InstantCoffee Log, rather than bloat the weight gain thread.

Crohn's Disease Forum

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Figured it out, it looks like in just the 5 days or so that I went vegetarian I lost the ability to digest steak. I've had to take betaine hcl and enzyme capsules to get it to digest and I still get some minor issues.

I was thinking back on my diet and what I changed before I got worse, and one thing is I was reducing egg intake. So I'm looking at what nutrients eggs are rich in that might explain it:

In one large egg:
Vitamin A, 5% DV
Vit D 5% DV
Vit E 3%
Thiamin 3%
Riboflavin 16%
B6 4%
Folate 7%
B12 12%
Pantothenic Acid 8%
High in phosphorous and selenium which a high, complete amino acid profile.

They're also high in biotin, but I don't think it's a concern because biotin is generally plentiful in most foods.


So we already know about b12 deficiency and crohn's, but I don't think I'm deficient, since my sores seem to come back every time I take b12 supplements suggesting an excess.

A is possible - I've heard some stuff about A and crohn's but can't recall off the etop of my head. E maybe. I don't know anything about riboflavin, time to find out. Folate works synergistically with b12.

I also don't know a bout pantothenic acid, phosphorous, and little about selenium other than it binds to mercury and helps make it inert.
 
Well I'm still clearly flaring even if I don't eat steak. I'm thinking back over recent changes. I started drinking tap water at work instead of bottled. I haven't had as many pumpkin seeds or zinc containing supplements, and I've discontinued my r-lipoic acid.

I think it might be time for another intermittent fasting phase to get things back in order so I can move forward.

I'm gonna pick up some more sauerkraut and start my plan of attack.
 
Sorry things are not working out at the moment. Keep up the good fight. I'm sure you will get things back under control and moving forward once again soon enough.

I recently began drinking tap water once again. This was after a long absence of doing so. Things health wise have been progressively positively for me. I was nervous about the change. Happily so far the tap water doesn't appear to be a problem for me and my gut. It has been around 2 weeks since I made this water change, so it is something I still think of, with the long duration it takes to heal or conversely become ill. At least I suspect that is how it works for me.

Good luck once again.
 
Beach said:
Sorry things are not working out at the moment. Keep up the good fight. I'm sure you will get things back under control and moving forward once again soon enough.

I recently began drinking tap water once again. This was after a long absence of doing so. Things health wise have been progressively positively for me. I was nervous about the change. Happily so far the tap water doesn't appear to be a problem for me and my gut. It has been around 2 weeks since I made this water change, so it is something I still think of, with the long duration it takes to heal or conversely become ill. At least I suspect that is how it works for me.

Good luck once again.
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I worry a lot about the plumbing, toxins, metals etc. in certain buildings and neighborhoods. Too much, or too little, bacterias, etc. everything is a potential cause for concern.

It's unfortunate it's so cost prohibitive to get good water testing done.
 
likeleaves said:
vegetables must aggravate your system very severely - otherwise why leave them out so remarkably?
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I'm not so sure it's that. Certain ones do and certain ones don't. It seems like something has sent me on a crash course with a flare because it's been downhill since a few months back when I started to increase my intake of oats and I went from tolerating them well to not tolerating them at all.
 
InstantCoffee said:
Well I'm still clearly flaring even if I don't eat steak. I'm thinking back over recent changes. I started drinking tap water at work instead of bottled. I haven't had as many pumpkin seeds or zinc containing supplements, and I've discontinued my r-lipoic acid.

I think it might be time for another intermittent fasting phase to get things back in order so I can move forward.

I'm gonna pick up some more sauerkraut and start my plan of attack.
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I'm curious what brand of sauerkraut you buy? I thought most sauerkraut/fermented vegetables at the grocery store have been pasteurized thus killing off the good bacteria? I am thinking about making some at home since it is an easy procedure. I have had good luck with homemade kefir and yogurt and want to add fermented veggies to my list.
 
Eridon2002 said:
I'm curious what brand of sauerkraut you buy? I thought most sauerkraut/fermented vegetables at the grocery store have been pasteurized thus killing off the good bacteria? I am thinking about making some at home since it is an easy procedure. I have had good luck with homemade kefir and yogurt and want to add fermented veggies to my list.
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Bubbies, I get it at a health food store, it's expensive but I can tell it's good stuff, I always feel better after eating it. I just wish I liked it.

You can make your own too but I've never done it without it getting fungus.
 
Crohn's is finally coming under control this week, I don't know what worked because I carpet bombed it.

-Sauerkraut with supper every day
-Fulvic acid
-DMSO cream twice a day
-Taurine
-R-lipoic acid
-Stopped eating steak
-Fasting 16 hours a day
-Stopped chewing gum
-Stopped drinking tap water at work
-100mg zinc / day (diarrhea is both caused by and exacerbates zinc deficiency)
-75mg vitamin b6 / day
-S. boulardii and acidophilus probiotics
-Collagen chews
-Hibiscus tea
-andrographis + siberian ginseng

Things I was doing before the flare I continued so I can't really attribute success to them but they might have helped:
-psyllium
-diatomaceous earth
-bentonite clay
-POM juice (slightly increased intake)

I really think the sauerkraut might be a bit of a silver bullet in this arsenal. I wish I liked it more, I really should be eating it every day, at least 1 cup.

I'm also worried that experimenting with betaine hcl and digestive enzymes might have prompted the flare.
 
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I was pretty bad this weekend but pulled out of it. I bought Boswellia and Cat's Claw on Friday, it gave me issues that night so I skipped it the next day and tried just Cat's Claw the next morning because I've taken cat's claw with no problem in the past by the same brand. I had a family thing and ended up in the bathroom the whole time and left early.

I tried just Boswelia the next day (monday) and it was fine so I continued Boswelia.

Currently on:
-Intermittent fast
-Boswellia + Turmeric extract from NOW foods, not sure dose, 2 pills twice a day
-100mg zinc piccolonate
-1000mg taurine
-15000 iu vitamin D
-sauerkraut with dinner every night
-andrographis blend with siberian ginseng and elderberries twice a day
-DMSO cream every night before bed

I had a large new-york strip steak wrapped in an entire pack of bacon last night. My stomach wasn't happy, but not in a Crohn's way, more in the way you'd expect from eating that food as a healthy person lol.

My dinner is usually a large portion of meat (chicken, salmon, steak) and sometimes eggs, a protein shake, a glass of POM for potassium, sauerkraut, and some kayle. I'm going to slowly start expanding the fruit and vegetable portion of it.
 
Hope you are feeling better and getting some relief with current ideas. The mention of boswella gave me a chuckle. The vitamin shop I frequent has a salesman that pushes the herb. The moment I walk in he greets me, and goes on and on about boswella. One of these days he is likely to break me down and I'll pick up a bottle to try. I figure he is getting commission.

I've been feeling to well to find the need to try it though. Healing is slow though which is frustrating.

I read something interesting about sauerkraut. Some consider sauerkraut the first known cure for the vitamin C deficiency disease scurvy. Scurvy is known for causing bleeding in the gums and elsewhere, along with leading to a weekend immune system, leading to many infectious diseases. The famous English captain Cook brought sauerkraut onto his ships of exploration. As a result no one died from deadly scurvy.

Hard to believe how many sailors died from vitamin C defiency before it discovered that mostly fresh fruits and vegetables was the cause. Some estimated up to 2 million sailors perished from the nutritional deficiency. Before the discovery, European Admiralties would over load their war ships with sailors knowing that up to a quarter or more would die from scurvy. Just as many could be crippled and unable to work due to the deficiency.

What we call vitamin C, found in vitamin pills, does not cure scurvy.

Anyway, bit of a ramble with that. Hope you are making progress and moving forward.
 
Boswellia is interesting, it's listed on the University of Maryland Medical Center's site under Crohns.
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/crohns-disease

I am worried about the not using it for more than 1-2 months thing.

Here's a study on it http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11215357

The study confirms that therapy with H15 is not inferior to mesalazine.
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This study showed no benefit over placebo but also no adverse effects
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20848527

This site http://www.lifeextension.com/protocols/gastrointestinal/inflammatory-bowel-disease/page-06 says
Resin from the Boswellia genus of tree contains a powerful anti-inflammatory compound called acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid (AKBA).
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and mentions these trials, also mentions
An improved extract called AprèsFlex™, or Aflapin®, which combines AKBA with other non-volatile boswellia oils, demonstrated improved anti-inflammatory activity at a lower concentration when compared to other preparations standardized to the same percentage of AKBA (Sengupta 2011).
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It's definitely interesting.

The vitamin C required to prevent scurvy is very small, like lettuce leaves per week small. Preservation was of course the problem. That's why people rarely get it anymore, you'd need to be on an almost entirely meat and sugar diet.

I'm definitely doing better this week. No more diarrhea, but still some cramping, bloating and pain.

My cycling has improved by a lot, I can almost make it up a big hill without a break, and my legs feel tired at the end instead of my heart and lungs feeling like they're going to explode.

I've been on and off intermittent fasting and most days I have steak and sauerkraut with a bit of kayle for supper then wash it down with a chocolate shake of some sort.

Something been upsetting me a bit the past couple days, I think it's one of my snack foods or the chewing gum, I'll find out soon enough.

I need to order more fulvic acid but I just got hit with a ticket for late registration, which means I had to pay for emissions to pass then registration, my car tax came in and my cell phone bill needs to be renewed and after all that I need to have enough in the bank for car payment + student loan by the 14th and still have food to eat and buy gas.

Ah life.
 
Fantastic, glad to hear you are feeling better! Hope the improved health continues along with the bike rides.

I have poor energy issues. That's my main problem most of the time. Often I can push through the problem when riding a bike and playing a sport but that is painful and unpleasant.

