How do you control flare-ups from UC WITHOUT medication?

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katielj

katielj

Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
25
I am currently having a bad flare-up with my UC (to be honest my symptoms never fully go away even while on medication). I have chosen not to take my medication (Lialda) because I am 6 weeks pregnant; however I cannot ease these symptoms no matter how bland I eat. I can't imagine going through another 8/9 months of this ...I feel like my body is a hostile environment for my developing baby!

Can any please help?

Thank you. Katie

2
 
Have you talked to your doctor? I'd make sure to mention this to them. I've never delt with flares without meds. Might not be any choice, but would sure talk to someone about it first. Good luck. :hug:
 
Cross-stitch gal said:
Have you talked to your doctor? I'd make sure to mention this to them. I've never delt with flares without meds. Might not be any choice, but would sure talk to someone about it first. Good luck. :hug:
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What Cross-stich gal said - talk to either your GI or your OB/GYN (or both). Is there evidence that Lialda is harmful to your baby; did your doctor recommend stopping it?

Probiotics help me a lot (though I take them with the rest of my drugs), you might try one of those, or even some yougurt.
 
Thanks so much for your responses. I will see my GI Dr on Monday and ask him if there is an alternative. It's just my own paranoia that has made me stop taking my medication

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UC without meds was horrible for me. I did that for 18 years secondary to misdiagnosis. The only thing that helped was cigarette smoking, which I do not recommend to anyone, especially with you being pregnant.
 
Hey 2th fairy,

That is really interesting about the cigarette smoking and UC. My friends husband is struggling badly with a stubborn case of UC. He cannot get it under control at all. He has been in a flare for like a year now, with No relief. Asocal did help him for years, he would only have like a couple flare ups a year that lasted usually a couple weeks. Last year he ate some Mexican food, got real sick and has been bad ever since. I know he would not want to start smoking, but I just wonder what it is in the cigarettes that help??





2thFairy said:
UC without meds was horrible for me. I did that for 18 years secondary to misdiagnosis. The only thing that helped was cigarette smoking, which I do not recommend to anyone, especially with you being pregnant.
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I had a good visit with my GI doctor today. He was glad I came off the Lialda (due to my pregnancy) and instead prescribed me a steroid enema to use over the next month.... not too excited about the idea of this, but excited that this is going to be treating the UC locally, so will hopefully start working quicker than oral drugs.

He also referred me to a nutritionist who has already scheduled me in for the end of the month. I will let you know what she advises.

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I never ended up taking the steroid enema; on the box itself it says it is not recommended during pregnancy because of unknown risks to the unborn child, and also warnings on.the internet. So I'm back to square one, with a stubborn flare up that is getting worse by the day :(.

I wish there were a safe herbal medication that could control this flare up...

2
 
durwardian said:
So many people report that smoking gives relief, something to be said there...
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Something to be said there is don't do it! Save your lungs or save your colon? Save your lungs! You can live without a colon, but not without lungs.

Especially don't smoke during pregnancy.
 
Don,t smoke!its bad for the baby and you!herbal stuff is pretty much the placebo effect not knocking it,but harass the life out of your doctors for some other solution.good luck
 
Thank you guys. I will definitely NOT be smoking, not now or ever. Going to harrass my Dr & obgyn

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Thank you for the link durwardian. I have to say it is quite overwhelming, but extremely interesting - the supplements, detox, probiotics.... etc. Thanks, I will try some of this

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Thanks FrancisK7. A friend of mine is on this diet (for no other reason other than to be extremely healthy), and he swears by it.

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It works for sure, and I've had some positive results on it when I was flaring so aggressively I would have 15 BM a day and pain around the clock.
However, I like food, I am a fantastic cook (my French genes perhaps), and the prospect of eating like a caveman for the rest of my life felt like a worse sentence than a flaring colitis. A paleo diet will give your bowel a break and is capable of delivering all the nutrients you and your baby require. But it's not a guaranteed fix and it certainly won't induce remission if your condition is severe or aggressive.

Ingesting cannabis (RSO oil or in capsules) is also another option, and it's a natural treatment, but it is medication. That being said I don't think an inflamed and bleeding colon is preferable to a mild medication that could appease the symptoms in some form (even if it doesn't induce remission).

Seeing as in you are in Cali, you would have access to quality RSO (Rick Simpson Oil). I single teaspoon before bed could provide a lot of relief and there is no scientific literature out there that has determined ingesting a small dose of cannabinoids each day is harmful to a human fetus or its development.
 
