with by chemical warfare producers (Monsanto+DOW Chemical=Agent Orange) isn't lost on me. See cornucopia.org for further organic scorecards by products---some have been found to still contain GMOs. We should also be cognizant of the genocidal plight of Indian farmers lured into the trap of GMO cotton/roundup--these corporatists have (intended?) social effects/goals that can't be ignored. See: http://www.naturalnews.com/032422_GM_crops_suicide.html

Most studies critical of GMOs are conducted internationally, far away from Monsanto/Syngenta's etc. political sway. Here is the latest study suggesting organ damage due to multiple GMO corn varieties:
http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm#headingA11
Here is a journalistic breakdown:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/monsantos-gmo-corn-linked_n_420365.html

One headline affirming corporatist influence in above posts:
"Monsanto Spent $2 Million Lobbying Gov’t in 3Q"
December 20th, 2011 Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Associated Press

Peace for 2012 and beyond!

 

[KWalker]

Welcome, that was definately an interesting read. As much as I support you not needing medication, it sounds like you're missing out on quite a bit, and possibly going a little too far to try and avoid the unavoidable. This coming from someone who also is dealing the crohns without meds, except I eat whatever I want without problems.

I hope you don't take it as if I'm being negative, because like I said being able to not need meds is awesome, it just seems like you're missing out on some things! Lol

 

[djsabreblade]

The only oils I use these days is organic, extra virgin, cold pressed, coconut oil [my personal fav] and if I have some around, organic extra virgin cold pressed olive oil. The thing about paleo diets and things is in my experience they can work very fast for people with extreme circumstances and who are very sick, but cutting out all carbs can be a problem. Personally the main things for me are 100 percent no gluten and dairy. I tried the paleo diet for a month and a half. I still recommend it to people who are very sick. It can work well. But personally I am not on it right now because you will loose weight with zero carbs.

 

[Bustersmom]

The paleo diet isn't zero carbs. It's got all kinds of fruits on it. I'm not sure if it's good for Crohns or not but it has carbs for sure.

 

[Jen]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience. Your story is inspiring!
I just cannot get the reason why any meat is not allowed but you should use only animal oils for cooking

 

[ctrl z]

I imagine coconut oil would be an option. Is this incorrect?

 

[behrooz66]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience. Your story is inspiring!
I just cannot get the reason why any meat is not allowed but you should use only animal oils for cooking

In order to not give you incorrect information, I can always give you the doctor's email and you can ask your question!

 

[behrooz66]

I imagine coconut oil would be an option. Is this incorrect?

I don't know! I guess as long as it is natural and does not contain so many artificial shit, it should be fine!

 

[rdsoxfan]

Thanks for sharing your story! This looks similar to what I'm trying to do. I try (as much as possible) to just eat natural foods -- I've been doing a lot of juicing lately. You said you have yogurt; is the fermentation of milk better? I got a yogurt maker recently and have found that homemade yogurt and hard cheeses are much easier on my system than any other dairy products have been.

I didn't know about vegetable oil -- can you say more about that?

All the manmade oils (corn, vegetable, canola, etc) are high in omega 6 which jacks up our omega 6 to omega 3 ratios. High ratios lead to a host of internal problems including inflammation.

 

[spink]

any updates

Hi I have been reading this thread and am curious to ask how you are getting on with your experience in managing your crohn's since last post. Thanks

 

[MADiMarc]

I hope all is going well for you. I've been going the non med route for about a year I guess. I know my Crohn's isn't under control but I'm not letting it control my life either. I wish you much success! Please keep us updated.