Happily my energy the last few days has been pretty darn good. So to get rid of this problem a tennis hitting friend has suggested this summer if I should ever feel well and energetic to tell him. We would then hit tennis balls all the time. With the holiday here we are planning to hit 3 days this holiday weekend. It's going to be fun,... the first day and a half, and I suspect after that I will be complaining loudly. :p

Thanks for the information on Boswellia. One of these days I'm liable to give in to the sales rep at Vitamin World and give it a try. He's talented. I figure once he finishes college he'll make some firm a good salesman.

Best with the mountain of bills. That would be frustrating. And hope you have a chance to pick up some fulvic acid. I read good things about fulvic acid in the past.

For me I'll drink a little Willards water from time to time. I believe it is high in fulvic acid along with other items. I don't know if it is doing me any good, but the stomach is well enough so I continue to take it.
 
I don't think I could handle 3 days back to back of physical activity yet. Hopefully soon.

Tried making cauliflower bread grilled cheese. Looks like cauliflower is a no-go for me, oh well, I tried.

Also tried onion flakes on my steak which didn't work. I think the reason the onion powder is okay is because it's so old it's no longer onion powder, it's just bacterial culture lol. Idk how long it's been in the pantry.

I'm going to probably go back to a semi-ketogenic diet for a while with some leafy greens tossed in. It seems like all the fruits and vegetables I used to be okay with are no longer okay. I think it's time for a reset to just purely safe foods and taking psyllium twice daily to replenish the fiber-fed gut flora.

I'm almost out of Boswellia so I'm going to cycle off it for at least a month as recommended. I'm thinking of trying Astragalus next.
 
Ah, sounds like the Japanese aged garlic/ onion products Kyolic. I took Kyolic not that long ago to see if it would help me. I suspect the opposite occurred. Aged or fresh, the onion genus family is currently on my avoid list.

I'm in a bizarro world at the moment. I have periods of experiencing far to much energy, to the point that I need to exercise. Typically lifting weights overly exhausts me. Now I'm beginning to suspect weight lifting provides an energy pick me up. Very odd change of events. This to much energy issue should be taken care of in a few days. I'm playing tennis Wednesday evening in 100F degree weather with a guy that has 3 daughters that are driving him insane. I'll have to come up with a plan to distract him, as the more he mumbles about daughters, the harder to runs me around.

Good luck with the Keto diet. Hope it gets you feeling better soon.
 
I think my stomach has finally rejected coffee.

I don't know if there's anything left to live for now...

I have a bunch of login names to get changed.
 
theseawillrise said:
What happened?
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I've been getting stomach upset starting around lunch time and continuing through the day.

I started the process of elimination taking out seasonings, coconut oil, milk etc.

I was fasting one day and it happened shortly after my second cup of coffee (around mid day) so I narrowed it down to:
-milk (possibly just the special Fairlife I was drinking)
-coffee
-the bottled water
-my mug possibly leaking chemicals?

Anyway, I avoided all of those yesterday, then tried milk before bed, woke up fine, had a cup of coffee, boom stomach upset.

I've tried 3 different brands of instant coffee and same thing each time.
 
Yikes! I'm not a coffee drinker myself, but know some who are and would be terrified being around that person for long if that person didn't drink their coffee.

I just mention this as a friendly idea. I've noticed for me, some exercises cause stomach problems. The stomach issue will typically happen within 24 hour or more after the exercise.

I remember you mentioning that you bike ride for fun. Bicycle riding causing my stomach problems. Stomach crunches are another exercise that worry me. I consider them a 2 day flare in the making. If not tried already, you might laying off bike rides for a week or so to see if it helps. Just an idea. Hope you feel better soon!
 
I haven't even gotten to do any exercise because I've been too sick but I generally feel fine after working out.

I cut coffee Thursday, still no withdrawal symptoms, I feel much better both physically and mentally. Maybe it's for the better.

I just went on a literal 'long walk on the beach' date yesterday and feel great other than sore legs. We probably walked a few miles, was out from 11:40ish to 5:40 in the afternoon just walking most of the time.

I also can have my cookies again which I thought were making me sick - but I always dunked them in coffee, so things are starting to make sense.

I just don't understand why what I can consume is constantly changing, it worries me because I seem to lose more options than I gain.
 
Yeah, these are terribly frustrating disease. There are times I can understand why the old doctors would consult with the planets and stars to give a diagnosis and patients apparently believed. Maybe the moon's orbit is out of place leading to health issues? I say that jokingly of course. I was reading in an older book on how in the middle ages doctors when giving a diagnosis would check the stars and planets. How we think of and define diseases today could be thought of differently back then.

I'm a bit in a similar situation at the moment. I had great energy for awhile. It was wonderful fun having that. Then had a problem with the gut. Relatively mild problem but caused me to think about a few things. It caused me to add grass fed beef to the diet. And now the energy has gone. I thought today I will remove the beef from the diet, see if the energy returns on the fish diet by some point in the week. I'm wondering now if the attack I experienced was due to something else, such as to fiber, to such starch for bacteria/fungus to feed on, if Venus and Jupiter were in alinement that day. Grrrr.....
 
Worshiping the sun would get me about the same effective treatment I've had since 2010 from medical doctors with a lower price tag.

I really wish they would put more emphasis on understanding why food influences Crohn's so heavily and how we can use it to our advantage in a comprehensive way. Until we have a cure it's really the key to managing symptoms for many people, for it to be so poorly researched compared to things like genetic markers and biologics is outrageous, but they can't patent and sell you a diet like they can a pill.

It's a week now since I quit coffee and I think the most bizarre thing is the complete lack of withdrawal symptoms. No headaches or anything I usually associate with quitting coffee.

Things have been much better controlled lately.
 
Agree, it is frustrating that more hasn't been done researching and advising on dietary ideas for IBD conditions. From what I read It's one of those fuzzy areas of health care. There is little incentive to research much into, and without clear cut, step by step guidance on management many patients with our conditions take a pass on diet ideas.

I've improved my situation with dietary ideas though. I wish I was better, but I do what I can.

As last mentioned I was planning to back track, and return to a wild caught fish diet idea in hopes of regaining energy. So far so good. My energy levels are going back up. Grass fed beef is out of the diet and wild caught salmon with grass fed Irish cheese back in.

The last flare I had was unexpected. It was one of those scary types too, it was short lived but intense for a few hours. It has me puzzled a bit but remembered a new food I ate that day, cantaloupe. I know that pumpkin seeds are a big scary problem. Maybe all melons are off limits. I'm going with that theory. Anyway, bit of a ramble, but I'm glad the energy seems to be returning once again. Lots of questions remain but I'm pleased at the direction I'm heading.

Glad you are doing better and withdrawals not an issue with removing coffee. Hope things settle down and stabilize with that change.
 
Guess I need a name change. My stomach has flip-flopped, I can drink regular coffee but not instant.

My HS is flaring on my face and I had to shave my beard I'd been growing for months. I hope the girl I met doesn't mind if I look completely different on our second date lol.

I'm be really weary of fish diets, they're full of heavy metals that can exacerbate Crohn's and psychological conditions, on top of who knows how many other toxins. Wild caught doesn't really help with that as far as I'm aware.

I think part of the reason fish helps so much is because animal fat is full of arachidonic acid and other pro-inflammatory compounds and fish is very low in fat. It's really hard for Crohn's patients to reduce animal meat consumption because of their diet so fish is one way for them to maintain protein and calorie intake without a large amount of inflammatory saturated fats.

This is why I really wish I could tolerate enough foods to try a full vegetarian diet.
 
These IBD conditions really can have an effect on our appearance at times. It certainly can effect me. I was reading an article in the Dailymail yesterday about a model. She was a lovely looking girl naturally, developed UC, which she then received medication that resulted in her putting on a good amount of weight. She still looked great, but was fearful her modeling days were behind her. These disease really put the wear and tear on our bodies.

Ah, don't worry about me and the fish diet. It's working for me. I'm of course concerned about toxins and have read up on the topic. It is a big concern for many I realize. I've read too some believe it to be an over blown topic. The Japanese writers bring this up, the overblown part with their heavy fish and sea food diets.

With my consideration I'm hoping to be on the fish diet for as short of period of time. I don't like fish all that much! It's one of those outside of the box ideas. The main theory I have for me concerns the possibility that what ever the animal is eating could show up in the meat and effect me.

The good news for me is that while on this fish diet I have periods of much better energy. Being fatigued has been a huge issue for me. I also have periods of looking healthier. I lost some weight also which in my case is a positive. I also have a finger nail that used to be pitted and looked terrible. Now the finger nail looks great. No pitting to be seen now. So some good is going on I suspect. (At least my doctor would look at my finger nails. I'm not sure what he was up to with that, he never said, but have read that unhealthy looking finger nails can indicate health issues. Then again it has crossed my mind that my doctor could own a nail saloon outside of hospital work. Never did ask him about that.

I tried adding beef back into the diet a few weeks ago. It didn't work for me. It has me thinking two things, either my theory that I'm currently working on and why I'm eating fish, is correct Then again it simply could be that I have a problem with beef and potentially dairy products. I've avoided beef and dairy in the past but possibly didn't avoid long enough. Hmmm... Anyway something else for me to ponder on.

Good luck with the vegetarian diet. Hope you have a chance to give it a go and it helps greatly!

Arachidonic acid isn't a word I have heard in awhile. In a former life I used to work with different natural oil. I'm playing tennis tomorrow night with a lab chemist that used to test for the presence of different fatty lipids. Now he works in food safety. I'll probably get to hear about the latest potential food terrorist activity.
 
Yeah, it's not a big deal to have to shave the beard, it grows back pretty fast but y'know, there's the awkward in-between stages and stuff, at least I'm not one of those people that only looks right with a beard.

