Hello ALL!

[Cara Fusinato]

I haven't been around for awhile, but for those of you who remember me, HI AGAIN! I just passed my year anniversary with Crohn's. I celebrated by going to a Josh Groban concert (it's WELL worth going to . . .) I have been tutoring a couple days a week and it's good to work with the kids. And I am studying medical transcription to be able to do from home. It's interesting, except it depresses me to find out how many ways they can carve me up if the Crohn's goes bad. . .

For those who don't know me. I live in California, got diagnosed a year ago, and they wanted to resection me right off. I battled through and found an alternative that works great. It's XanGo brand mangosteen juice and keeps me in pretty good shape. I have the Crohn's with strictures as opposed to fistulas or ulcerative. I am remaining steady and take NO other medications. I tried Pentasa (didn't do much), tried Entocort (made me wanna kill people after about a week), and flatly refused any form of immune suppressant.

And so, welcome to all the new people, HI to those of us who have been around for awhile, hope to all the newbies that you can find a form of traditional or alternative (or both) to keep you stable, and hope to the rest of us that we stay in good shape.

 

[D Bergy]

Hello Cara,

I am glad you managed without the immune suppressants and the rest.
I also refused Immuran for now, but who knows what the future holds.

I have heard of mangosteen juice before but not for Crohn's. How do you tell if it is working? I use different methods but really cannot tell if any of them work. I am trying to get a handle on how to go about treating this condition. I just get the stricture also but do not feel it coming until it is actually blocking the path.

Medical transcription is an interesting field. My mother still does it at 70 years old.


D Bergy

 

[meapache]

Hello

Hello Everyone.

I finally found your site on aol. my webtv went out on me, all my sites/addresses are locked until i get another unit hooked up, Cara, the Mangosteen seems to be working for Monica along with the Humira, the fistula is starting to close up after a year, she is hoping she can get a reversal but says there is no rush, she wants it to fully heal, she has no pain, which is a good thing, and she is gaining some of that weight back she lost (70lbs) i will try to get on chat tomorrow, take care all. Sam

 

[Nancy Lee]

Hi Cara!!
Great to see you again!!
Big hugs~Nancy

 

[Cara Fusinato]

Thanks for the welcome back . . . I have been soooo busy working a couple days a week and then studying in the rest of the time. And, of course, it was lambing season -- did anyone tell me lambs are THE cutest things on the face of the earth? Oh my gosh. I have 6 and they will hopefully be moving on to new homes by the end of June.

To answer about Mangosteen. How do I know it is working? Well, when I got diagnosed, I had a really, really bad flare-up that lasted 8 weeks. I couldn't eat anything solid at all. Then I did OK for 2 weeks and began another flare up. I was into that by 2 weeks when Mangosteen came along. I began and 1.5 weeks later, I was eating fine with no pain, no tiredness, nothing. I cut the Pentasa in 1/2 and felt the same and stopped taking the Entocort that really made me wanna kill people. Another 1.5 weeks, I cut out the Pentasa all together. I was eating, no pain, and my bowel habits had actually improved. I have had a couple times with some pain twinges for a day or two after eating something like pizza or something else hard to digest and something I would totally wolf down without chewing. But other than that, I have had no symptoms. Now who knows what the guts are actually doing in there . . . I mean, resection could be a possibility for any of us at any time, no matter what we take, BUT I have held steady for a year. I began taking 2 ounces 2X a day. That's about $200 a month. But, if you add up the deductibles on Pentasa, Entocort, and buying the VSL3 probiotics, I came out equivalent. Now, I take 1 shotglass (a little over an ounce) once a day. AND my husband takes it and got off his thyroid med. after being on it almost 20 years -- a blood test shows NO thyroid problems.

So, to answer the question . . . I know it is working because it is the only thing I take and I stopped with the flare-ups. Could it be spontaneous remission? Of course, but I was SOOOOO bad. I couldn't get out of the flare-up and I was in lots of pain. So, I will keep this up as long as it works -- and my GI Doc is cool with it too.

I am glad to hear a couple other people trying it. A year ago, I got a pretty chilly reception about the stuff. Perhaps more people are willing to try and we can really prove it works for us.

 

[D Bergy]

Thanks for the information on Mangosteen. People are sceptical about it because so many claims have been made that it is hard to believe all of them. Quite often from people selling it.

I will add it to my list of possible remedies. It certainly is not a case of wishful thinking given your experience. I use alternatives routinely so I do not reject them out of hand. I do look for users that have had good results before I will consider them. Basically, I look for cures before remedies and use the least toxic or harmful method that has some chance of working. Mangosteen falls into that catagory. It is not as far fetched as some of the treatments I use! I do not care if treatments are far fetched, or accepted by the powers that be, only if they give results. Great information, thanks again.

D Bergy

 

[mikeyarmo]

Glad to see you again Cara

 

[Ilysha]

Mangosteen

Hi Cara,

I too did really well on Mangosteen for about 7 months, but then went into a flare up. I was going into a stressful time at work so I'm sure that had something to do with it, but I'm glad it has worked so well for you.

I'm on all the hard meds again--6mp, remicade, etc., but maybe I'll be well enough again to try mangsteen.

Thanks for sharing.
--Ilysha