I too love food....although this disease is slowly making me hate it! I'm English, so I don't know I have the claim to culinary expertise like you :)

Are you a professional dietician, or doctor or something? Or is it the pure fact of educating yourself? You seem so knowledgeable!

2
 
I can't say Cali is a bad place to move to if you are English ;) I hear it rains all the time in England. I lived in Germany for a few years, then Luxembourg, where it must have rained 350 days in the year. Awful. I will visit England for sure one day, but I got Scotland and Ireland on my list first. Ha! :D English food isn't bad, but it's certainly not my favorite.

I'm a business owner in real life, but I spent a few years in medschool, some in biochem, and I have a strong desire to educate myself. Unfortunately I've experienced first hand the incompetence of some doctors and I know I can't trust anything that comes out of their mouth for granted, which is what we're conditioned to believe (where I live at least). Forums are a great place to share knowledge and debate topics. The paleo diet topic has caused sparkles before for sure.
 
Check out the book "Self Healing Colitis and Crohn's" by David Klein. His holistic, natural approach to managing and healing bowel disease has been a great help to me in dealing with ulcerative colits.
 
I have heard that taking aloe vera is good for digestive health and/or healing some UC and CD symptoms. I haven't tried it personally, but I have family members who swear by it.
 
Hi, I am pregnant too, 10 weeks today. I don't know if this helps, but my ob sent me to see a GI Dr who specializes in crohns and pregnancy, she is actually one of the highest regarded doctors in the world, in that field. She put me on Lialda, took me off asacol. Lialda is supposed to be very safe for you and the baby. Hope that helps, would be happy to share more of the information she gave me, if you need it! And congratulations!
 
FrancisK7...you can't tell an English girl you're going to visit Ireland and Scotland first! :eek:

I like you have a tough time trusting doctors, always seem to want to prescribe drugs to mask the symptoms, rather than trying to find/treat the cause!

Interested in the Paleo diet. Willing to try anything at this point...

2
 
Thank you JackC. I am definitely going to look into this. Absolutely nothing is working for me right now

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Thanks sunshinesmalls! And congratulations to you too! I'm also 10 weeks pregnant!

I was on lialda before I got pregnant, I'm meeting with my GI nurse this week for a follow up, so maybe she'll put me back on it (unfortunately the steroid enema I've been on isn't working).

2
 
I hope she does, for your sake! When is your due date? The Dr I saw is at UCSF in san Francisco. If there is any way you can get to her I would highly highly recommend it. My crohns stared to flare up and she had it stopped safely with in days of seeing her. She is amazing.
 
Wow, she does sound amazing! I'm down in Redondo Beach, so it wouldn't be impossible. I haven't been symptom free in over a year, and now being pregnant I feel completely overwhelmed and helpless :(. I'm happy to hear you are healthy!

My due date is September 2nd. And yours?

2
 
find out your blood type and check out this site: http://www.webmd.com/diet/blood-type-diet - yes, it is a tough diet to be on, but I figure, losing my colon is a lot tougher. I have cut out coffee, gluten, corn, white potatoes, strawberries, legumes, and dairy (among other things if you want to get into details, get the book). I do have chocolate (I switched from milk to dark), butter, and I make my own chocolate chip cookies. I do use the gluten free flour that contains tapioca and potato starch, but I add almond or walnut flour to it, so I don't have too much of it. Green leafy vegetables, beef, fish, almonds and walnuts, avocado, blueberries and bananas....and let me say that you have to pay attention to how things effect you. The book "Live Right for your Blood Type" says I should have green tea, but I find that any caffeine (beyond what I get in chocolate, bc I refuse to give it up) causes constipation discomfort for me. The book is merely a very helpful guideline. We are all different. It just gives you a jumps start. Do you need the supplements? I didn't buy them until recently, so no. My doc recommended vit D, iron, and calcium, plus ground flax seed. So I have taken those. But the biggest reason why I support this diet is because of this: I was bleeding from my rectum. I went to a doc for a colonoscopy thinking I just had hemmrhoids. He told me that he was pretty sure I had Crohn's. The next day, I went strict on the BTD, and the bleeding was gone within a week. Any time I go off the diet, I get bleeding. Since then, I have been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, and my last colonoscopy was clean.
 