It's a pretty big difference though.
http://i.imgur.com/HLAmHYum.jpg
to
http://i.imgur.com/pHEaNoJm.jpg

The HS is improving, I've been using hydracolloid bandages which usually cause the skin to dissolve so I can drain it, but instead when I pulled it off it had shrunk and there was no drainage. Somehow it only seems to open up the skin on very unhealthy, near-surface lesions. Now there's still clearly inflammation but no signs of fluid.

I've been taking zinc, magnesium, vitamin A and Lysine daily, but the lysine and A are most new so I think they're likely the ones most responsible for its shrinking. That and possibly reducing my skin-care routine. It flared after I started using rosehip oil to reduce the scarring in the area. I've noticed certain skin care products that are otherwise okay for my skin will cause the areas on my jaw that are scarred to itch and become inflamed, it's pretty bizarre.

I wonder if there's something to the fish. When I recovered several times it was on a high tuna and salmon diet. Maybe it's the omega 3s in fish oil, or the vitamin A?

I've also heard theories that sometimes introducing heavy metals to the body can introduce short-term relief despite causing long-term problems, but I'm not sure, a lot of the chelation therapy people are very pseudo-sciencey and too bent on pushing an agenda without facts.

How was your beef prepared? Was there seasoning added? How well done was it? I've found overcooked / seared beef can be a problem for me if I'm already experiencing minor symptoms.

What I'm hearing about Arachidonic acid is troubling. It seems to be one of if not the compound in saturated fats that makes them so bad for you. Especially because it means no vegetable oils which makes cooking harder too. Gonna have to stock up on no-stick pans and find a bunch of meals that don't need to be heated if I do go vegetarian.

My plan is to find some kind of lentil-like food I can tolerate and force feed myself rice and chickpeas until I find a way to prepare them I can tolerate. I'm thinking of getting a food processor to make my own hummus.

Ideally, in a perfect world, if it works I will hopefully regain the ability to tolerate more spices so I can make vegetarian dishes more palatable as spices are the key.

Have fun with your tennis. Don't let the food terrorists bite.
 
That is quite a change in appearance. Looks good. For me I've been known to joke that if it is ever necessary i could be quite the robber. At least my appearance can change significantly even to the point that my eye color goes from bright blue to greenish brown. They would never pick me out of a line up! Hopefully it will never come to that point but it could be a potential upside to having colitis I joke.

I try not to think to much about why the fish diet is helping. There are several potential reasons I've thought, from the food wild fish eat, to the nutrients found in fish. I know selenium is one benefit sometimes written about. What ever it is, my hope is to grow stronger and eventually add further to my diet.

Coming out of the starting gate with adding foods I bombed. The grass fed beef wasn't spiced. I kept it plain with only kosher salt sprinkled onto it. It does have me thinking about beef and dairy products though to some extent. I eat wild fish but also eat grass fed Irish cheese. Basically I'll eat Kerry Gold cheese on a regular bases. So maybe aged fermented dairy isn't an issue. I don't know. I know very well what will happen if I begin eating all bird foods, such as eggs, chicken meat, turkey. I'll be sick to the stomach. My energy levels will be decent though. It's another oddity. Maybe if I stuck with the bird diet longer the gut will heal. I've found it to easy for me to over analyze.

Anyway, I'm making progress with what is important to me, gut better, and more energy most of the time. Hopefully I'll get something sorted out this year. Next new food added to the diet should be in another month.

Thanks, tennis will be great tonight. The biggest worry is the blowing wind. The courts are near the university pig farm, and when the wind blows from the south.....
 
I've heard a bit about selenium too. Apparently it helps bind to the mercury in fish and make it less toxic or something. It's also very important for hormone regulation.
However I found this
Selenium intakes in North America, even in low-selenium regions, are well above the RDA [18,19]. However, people in some other countries whose diet consists primarily of vegetables grown in low-selenium areas are at risk of deficiency [6]
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However Crohn's has been linked to low selenium and glutathione peroxidase which is an important anti-oxidant enzyme, and crohn's symptoms have been strongly correlated with oxidative stress
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1415013

I have never had a diet that started off making me sick and 'got better'. I guess fiber KIND OF. I needed to keep it really small and build up or I'd end up running to the bathroom and feeling a bit off but never really sick-sick.

Every time I tried something that started making me sick and stuck it out, it always got worse. Veganism, garlic when I couldn't tolerate it, oats, etc. If poultry doesn't agree with you I would just avoid it, but it's definitely interesting to note. I'd love to understand the mechanism behind it.

What about pork products? They are the most likely to disagree with people from my understanding and many traditional doctors from eastern medicine recommend it as a first thing to eliminate for conditions like IBD.
 
Pork is a problem food for me. It's a delayed problem also. It takes around a week or two of eating pork for this to occur. What occurs is my gums will swell up painfully and bleed a good amount. This is a consistent result. it's happened several times. I don't recall what my energy levels were like when eating pork. My gut was in decent shape I recall. With the recent poor showing with beef, I'll likely try eating pork once again at some point, watching my energy levels. If they remain good I'll see what I can do to avoid the gum issue - and not schedule any dental appointments during this time. Dental hygienists panic at the sight of swelled up gums, and no amount of explaining that it was the pork that caused it will be believed.

I'm feeling like a thread stealer at this point. My apologies for all of my writing. Hope you get yourself back on track, feel better with the gut soon. These diets for IBD conditions can be a real headache, as I've discovered. Good luck.

On leaving, for laughs I'll mention a book I recently ordered. I've heard over the years of people that reportedly can live on sunlight. They eat no food, drink no water, reportedly. Doctors have reportedly studied them too and found them mysteries. And as can be expect such people are typically found in countries were mysticism is more common. Well, I learned of a German scientist that reportedly lived on light for a time, and wrote a book about his experience. Yes! My stomach problems are solved. I'll give up this problematic eating food, and live on sunlight, pixie dust and rainbows.

The book can be seen here:

Life from Light: Is it possible to live without food?<BR>A scientist reports on his experiences

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1905570058/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm leaving soon for Florida to put this idea into practice. And if I find myself hungry and eat, I plan to remain in Florida soaking up the winter sun regardless.
 
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:thumleft:

That's good. I can ramble on about myself to much at times it seems. Awesome tennis tonight! That was undoubtably the hardest and most consistent I've hit tennis balls in a decade. All good.

With diet and gut health I believe I can white lie to myself about how I'm improving and doing better. It isn't easy to determine progress. It's hard to lie about sports. You're either strong and doing well or you are not. At least that is my opinion. Even had a few spectators watching this evening. :rof:
 
I've been having on and off issues for the past 2 weeks, I'm starting to think it was my new psyllium husks in a pill. Not sure why it is, whether it's the pill capsule material or the way it digests differently in a pill form.

I was really careful monday about everything I ate, then took 6 before bed and had an awful night's sleep. Last night I didn't take any and things were much better.

Guess I'll stick with the loose stuff, even if it tastes likes the bottom of a hamster cage.
 
And I figured it out. It's red meat =/

All I had in the house was bacon and steak, so I barely ate anything all weekend and by the time I went shopping monday I could barely push the cart.

I can eat oats again. Why does my stomach just do a 180 every 6 months or so?
 
It's maddening at times with the twists and turns our conditions take. I attribute my stomach confusion to the wide variety of activities, foods and supplements that can upset my stomach, along with slow healing. I'm avoiding many things at the moment, and have different theories being juggled but avoiding beef and gelatin is at the top of my list. I'm doing better as a result.
 
I wasn't going to write as much! But probably should update last nights post. it was on my mind at the time.

I've had some success with a fish diet the gut being well, and energy improved. Early on the diet was mainly a wild caught salmon diet. When I added tuna in olive oil to the diet a few weeks ago I noticed that my energy levels have not been all that great. I can't deny avoiding tuna and olive oil for a few days has me feeling more energized once again. I've done this a few times with the same improved energy result.

As usual with this confusing condition, is it a tune or olive allergy or maybe difficulty digesting say olive oil. Why also was I concerned with beef. Is is a problem food for me or was I overly critical when I reintroduced it to the diet. I'll have to retest it again, next month. These diet trials are so much fun, oy.
 
I have trouble with olive oil, I don't think the fats in it are as healthy as people say.

Have you tried supplementing fish oil for EPA / DHA? It's a common deficiency and could be why you're experiencing a benefit from fish. I think it's also anti-inflammatory and prebiotic.

I'm considering doing an anti-micriobial diet focused on restricting acellular carbohydrates to kill any candida / pathogenic bacteria in the gut.

Going to reduce meat intake, that seemed to be what set me off. I didn't realize how I was slowly adding more and more meat and less other things. When I last recovered I was reducing meat for other things to the point I was only having a small portion of meat a day and the rest was eggs and grain based snack foods.
 
Yes, I used to take a large amount of fish oil. I stopped fish oil as I didn't think it was helping. I stopped believing in the cholesterol theory for heart disease also.

Good luck on the anti-microbial diet and reducing meat in the diet. Hope it gets you going forward once again!

I mentioned on the sight yesterday an anti-microbial oxygen idea I do when I'm at home. Thought to mention in case it might help you. I'll vortex water, which adds oxygen bubbles to it. The first time I did that I couldn't believe it as I was entirely well to the stomach. I stayed well for awhile to. Then it stopped working, and began working once again later on. Sounds all to familiar.

The vortex water simple idea being that good bacteria do not mind oxygen while bad bacteria prefer to not be exposed to it. At least that is what I read in an oxygen book for health. It's easy enough to do with stirring water for a few minutes.

It's been a good year for me health wise. It would be nice if olive oil and olives were a problem. Both are relatively easy for me to avoid. Time will tell as always. It's nice to have energy today. Hoping tomorrow and into the weekend remains the same as that will likely help decide it.

And humorously I have couple olive trees growing in my yard. If olives do turn out to be a problem I'll be looking to remove and plant new trees I suppose.
 
