I did, but not for Crohn's because I had been misdiagnosed with IBS at the time. I saw a dietician on the NHS. I also saw a couple of private nutritionists.
Unfortunately, my experiences were very negative. But bear in mind they were working on the assumption I had a different condition than the one I actually had. I was unimpressed that they didn't work out something was wrong that wasn't IBS though!
The dietician said there was no reason I couldn't eat normal quantities of food without feeling full. This was inaccurate - I later found out I had delayed stomach emptying. The dietician wouldn't accept how hard it was for me to eat normal quantities and gain weight (I was underweight). She said feeling full was just my imagination. :frown: She didn't come up with any of the things that have actually helped me - for example, I later learned, through trial and error, to eat little and often and to eat low fibre. That's what works best for me. Obviously she couldn't have known that automatically - but then if you have to learn by trial and error, what's the use of a dietician?! She didn't even suggest these things as a possibilities to try. She just kept giving me guidelines about official goverment portion sizes and balancing protein/carbs/fats etc. Not helpful!
The private nutritions I disliked because they kept telling me I was allergic to things - when I'm not allergic to anything - and that I had to give up gluten, dairy, eggs, eat only organic, eat no processed food, etc. etc.. I was underweight - I didn't need more restrictions! I did follow their advice throroughly for a long time - I was so desperate for symptom relief I would try anything - and none of it made me feel the slightest bit better. It just made me neurotic about food and made it harder to keep my weight up. When I reported this back to them, they became almost angry and said I couldn't have been doing it properly, then stopped returning my calls. Both nurtritionists had this exact same reaction. I concluded they were quacks. :frown:
Sorry I don't have anything more positive to report - I'm sure my experiences shouldn't reflect on every dietician/nurtritionist, especially if you have one who knows about nutrition within a specific disease. But be aware that they do not necessarily know what's best! Even if they're not quacks, they can only go by general principles, which might not be best if you're not a typical patient. I would still say it's worth trying - just keep thinking about whether what they've said sounds reasonable before implementing it, and keep monitoring your symptoms. And don't be afraid to stop or tell them if you disagree or if something's not working for you. If they're good, they should listen to your views and be willing to adapt to your lifestyle/symptoms/tastes in order to help you with your diet.