Last edited:
SAHM said:
find out your blood type and check out this site:
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I had never heard of the Blood Type diet. Frankly, that sounds like nonsense. Why would your blood type be significant for this? Its not like everyone with UC is type O and everyone with Crohn's is type B. It makes as much sense as basing your diet on your astrological sign.
 
You just never know, I would rather research these 'absurd' ideas than keeping getting prescribed different mediations to "see if will work".

2
 
Let me ask you this: why do you put the same food in your mouth that a person with a different blood type, when if you put their blood type in your body, your body will reject it? Check out the site, and you will see that many people are controlling Crohns and UC without meds. Considering that the medical community doesn't know what causes Crohns, or how to cure it, I'd say it makes sense to try food before you take meds that have side effects. The docs don't think food makes a difference because they don't treat people with different blood types differently. Ask your GI doc if they even know your blood type. They don't. I have kept my UC under control with the Blood Type Diet. So, I think it's a better option than meds.
 
I totally agree. I would rather try a different diet rather than medication. Thanks for the info. But where do you get the diet info...I couldn't find it on the website.

Thanks

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It's hard to navigate that website. I would highly recommend their book, Live Right for Your Blood Type. There are others, but that one has been the most informative for me. That Imuran scares me to death! That's what my doc wants to use on my son. Right now we're doing prednisone, which is strong stuff in its own right.
 
Thanks SAHM. I'll definitely check these out.

Have you heard of the book "the fourfold book to healing"? It's a little hippie-ish, but the principles are interesting. We should be eating clean & fresh, not processed and preserved ....our bodies aren't designed for the 'food' of today. They touch on digestive disorders too

2
 
jwfoise said:
I had never heard of the Blood Type diet. Frankly, that sounds like nonsense. Why would your blood type be significant for this? Its not like everyone with UC is type O and everyone with Crohn's is type B. It makes as much sense as basing your diet on your astrological sign.
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There MAY be something to the blood type diet though whether it helps control any forms of IBD, I don't know. It would make sense to me that people with different blood types do better eating or avoiding certain foods. As this article discusses, blood types are a product of evolution and likely came about as a result of certain diseases prevalent to certain areas. As different people have evolved to do better or worse with certain foods, one way to help determine which class of foods you do better or worse with might be via blood type. Just a theory of course. I don't feel we can definitively call it nonsense nor can we call it significant unless some quality scientific studies are given. But hey, if some people here find that they're doing better on it, more power to them.
 
My point of being on this site is to find other folks who have at least tried to go gluten free and how that effected their symptoms. My GI doc has gotten many of his patients off of their meds, with regular monitoring, just by going gluten free. It's one thing for me to do this for myself, but as a Mom, I would feel more comfortable doing it for my son, if I heard from other folks finding success in that as well. I guess I should be satisfied enough to hear it from my own GI doc, but I was hopeful to find someone on here I could chat with about it. My son's GI doc is trying to put him on the Wide World of Meds....
 
katielj said:
I am currently having a bad flare-up with my UC (to be honest my symptoms never fully go away even while on medication). I have chosen not to take my medication (Lialda) because I am 6 weeks pregnant; however I cannot ease these symptoms no matter how bland I eat. I can't imagine going through another 8/9 months of this ...I feel like my body is a hostile environment for my developing baby!

Can any please help?

Thank you. Katie

Katie I am brand new tonight, so pls bear with me. But I urge you to try high strength probiotics (50 Bil) with a really good health store supply. The actual refrigerated yoghurt is super good but something like $2.50 a day. You can get small probiotic pills in vials, excellent quality and same strength for $30 bottle that would last you a month. More and more reputable sites like Mayo Clinic, NHI etc are finding strong links between "inflammation" esp bacteria in your gut, as possible relationship or even possible cause of IBD. So taking the good probiotics would not likely ever hurt you or your baby, but might give your body the edge it needs to stave off or at least water down the symptoms. I'd sure recommend looking into this ASAP. (PS You DO know smoking can actually decrease the size of your baby at birth, right? Not good for either you or the baby!) I've never heard of probiotics being risky to baby or mother, but you can easily check that out. Good luck!
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Thanks so much Wyzwolfe. I was actually looking into this, I was recommended the refrigerated brand Bio-K. Have you heard of this?

I have given up on the third prescription they have given me - it stopped working after about two weeks, and the side effects were worse than my symptoms.... so I'm back to square one with my symptoms as bad as ever.

Thanks again for the info!

2
 

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