That sounds counter-productive to my understanding. The gut microbiota we need most are anaerobic and don't survive well in oxygen, that's why FMT is so difficult and needs to be performed with a fresh sample within 5 minutes of harvesting, because the anaerobic bacteria we need to transfer do not like oxygen rich environments.

Invasive bacteria tend to be very flexible.
E.coli is a facultative anaerobic (that makes ATP by aerobic respiration if oxygen is present, but is capable of switching to fermentation or anaerobic respiration if oxygen is absent)
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Listeria and klebsiella is the same as e. coli.

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria is the bacteria that is responsible for causing tuberculosis, or, in most instances this is the mycobacteria behind the infection. These bacteria require a lot of oxygen their very makeup is aerobic which is true of animals, fungi and many other bacteria.
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I'm still having issues, but I haven't consumed meat in about a week and I'm trying to increase intake of plant matter to replace it slowly.

I had to fall back on chocolate shakes a few times to supplement my eating but now those too seem to be giving me issues.

I've been way under eating the past few weeks but I'm starting to have more energy and feel better eating mostly just rice, sunflower seeds and roast edamame.
 
All I can say is the oxygen water has worked well for me, in the past. I'm not doing that idea currently, but will once again once I return home in a week. I don't have the oxygen book with me so can't reference it, but I see on the internet there is a debate over the yeast candida over growth and oxygen, does it or does it not effect the yeasts growth. Some say no, others say yes. Possibly that is what caught my eye in the past and had me vortexing water to increase the oxygen content.

Its not much fun eating the same foods over the over. I'm dong the same pretty much though. Glad you have more energy. I'm back to the original diet I ate this summer that energized me. I think I have more energy. It's always hard to tell strange enough. I'll know for sure though when I lift weights and feel energized from it. Most of the time when I lift I feel run over for a day or two. On this diet, after a period of time following, the opposite happened, at least for a period this summer. Those were good fun weeks.
 
Yay! The good energy seems to have returned. I just mention as I worked out lifting weights, also helped cut down a tree. I also played tennis the other night. Typically any of these activities would have me fatigued and hurting greatly for a day or two.

Now, after returning to the wild salmon diet, I'm feeling energetic. I have little pain too.

This is what I experienced before. I'm hoping it continues, and hoping I can eventually figure out new foods to add to the diet. I'm sure I will eventually.
 
Glad it's working out. There does seem to be some magic in fish, idk if it's just the DHA / EPA or what.

My condition has continued to worsen but I think I finally have something to go one. I'm starting to believe it's all the sugar free gum I've been having. It doesn't seem to trigger symptoms itself so I overlooked it, but the ingredients may be negatively impacting my gut biome or trigggering inflammation that makes other food harder to digest.

I'm going to cut the gum out and take a lot of probiotics and l-glutamine to try to fix what's been done and hope things start stabilizing. I've hardly been eating more than 1 meal a day.
 
That is awful. My heart goes out to you. Take care of yourself, and I hope you get something going once again with the diet, or supplements, medications, what have you, to feel better.

I would guess you are onto something with the sugarless gum. My father has big health issues with sugarless products. Even small amounts will give him nasty headaches and upset stomachs.

I wasn't going to bring it up, but will mention, I recall in the past your mentioning taking zinc. Zinc is a problem supplement for him. It causes me severe stomach issues. If still taking, it might be worth a vacation from zinc just to see if that helps. Just a friendly suggestion.

I keep chugging along on the fish diet. I'm thinking olive oil and olives might be a problem. Hard to say of course but tuna in olive is out. It's now down to just salmon with meals, which isn't bad, but I'm ready to add some other protein to the diet in a week.
 
Problems with zinc comes from two things, one is the type of zinc, some are more easily bioavaible and cause less upset. Citrate is the easiest to digest I think. A lot of store brands are gluconate or oxide which can cause gastric distress.

The other is low stomach acid - because zinc takes acid to digest.

I have a very acidic diet and always buy a good source like citrate or piccolonate (piccolonate is best for hormonal balance).

I was having salmon over creamed cheese on rice cakes last week. Was an interesting change, but the rice cakes didn't sit well after a few days. I think they might be fine once I get back on track.

I'm gotta pick up some more glutamine and see if I have arginine around still, and if not pick some up.

I really hope something works, I've in a state where, I believe, most people would go to the doctors, but I don't really think it would help, I've been sicker than this and they didn't do anything.

I think my only options now are like... LDN?
 
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Day 2 or 3 without gum I'm improving. Now I'm starting to suspect I might have low level Phenylketonuria.

My diet seems similar to one of someone with pku, I seem to have a negative reaction to pku containing gum, and I did better supplementing with tyrosine, 5-htp and l-dopa which are the primary deficiencies caused by toxic phenylalanine buildup.

Thinking of inquiring to the doctors about a test.
 
Yeah, the gum was definitely the issue, it's been a slow road recovering my apetite and energy is still low but I'm getting full nights sleep again... sort of... but that's my own fault for staying up too late to raid with my WOW guild.

Trying to find out how I want to eat going forward, I've grown accustomed to not spending half my budget on steak and having expendable income lol, I bought a lot of guitar stuff to self medicate the sickness.
 
Glad you are still kicking and doing a little bette. I hope that is it with the artificial sweeteners. As mentioned they certainly do a number on my father.

Ruff day for me. This is probably the worst day of the year so far, and I'm not all that tired. Kind of nice, in a backwards kind of way. I did some moving around that involved my stomach muscles more that I wanted. I knew I was going to be sick from it, just not this sick. Well, hopefully the stomach will settle down soon. I have a 3 day drive beginning Saturday. Being terribly sick on the road would be awful.
 
You've just described one of my anxieties. I drove almost an hour to a renaissance fair Saturday and my stomach had started off funky but it calmed down by the time I got there.

I'm always ready to look up the nearest best buy for a bathroom lol. There's always one near by.
 
Oh I know, it is nerve racking. I was chuckling at myself, I have Imodium stashed away all over the car and in bags. I bought another bottle this morning. I believe that makes 5 bottles. Imodium doesn't help much but in case of emergency it's good to have around.

I remember a butt and gut doctor getting worked in one or our talks. I was super thin at the time, and heroine use was on the rise. He lectured me, finger even wagging toward my face, that he could tell if I was taking drug or not by how large my colon was. If constipated he would know I was an illegal drug user. I remember thinking incredible! if true could I shoot up at the hospital. Maybe I should see if there are some drug dealers around the area before the trip.

I hate being on the road but I'm confident I'll be OK this trip. Have good energy today which is amazing considering how poorly i felt yesterday. That historically is the two worries for me, all day flare, and zero energy/ overwhelming fatigue. I might have one of my problems taken care of with this salmon fish diet.
 
I'm honestly not sure if immodium type stuff does anything for me.
I'll confess that after I had a few surgeries (tooth, chronic abscesses etc.) I would keep the painkillers and use them when I had a really really bad crohn's flare but had to get to work. IDK if they stopped me up but sure made being underslept and feeling horrible tolerable. I don't really consider it abuse as they were prescribed and I was just using them off label responsibly rather than recreationally.

My sunflower seed crunch bars are setting me off now. Not thrilled with this, they were one of my few sanity foods.
 
It is terribly frustrating when a food that you didn't think was a problem, becomes a problem. I'm similar to you in some respects at the moment. I'm thinking now that potatoes are a problem, and possibly the whole nightshade family. Allergy to the nightshade family has been a long time concern of mine but I never could get it to work. And eating some potatoes I record hasn't been a problem. So anyway, I removed potato from my already limited diet and the result has been improved energy levels and less fatigue. This is a short term result though. The big think is long term energy gains. I'll see.

Understandable about the painkillers. These IBD conditions are horribly debilitating and pain management is needed.

I'm currently reading a book by Dr. Meg Patterson on reasons why people take drugs recreationally, how little is understood about addiction, and her way for over coming different addictions. it is absolutely fascinating to me at least at how large the illegal and legal prescription recreational drug trade is. I knew it was big but had no idea how popular and large it was. Drug distribution networks must be everywhere and enormous.
 
This is awesome, at least for me. As is usually the case, I've had confusion once I added a couple new foods to the diet. The new foods were potatos, and cantaloupe. When I became ill I jumped onto the idea that cantaloupe was the problem. I'd eaten potatoes for awhile and didn't seem to have a problem with them. I suspect now I was wrong. It's just that I notice once avoiding potatoes some sores on my tongue cleared up. I've known historically when the tongue looks health the stomach tends to do well. The stomach of late is further improved.

There are more problems, but hoping I'm back on track. There for awhile at least I had a good thing going. Just thought to mention as it is confusing figuring out problem foods. They seem fine for awhile, then possibly damage occurs over time. That is at least my guess with the latest food idea.
 
InstantCoffee said:
I've been having on and off issues for the past 2 weeks, I'm starting to think it was my new psyllium husks in a pill. Not sure why it is, whether it's the pill capsule material or the way it digests differently in a pill form.

I was really careful monday about everything I ate, then took 6 before bed and had an awful night's sleep. Last night I didn't take any and things were much better.

Guess I'll stick with the loose stuff, even if it tastes likes the bottom of a hamster cage.
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I had issues putting psyllium in my oatmeal, it caused cramping for me likely because it was absorbing all the moisture in my intestine, letting it dissolve in water then drinking it is the only safe way, the bottle usually has a warning on the side of it, but you said it was in pill form so I guess that's another lesson in the supplement industry and how its highly unregulated.

In my experience highly fermentable foods like fiber should be eaten in the morning and not at night. and all your food should be eaten 5 hours before bedtime because intestinal movement really starts to slow down by then and you don't want something sitting in your small intestine. I recall a study that showed amylase production was correlated with circadian rythm.
 
InstantCoffee said:
And I figured it out. It's red meat =/

All I had in the house was bacon and steak, so I barely ate anything all weekend and by the time I went shopping monday I could barely push the cart.

I can eat oats again. Why does my stomach just do a 180 every 6 months or so?
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there is a study that showed red meat as a risk factor for relapse in ulcerative colitis.

This may now change as Jowett and colleagues1 in this issue of Gut present interesting and clinically novel data studying the role of dietary factors on the clinical course of UC (see page 1479). In this prospective cohort study, they investigated the effects of habitual diet on relapses of disease. Impressively, 96% of patients (n = 191) completed the study. Dietary factors such as red and processed meat, protein, and alcohol, as well as sulphur and sulphate intake were positively associated with relapses.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1774255/

another example of a diet study on crohn's semi vegetarian diet
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/achieving-remission-of-crohns-disease/

I mostly eat a lacto-vegetarian diet, but every 1-2 weeks I'll eat fish, and sometimes chicken so i rarely if ever eat meat in general, pretty never eat red meat. Red meat is also connected to developing colon cancer there is a type of molecule in it that is bad bacteria can eat or something like that it's a sugar like molecule that can increase inflammation.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25548184

fish on the other hand seems to lower the risk of colon cancer.
 
InstantCoffee said:
I have trouble with olive oil, I don't think the fats in it are as healthy as people say.

Have you tried supplementing fish oil for EPA / DHA? It's a common deficiency and could be why you're experiencing a benefit from fish. I think it's also anti-inflammatory and prebiotic.

I'm considering doing an anti-micriobial diet focused on restricting acellular carbohydrates to kill any candida / pathogenic bacteria in the gut.

Going to reduce meat intake, that seemed to be what set me off. I didn't realize how I was slowly adding more and more meat and less other things. When I last recovered I was reducing meat for other things to the point I was only having a small portion of meat a day and the rest was eggs and grain based snack foods.
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there may even be bacteria in olive oil and on olives, from what i read its a big problem in olive production. I soak my whole canned olives in vinegar for 24 hours, if i eat olive oil I will only cook with it to destroy the bacteria /organism's. I eat mostly no-gmo canola oil spectrum brand because its high in omega 3. stay away from cheap canola.
 
InstantCoffee said:
Glad it's working out. There does seem to be some magic in fish, idk if it's just the DHA / EPA or what.

My condition has continued to worsen but I think I finally have something to go one. I'm starting to believe it's all the sugar free gum I've been having. It doesn't seem to trigger symptoms itself so I overlooked it, but the ingredients may be negatively impacting my gut biome or trigggering inflammation that makes other food harder to digest.

I'm going to cut the gum out and take a lot of probiotics and l-glutamine to try to fix what's been done and hope things start stabilizing. I've hardly been eating more than 1 meal a day.
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Yes, sucralose has been linked to development of ibd, so other artificial sweeteners may also have negative affect on microbiome. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202359/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18800291
 
InstantCoffee said:
Problems with zinc comes from two things, one is the type of zinc, some are more easily bioavaible and cause less upset. Citrate is the easiest to digest I think. A lot of store brands are gluconate or oxide which can cause gastric distress.

The other is low stomach acid - because zinc takes acid to digest.

I have a very acidic diet and always buy a good source like citrate or piccolonate (piccolonate is best for hormonal balance).

I was having salmon over creamed cheese on rice cakes last week. Was an interesting change, but the rice cakes didn't sit well after a few days. I think they might be fine once I get back on track.

I'm gotta pick up some more glutamine and see if I have arginine around still, and if not pick some up.

I really hope something works, I've in a state where, I believe, most people would go to the doctors, but I don't really think it would help, I've been sicker than this and they didn't do anything.

I think my only options now are like... LDN?
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stay away from arginine, not only will it promote blood flow if you are bleeding, its used in a pathway in inflammation which creates byproducts which then feed bad bacteria in the gut.http://science.sciencemag.org/content/339/6120/708.full

if anything follow a low arginine diet, which would actually be low in meat because meat seems to be high in arginine, but so is peanut butter which you should also seldomly eat because its one of the most allergenic food products on the market and contains a whole bunch of crazy stuff.
 
wildbill_52280 said:
Yes, sucralose has been linked to development of ibd, so other artificial sweeteners may also have negative affect on microbiome. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202359/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18800291
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I buy sucralose free gum because sucralose is a strong trigger for me. I believe it's the phenylalinine I'm reacting to.

Right now I'm back on a ketogenic diet as anything with sugar seems to be triggering symptoms. I can't eat enough complex carbs to sustain a healthy diet so I'm just going to eliminate carbs for now.

That's an interesting tidbit on arginine because studies on use of glutamine for crohn's suggest it's not very effective unless paired with arginine.

I'm an advocate of fasting and it's worked for me in the past but it's very difficult and sometimes not easy to do when having other issues.
 
Instantcoffee,

I didn't see it mentioned on your blog. Another idea you might look into, if not already, is low dose naltrexone (LDN). I read it is a hit of miss medication for those with IBD conditions. The other day though i was reading of another person with a colitis issue that found LDN helpful. Thought to mention in case.
 
I know that in order to revisit my doctor he's going to want to do follow up scans that I can't afford. It will take all $1500 of my deductible to get a colonoscopy / endoscopy. I don't have that.
 
Understand, and sorry to hear that. My deductible is high also.

I'm pretty happy the direction I'm going on, once again, with my diet. My energy is good. My biggest problem, if one wants to call it that, is using to much of the new energy up with exercises. If the latest diet idea doesn't workout I was thinking for myself of ordering online over seas low dose naltrexone. I've read others on another sight that do this and found the LDN just as good as the prescription. We'll see though. Not the best route for me to take obviously, but would be nice if it helped.
 
No idea what's going on anymore. Only thing I'm certain of is meats seem to be making me worse but not having meat hasn't fixed the other problems.

I haven't been able to tie it to any particular thing I'm eating. It seems I'm good every morning from about 9am to 12 then start getting gassy and burning sensations getting worse throughout the afternoon and night.

At first I thought it was coffee so I started only having coffee in the morning and that didn't fix it.

My lunch has changed between a kayle salad with deli meats and cheese and gluten free mac n cheese neither seem to matter. Dairy doesn't seem related as I've tried cutting out dairy already.

I was having pudding for breakfast and it was fine, I had it before bed and had a bad stomach ache all night.

I can't find anything that would consistently suggest an exposure to a food at a time of day that should be triggering symptoms. The only thing I'm left to guess at is some kind of natural hormonal cycle like the rise and fall of cortisol.
 
I'm sorry to hear the diet ideas are no longer working. I had the opinion from past writings that was the direction you were heading unfortunately. All to often it seems something works for awhile, then for what ever reason it stops. It does make one wonder about hormone levels, alignment of the planets, super full moon, etc. :p

Good luck going forward. Hope you are able to discover something helpful.

I have the sense that you enjoy researching ideas. I ran across an idea the other week that might be helpful. Hard to say of course. It might or might not interest you.

I've mentioned in the past that I've been reading about the work of Dr. Meg Patterson. She was a surgeon that developed an electrical device to help people over come drug addictions.

A paragraph she wrote about withdrawals caught my attention. It had me thinking about stomach conditions. Dr. Patterson was discussing her work with one of her more famous patients, well known musician Eric Clapton. What she mentioned was this. Treatment was going well for the first 2 days for Mr Clapton. He was not experiencing withdrawals from drugs and in general was feeling well.

Unexpectedly on the 3rd day he began experiencing withdrawals. His symptoms were typical of drug withdrawals, as he had an upset stomach, diarrhea, and vomiting.

After examining her electrical machine, she discovered a wire had come loose. Mr Clapton was not receiving the tiny electrical charge the machine created. Once the faulty wiring was corrected, Eric's withdrawal symptoms, upset stomach, went away.

The drug addiction theory Dr. Patterson developed goes along these lines. Drug addicts loose their ability to create natural opiates/endorphins. As a result, once outside drug stimulus is removed, the body is not able to compensate by creating natural opiates. That in turn leads to withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawals can include upset stomach, diarrhea and sometimes vomiting.

Tiny electrical stimulus is able to signal to the body to create natural opiates. For what ever reason these natural opiates help regulate GI function.

The addiction and withdrawal idea brought up by Dr. Patterson reminds me of the theory mentioned with the generic drug LDN. I do not believe it is known why LDN helps some Crohns. MC and UC patients. LDN does elevate natural opiate/ endorphin levels though.
 
That actually fits in nicely with the amino-acid responsive therapy I believe but it's still something that's way outside the bounds of what one can effectively use without professional intervention.
 
I've not heard of amino acid responsive therapy. I'll have to look into that.

There is an idea that can raise endorphin levels, and can be done at home relatively inexpensively. Inferred lights will raise endorphin levels along with some hormone levels apparently.

Typically for pain relief inferred lights are used. I was reading this evening that inferred heat lights will raise endorphin levels.

I had not realized that about raising endorphin levels. What makes that interesting to me is that very early this year I began using inferred lights on a regular bases. When watching TV I would heat up the bottom of my feet, and sometimes I would warm my hands up with the heat light. I hadn't given it to much thought really, other than the inferred light was nice to use on cold days.

Early this year, while I was using the lights, I was well to the stomach nearly all the time. Later when I left home for a few months this spring and summer, I stopped using the inferred lights. During that time the stomach was not as healthy. It has been a mystery to me why that happened.

I'm now home, and I just happened a couple days ago to begin using the inferred heat lights. I've noticed that the gut has been improved nicely the last couple of days.

It's all speculation of course. Two days means little, but if something positive comes from using these lights for me I'll pass that information on, in case it might help you. The inferred lights are relatively inexpensive. I imagine inferred heat bulbs could be used instead too.
 
Amino acid responsive therapy uses 5-htp and L-tyrosine to balance the production of dopamine and serotonin in the body.
Crohn's often comes hand in hand with depression and balancing these two amino acid precursors often puts both in remission, but requires advanced urinalysis over months to get the levels and dosage right. Improper doses can lead to bad side effects like anxiety attacks, worsening depression and crohn's symptoms, insomnia etc. and that's just based on my personal experience.
 
I appreciate the information. I didn't look into amino acid therapy today but plan to do so soon.

Tiring low energy day. Bit on the worn down side this evening too. The good news, the gut is hanging in there doing well. Felt upbeat despite the fatigue. I'll continue with the infrared heat idea. As always with these things, time is the deciding factor if an idea helps or not.
 
Thought to give a quick update on my attempts at raising endorphin levels by using infrared lights. After a week, it appears to be working. At least the stomach has been completely well during this time. Hopefully the good results will continue. Additionally my energy levels are improving. I was tired yesterday but that was expected since I lifted weights in the morning. Today I'm feeling energetic.

What I do is shine an infrared light onto the bottom of my feet, and onto a hand 15 minutes at a time. i'll do this in the morning and in the evening. I'll watch TV while doing it. This is the light I use:

Infrared Massager and Heating Device with a Replacement Bulb Included, Infrarex

https://www.amazon.com/Infrared-Mas...qid=1479908841&sr=8-5&keywords=infrared+light

Reading further on increasing endorphin levels I ran into an interesting mention personal to me. There are of course many ways to raise feel good endorphin levels. One of the more famous ways of raising endorphins is by exercise. Some call it the runs high. There is sunbathing, which not only raises endorphins but other hormone levels. Other pleasure endorphin raising activities include eating chocolate, sex, shopping, etc.

What was interesting to me was a mention on music. A few paragraphs in a book I have mentioned listening to enjoyable music raises endorphin levels. Tests were done on this measuring endorphin levels. The researchers even gave music listeners the drug naloxone to see if the enjoyment of listening to music would stop. it did. Those listening to enjoyable music stopped enjoying the music after receiving the anti opiate/endorphin medication naloxone. (I think it was naloxone.)

Why this interested me is that for as long as I can remember when I have an upset stomach and in pain, I've found historically listening to my music headset and walking around doing chores will help settle the painful stomach. Music listening wasn't a cure but was helpful.

I'm still watching what I eat. The foods I'm currently testing by avoiding are the nightshade family.
 
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That's pretty interesting. Might have to look into these. I've wanted to pick up a sun lamp for my office as well to help with vitamin D.

I just bought a huge tub of l-glutamine, some raw honey on the comb, and pomegranate juice concentrate. My stomach doesn't seem to like the pomegranate juice, but I usually drink POM juice which makes me question if it's really the same thing why can I have on but not the other?

I've been eating pretty light and safely, starting and ending each day with psyllium husks.

I've been taking a multivitamin for the b12 and Trimethylglycine twice daily.

Some improvement over the past week but still pretty sensitive to a lot of foods.
 
That sounds delicious eating honey on a comb. It's been a long while since I've had that. As a kid that was something common around our house. I'll have to see if I can locate some around here in town.

Well, I had all kinds of good energy today. No fatigue to speak of. That was a nice rare treat for me.
 
I think I might have figured something out from another thread around here, I can't remember which one. There was a discussion about whey protein being similarly effective to l-glutamine.

Often times during extended periods of sickness I'd start supplementing my diet with whey. I'd get better, start eating healthier foods and eventually stop consuming the whey as i was getting all my protein needs through whole foods.

Now I'm wondering if the whey was in some part responsible for my remissions. I never really kept track of it because I never thought of it as a possible agent for that - in fact I was suspicious of additives in it for worsening my symptoms.

I have a tub of ovaltine around and one of the main ingredients is whey and I seem to feel much better after having it. I think this might be something, so I'm ordering unflavored whey protein.
 
That would be wonderful news if it is whey protein that has helped in the past, and overlooked today. I hope it works out for the best.

My diet ideas and using infrared lights to in theory increase endorphin levels keeps working for me. The gut is doing quite well. I've even stressed it a time. Normally I'd be ill after the test. Not this time. My complaint now has to do with the heated olympic pool I discovered. It has been great fun to have extra energy of late, to swim for extended periods of time. I need to learn though that I shouldn't spend more energy than I can afford.
 
I chugged ovaltine all day yesterday. I had tuna + mayo and it didn't make me sick like it usually does. Also had some store brand egg nog.

At the end of the day I had my last can of kombucha and it made me really sick overnight, to the point of nearly throwing up. I guess that stuff is still toxic to me.

I might have to grab some infrared lights and try those out. You just shine them on your feet for a certain amount of time every day?
 
Kombucha didn't work for me either unfortunately.

I'll shine the infrared lights onto the bottom of my bare feet and a hand while watching TV. (I have two infrared lights) I'll do that for 15 minutes at a time. I time it.

I've been doing it after eating, in the morning and in the evenings. Sometimes after eating lunch if possible also.
 
Got my whey on Monday, as of Wednesday I could eat chicken again. I just made a plate of oat fried chicken last night and feel fine, slept fine.
AJD6Hxsb.jpg


I guess this has been what kept me together the past 3-4 years.
 
Awesome. Hopefully whey is your answer. That would be a nice inexpensive solution.

My parents live on whey drinks. They exercise a good amount, and after a workout it is time to mix up a protein whey drink. I think they only eat food once a day. It works for them, as they are in good shape.

I'm continuing to do well with the infrared lights and the diet I'm following. No problems with the gut and energy levels nicely improved. My sleep isn't always the best. It seems every other day I sleep wonderfully. The other night the gut aches for some reason, and when it hurts everything else hurts.
 
I believe I have some good news. For the last few days, 3 days plus this morning, I've had very good energy levels. I believe I know why my energy levels are substantially better. Days ago I began sunbathing outside in the noon day sun for around 5 to 10 minutes. I would do this after eating lunch. Ever since I began sunbathing my energy levels have been greatly improved. My fatigue has all but gone away.

Yesterday I put this to the test. I rode my bicycle for 90 minutes. After the ride I weight lifted for 20 minutes. The result, I was not fatigued or worn out from the activities. Typically I would be very tired and fatigued after this and remain so for a day or two.

Of course it might be a coincidence. My stomach has been improving on the diet I'm following. Using infrared lights I believe has helped me. I can't discount that possibility.

I suspect though that sun bathing has helped me in the energy department.

I have a vitamin D light. Historically I'll use the D light during winter time 1 or 2 times a week. I notice a difference with it. The artificial sun light will warm me up for a day or two. On the negative I believe the vitamin D light has a mild laxative effect. At least this seems to normally happen after using the light.

Being in the sun has not caused stomach issues.
 
The whey worked for like a week and apparently I'm now lactose intolerant...? I give up trying to make logic of this.

It makes sense I guess, I was having milk with a good portion of my meals which would explain why things seemed to be inconsistently making me sick.

I thought it was whole-bean coffee but I was just adding more milk to offset how strong it was. My coffee was always low-grade upsetting me but it wasn't the coffee, it was the milk.

I think this has been going on for a while, maybe a couple months? Idk.
 
Sorry to read the whey isn't working out at hoped. It is frustrating and maddening.

This is my latest confusion with diet and health issues. It's somewhat similar to yours, on the confusion part. I'm now avoiding all dairy products and avoiding beef. I've avoided commercial beef for many years. It's one of those scary foods I don't want to eat. I've had a few times where after eating commercial beef I became extremely ill to the stomach, with pain levels off the chart, with the pain lasting all day and into the night. For what ever reason though grass fed beef is not a similar stomach churning painful problem.

I'm avoiding grass fed beef and dairy now, even though I had many good experiencing with the stomach doing well while I did eat them. I even had periods where my energy levels were very good. The problems I have with grass fed beef and dairy is I wasn't completely recovering. My teeth are also falling apart. I'm going through a rash of dental issues of late. Something is wrong and know I can do better from past experience.

So, the further confusion is this. When I avoid beef and dairy, I know from experience around 2 weeks later I will begin to have dry skin, and inflamed bleeding gums. If I eat pork the inflamed gums can become painful. If I eat chicken I'll begin to have upset stomach attacks. The attacks are not overly painful. They are short in duration. My energy levels can be good also when eating chicken. It's just that a bathroom needs to be near by.

At the current moment I'm a little over 2 weeks with avoiding dairy and beef, and right on time my skin is becoming dry, and the gums are slightly inflamed. I'm eating turkey and eggs for protein this time. The stomach though is going decently well.

I'm hoping to follow this latest diet till April or longer to see what happens long term. So long as the gums remain less painful, and I can chew it shouldn't be a problem.

I'm also continuing with light energy ideas. Before I mentioned about using infrared lights. I'm still doing that. I'm also sun bathing for periods of time. I now have full spectrum lights in the house and will use a UV vitamin D light on colder days.

I think the full spectrum light ideas help. It isn't a stomach cure but there is something good going on, for me.

This is an older Disney type video I found on light therapy. One of the mentions in the video about full spectrum lights helping workers avoid developing colds/flu reminded me of what has happened with me. I've used UV vitamin D light ideas off and on for around 10 years. Once I began that, I noticed that I stopped developing colds/flu.

"The Effects of Natural and Artificial Light on Living Organisms. Part 2."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEZRnjtHtyw
 
That sounds like a B vitamin deficiency or an amino acid deficiency from lack of meat.

Or possible omega fatty acids?

I haven't really been posting much since I have nothing solid to go on so far. I was wrong about milk and a lot of things, right now it seems like pretty much all solid foods are triggering my symptoms, I'm living off Ovaltine, high protein milk and coffee.

Strangely there's one semi-safe food I've found so far, uncured bacon.

Ovaltine has a decent bunch of vitamins and I'm taking a multi until I can find a real, suitable meal replacement shake. They're all just so full of filler and garbage though.
 
I'm sure I have a number of nutrient deficiencies. It's the nature of the disease. That's been an issue for a number of decades I suspect. Sadly artificial vitamins are a problem, a big problem. it depends on the artificial vitamin, as not all react the same, but by and large artificial vitamins throw me for a loop for a day or two. The stomach becomes upset, I'll feel chilled even on a hot summer day, it is hard to concentrate, etc after taking artificial vitamins. It's not good and a consistent reaction.

Today marks the one month day since I began avoiding beef and dairy products. I'm doing pretty well with this idea. I'm looking better. I'm communicating better and overall more upbeat. Others have noticed the improved demeanor. On the down side the stomach is not as well settled. I'm not sick but i'm not well. It's a stomach limbo situation. I'm fairly certain the cheese I was eating was helping the stomach out. The cheese has a natural constipating feature to it. On the down side I suspect it was keeping me from fully recovering.

One month down for me, another .... I don't know. Another bunches of months for me on avoiding beef and dairy products along with eating the same foods over and over. Hmm... I really have a craving for Chinese vegetable spring rolls. I might give in and indulge after tomorrows long drive.

Hope you get something worked out with the stomach and diet. I suspect one can live a long life drinking nothing but coffee. No proof of that, but I had a grandfather that seemed to live solely on the stuff. Grizzled guy but he lived a long successful life.
 
I thought to give a quick update with the diet I'm following, light therapy ideas I've been trying, and with that health changes seen with me.

The main diet changes I've taken is to avoid beef and dairy products. Of late I've noticed my eyes have changed. My eyes have gone from being brownish green in color to consistently greenish blue. I believe this a positive change.

In the past I've been able to make myself with what I consider 100% well with diet changes. The confusing part has been, well several parts confusing, but what foods caused my health issues. My definition of 100% well is the gut not only well, but also having lots of energy, appearance healthy, and concentration good. Additionally, when I was 100% well in the past I've noticed my eyes changed colors to bright blue.

I've begun using a SAD light box. SAD boxes are best known for helping those with the winter blues/depression. SAD light boxes have been found to also increase hormone levels, along with improving energy levels in most from what I've read.

I'm not sure if my improved energy levels of late is due to the diet changes, or light therapy ideas tried such as using a light box, and also using a vitamin D light. Probably it is a combination of all.

Overall I'm encouraged by the changes seen. I hope I continue to see improvements. The gut remains grumpy. Energy levels need to further improve. Eye color has changed, and I like to believe what I'm doing has brought this about, but that has happened in the past for unknown reasons. Hopefully time will be good to me with what I'm currently doing.

With my mention on hormone levels changing, thought to post this article on SAD light boxes and increased testosterone levels.

"New Study: Boost Testosterone and Libido with Light Therapy
Researchers say the kind of lamps used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder can also help guys suffering from low sexual desire."

http://www.mensfitness.com/women/sex-tips/new-study-boost-testosterone-and-libido-light-therapy

excerpt:

...In the study, scientists recruited 38 men diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire disorder or sexual arousal disorder, both of which are characterized by a lack of interest in sex. Each man underwent an initial evaluation to determine their baseline level of interest in sex; their testosterone levels were also measured.

Next, researchers divided participants in half. Every day for two weeks, both groups sat in front of a light box early in the morning for half-hour treatments. One group served as the control group and was treated with an adapted light box, which produced significantly less light.

After treatment, researchers found testosterone levels increased in men who had been given active light treatment. Their levels boomed from 2.1 ng/ml to 3.6 ng/ml after two weeks, while the control groups' testosterone levels stayed about the same, hovering around 2.3 ng/ml at the beginning and the end of the experiment.

"Before treatment, both groups averaged a sexual satisfaction score of around 2 out of 10, but after treatment the group exposed to the bright light was scoring sexual satisfaction scores of around 6.3—a more than 3-fold increase on the scale we used," study author Andrea Fagiolini said in a press release. "In contrast, the control group only showed an average score of around 2.7 after treatment."

Previously, research has shown how sexual interest varies according to the seasons—that ambient light may contribute to sexual desire. It all boils down to testosterone.

"In the Northern hemisphere, the body's testosterone production naturally declines from November through April, and then rises steadily through the spring and summer with a peak in October," Fagiolini says. "You see the effect of this in reproductive rates, with the month of June showing the highest rate of conception."

The light box mimics what nature does by triggering something in the brain called the pineal gland (responsible for producing melatonin), which may allow the production of more testosterone, the researchers believe....
 
It wouldn't surprise me, it doesn't seem to matter how much Vitamin D I pound in the winter, just never feels the same as after a day outside in the summer. I think light cycles and visual response is just as important.

I'm finally seeing some solid positive changes.

Other than the ovaltine + whey diet, I started one of my old supplement routines of high doses of vitamin C, vitamin D and echinacea.

A few days in and I've been re-introducing solid food and most importantly meats. I've had all solid BMs for about 5 days now, no urgency, very little gas, bloating or pain. Body temperature is up so I'm not constantly cold.

I was even able to tolerate a little cumin spice which used to send me right to the bathroom. I'm trying to introduce foods / spices high in salicylates that work like a natural aspirin / anti-inflammatory and are also powerful for cancer prevention.
 
Fantastic! That's a wonderful to hear. It's early but a good start. Hope the stomach continues to improve, and the diet can be further added to.

Talking about adding foods to the diet, I've added some Chinese foods to my diet of late. I've done well with vegetable egg rolls and a rice vegetable mix. Both were delicious. I'm planning to test my luck with a chicken sweat and sour dish tomorrow. I suspect I'll pay a price for that meal but I'm curious to try and see what happens. Chicken has historically never been kind to my stomach.
 
I seem to be slipping in and out and I'm not sure what's causing it, but I'm very close to the up-swing if I can figure it out.

I'm wondering if the vitamin C works because of its antioxidant properties, and the meat is causing a lot of oxidative stress.

I'm also planning on trying sulfurophane soon.
 
I've not had much experience with vitamin C. I can remember trying it many years ago, and from what I recall it upset my stomach. That was a bad night. Haven't had much of a desire to try synthetic vitamin C again after that.

I'm doing pretty much the same with my diet idea of avoiding beef and dairy products or as I jokingly call it the bovine avoidance diet. I have my good and my bad days. The gut is so so. Energy levels so so. Eyes have turned bluish, most of the time.

The big thing for me is the hope that energy levels improve over the next 6 weeks. Around a dozen spring breakers, mostly family members, will be visiting over a 2 week period. Every ounce of energy will be required to keep up with the visiting crowd.

Come to think of it, it would be odd and nice if the eyes turned bright blue. It might be noticed by others and I can tell why the eye color change happened. One of the bigger fears I've had over the years is someone else in the family developing this terrible disease that I have, beachism. If I can find a dietary answer then others in the family can avoid the same fate I've experienced. My theory too is that what i have stomach wise, can show up as other symptoms in others in the family. Just a guess with that.
 
Vitamin C definitely working, just had steak and raw garlic with minimal to no issue this weekend. No bile acid diarrhea at all. Just some gas.
 
That's wonderful. Hope the vitamin C continues to help. Entirely different topic, but I was just reading a small study article on vitamin C that sounded promising. It was on sepsis and how intravenous vitamin C along with other substances substantially helped prevent premature death. It can be seen here:

Vitamin C – an update

https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2017/01/28/vitamin-c-an-update/

For me with diet, the bizarro effect is back. At least I hope it has returned. I lifted weights hard yesterday and the result, I'm more energized! Very odd, and a pleasant surprise compared to the norm. Typically lift a few weights and I'm down and out with soreness and fatigue for a few days. Today, I was so energized I needed to walk for an hour. I can get used to this feeling.
 
How is the vitamin C idea going? Is it still working? Hopefully it is still producing good results.

My latest diet idea of avoiding dairy and beef, along with light therapy ideas is still doing me good. Energy levels remain higher. The stomach is doing pretty decent.
 
Hope you are doing well InstantCoffee. Haven't heard from you in awhile. I imagine you remain the same or you would have piped in mentioned different.

I'm chugging along with the latest diet and light therapy ideas. I'm pleased with two items and displeased with one. The good news is I continue to gain strength and energy. I also stopped developing what I thought of a nutritional deficiency sores. I haven't seen these in two weeks. I'm guessing this is due to the gut healing, at least that is the hope.

The bad news being if I'm healing, I'm healing so slow. It would be nice to see quicker results and of course this slow pace creates doubts in the mind that I'm on the correct path.
 
It seems to take a lot longer to get well than to deteriorate. I've stopped vitamin C because of the increased risk of kidney stones, I want to start a multi vitamin soon but I suspect mine was causing cramping.

I was on the right track when I kicked milk earlier, I re-introduced it and it took a while before it got bad enough that I could be sure, but now I am. I think the benefits of the whey were battling with some kind of intolerance (mind you I was buying exclusively lactose free milk).

My back was letting me know long before my gut did. I was very broken out all over my back and neck with painful acne. Finally I started having constant gas, cramps and passing clear mucus regularly.

My diet was already very strict so it didn't take long to figure out it was the milk. I'm back to putting soy milk in my coffee, which is awful, but I prefer it to black.

My back is clearing up and I'm not constantly going to the restroom to pass mucus and gas, and sleeping much better.

I ordered some new supplements to try I've never used before.
Marshmallow extract, slippery elm and N-acetyl glucosamine. I'm suspecting the NAG will make me sick since it's made from shellfish so I'll be trying it this weekend.
 
It is odd how our gut health effects other parts of our bodies health. Much like you, I've had experience with that for years. I was thinking about it yesterday. Yesterday, and a few days previous, I was becoming easily sore. My legs could hurt and ache. Yesterday it felt as if I had torn a muscle slightly on one foot. The gut wasn't hurting till last night though, and has continued into today. I know what I did wrong I believe. I went over board on eating fiber rich foods recently. Today, having cut back on the fiber all the sore and hurting body parts feel just fine.

It's always been like that though. There have been times where my back would ache terribly. Then the stomach gets upset, I improve the diet, and the back pains disappear within hours.

As I like to joke, my gut controls everything. If the gut isn't happy then nothing else is happy.

Good luck with your latest ideas. Hope the NAG doesn't effect you negatively.

I'm continuing on my current path, avoiding beef, dairy, and using light therapy ideas. I'm nearly 3 months in with the current trial. I believe it is 3 months. Don't recall for sure as I don't have my journal here. The gut is good so long as I don't over eat fiber rich foods. I've lost a good amount of weight. I'm down around 15lbs if not a little more. It's good weight loss. I was getting a little heavier than desired. I'm looking healthy. I'm likely wishful thinking with this but I suspect I might be growing some hair back. My hair has been thinning out. I've suspected the diet and gut health played a part with that. We'll see though.
 
Hello instant I have been following your blog for ages and read all of your attempts to control your crohns.what has your doctor suggested I know you are in the USA and it costs a fortune.reading your blog you have tried so much,is it possible that your doing to many variations on supplements?have you thought about going back to ground zero diet wise do zero supplements bland out your diet for a few weeks and add food items not supplements but you sound ill.doctor I think.hope your feeling better soon.
 
It looks like i need the whey protein to keep things under control but I can't do milk. I don't know how this makes sense since whey is a milk products, it must be something in the milk that's either not present or in smaller amounts in the whey, so either the milkfat, or the lactose, but the milk I was drinking was lactose free (supposedly?). I'm not sure.

After I cut milk I just got worse/ different issues. Instead of gas, cramps and passing mucus I had constant diarrhea with low energy.

I tried just whey with no milk this weekend and felt immediate improvement in my stomach's feeling and my body temperature.

No really noticeable benefit from NAG, slippery elm or marshmallow root.

Axelfl3333 said:
Hello instant I have been following your blog for ages and read all of your attempts to control your crohns.what has your doctor suggested I know you are in the USA and it costs a fortune.reading your blog you have tried so much,is it possible that your doing to many variations on supplements?have you thought about going back to ground zero diet wise do zero supplements bland out your diet for a few weeks and add food items not supplements but you sound ill.doctor I think.hope your feeling better soon.
Click to expand...

I have tried this.

I don't know what doctors have left to offer me. Humira, remicade and prednizone don't work for me and these are the most aggressive treatments for crohn's.

I'm open to LDN but I'm not interested in dangerous things like mixing azathioprine with other treatments, and I'm very turned off to some of the other tnf-a inhibitors.

I admittedly don't know much about some of the other drugs like 5asa and the others that slip my memory.

My experience with the doctor left me pretty much without faith. They just kept doing tests and trying the same treatments, makes me think they didn't really have any other good options.
 
I can understand about whey/ milk product helping.

I had the same experience but with cheese. My story is that for years I avoided all milk and dairy products. Doing that I believe helped me but it was far from a cure. Then after frustration of not being well I began eating cheese. Apparently the constipating nature of cheese helped my stomach. At times too my energy levels were improved. Overall though I stopped healing I believe. I never could get over the hump I suppose it could be said while eating cheese. My dental issues flared up also. I did this diet idea for a few years.

Now I'm not only avoiding dairy products but I'm also staying away from beef, and lamp items. Sometimes if one is allergic to milk products beef and lamb can be a problem too.

I'm at a frustrating point though. I might have mentioned this earlier but I have memories of how I felt 3 months ago before this diet change but don't know for sure if or how much better I am today. Regardless I figure I'll stick with the diet. I don't care for the taste of dairy products nor care for the taste of beef. It's an easy diet for me to stick with.

I've thought sometimes that I might begin taking Imodium daily once again. I've done that in the past and I suspected it helped me some. Today my gut is OK, but it would better if it was better. My energy levels go back and forth. I'm likely to blame for my energy not being higher all the time as I've been exercising more and I eat foods higher in fiber. It's OK though as typicaly energy levels even when low are livable. A nice improvement that I've noticed is that when I become overly tired instead of a good nights sleep being needed to regain energy, now if I sit and rest for a few hours I feel recharged.
 
What baffles me is how all the things that should work on paper, do not always work as you would think.

In theory and many studies, a diet low in fat, meat and sugar and high in soluble fibers should be ideal for managing crohn's, but I'd be lucky if I could even get a 3rd of the recommended fiber intake without some adverse reaction.

So I end up eating mostly meats and sugar and it only seems to get worse over time.

Not sure if I have to pursue a 'proper' diet and bare through some discomfort while things adjust, those are the hardest theories. Things like when they insist that if you take probiotics, or drink vinegar or something, you'll get worse before you get better.

I can't really afford to get worse, and how will I know I'm not just making myself sick for no benefit?

IDK at this point I'm thinking I'm going to try to cut back to a bare-bones mostly vegetarian diet with white rice, turmeric, sauerkraut, edamame etc. It's really hard for me to stick to it as I crave sweet things and heavier foods.

It's hard to eat enough to A- have enough calories and B- feel satisfied with rice, edamame, or especially sauerkraut which is like 75 calories per jar.



Apparently I was wrong about whey, Sunday it was fine early in the day, but at about 12 at night it hit me with terrible gas. I thought it was something else I ate, so I had more Monday morning and afternoon and my stomach kept being gassy with constant bathroom trips.

Not really sure what to do right now. Meat and sugar seem to be triggering me, and my options for plant-based foods are pretty much limited to white rice, strawberries and edamame as far as I'm aware. I'll have to experiment with quinoa, millet, buckwheat and other grains but usually those haven't sat well with me.

It also really limits my social options - hopefully I can at least drink black coffee so I have an excuse to 'go out' with people.

Suddenly as my gut goes to hell, my online dating profile blows up with messages and I'm trying to figure out if I can even get my stomach under control for an hour or so to plan a date.

I can always fast, but when I've been this sick for this long, fasting leaves me completely exhausted and with no mental energy.
 
I know, it's crazy how foods can effect us. Take care and get something decent worked out.

I don't know if this will helps you but from my experience I've come to view diet things more long term. it hasn't made the diet ideas more easy but I've come around that healing can take a long, long time. TO give an example. I didn't mention this yesterday.

Historically the diet idea that helped me the most was avoiding bird. I avoided eggs, chicken, and turkey. It took a long time to become healthy, but once healthy and avoiding bird as the main focus I was completely well to the gut for 5 months. Then I became somewhat ill once again. I'm looking at a food journal diary I was keeping at the time. My notes are vague. From what I'm reading and from memory, the avoid bird diet became frustrating for me. I was more or less well, but not completely well. I began adding new foods, foods high in fiber and spices, foods that can irritate my gut. THat was most likely the main problem for me, but hard to say with certainty.

So back to today, over the weekend I began avoiding bird. I had been eating eggs regularly along with eating turkey sometimes. Turkey is likely not a problem food but to be safe and simple I avoid it when avoiding bird.

Right away on the bird avoidance diet a sinus problem went away. I've been looking after a couple cats the last few weeks. A sinus problem came up. I figured I was allergic to the cats. Now I'm not so sure about that, since this issue has resolved, or resolved for a few days, it might come back, since I stopped eating eggs and turkey. Additionally my eyes could become blood shot red at times. This is a problem I've expereinced for as long as I can remember. It goes back to my childhood. Since avoiding eggs and turkey the eyes have not been red after beign rubbed.

Here is the crazy thing. I know very well from experience that if I continue to eat pork everyday that my gums will swell up painfully and bleed. It happens every time.

Also I know from experience if I avoid bird and instead eat beef continuously for a week or more I can experience intense debilitating stomach pains. Historically these have been some of the worst pains experienced.

It isn't good! I'll figure something out. I'll keep avoiding eggs and turkey along with chicken so long as the red eyes and sinus issues stay away. Something is going on there, it appears.

When the gum issues or stomach issues come up in the near future though, I'll be in flux with diet ideas. There is a good chance I'll be back to eating beef, maybe dairy, and possibly fish even though fish tastes terrible. It's the craziness of the situation, at least that is my opinion and experience.

It would be nice if a medication had worked for me. Or even better if I had been born with an instruction operation manual.
 
That's one thing I have trouble with, I have a lot of non-stomach manifestations that are much more subtle, especially when they come and go.

Among them, my nose is always running, and the inside is dry and scabby and very sensitive, I wonder if it might be a fungus infection? I've had it come and go on rare occasions but never linked it to anything.

My back breaks out to sugar and milk it seems.

My face and scalp also break out but it seems somewhat independent.

I'm still completely unsure of why the debilitating hydradenitis on my butt stopped but I'm not complaining. I think that might have been high fructose corn syrup, because, if I recall correctly, it continued after I cut gluten. But I could be wrong!

But now I get it on my face. I recently had a flare on my face, and it receded into just a sebaceous cyst which I'll probably have removed soon since it leaves an unsightly, dry bump. It's always on my jaw line where my old acne scars are. I'm not sure what caused it to get better, it seemed to change when I started drinking ovaltine + whey which prompted all my other problems.

My eyes are almost always bloodshot and hypersensitive and dry out easily or feel gummy.

Since they all come and go so slowly it's hard to identify why, unlike my stomach where I'm good all day, sit down with a meal and a few mouthfuls of oats in I have to put down my bowl and run to the bathroom. That's pretty easy to figure out.

I'm currently taking a candida cleanse pills filled with anti-bacterial/fungal extracts like black walnut, oil of oregano, caprylic acid, aloe vera and other things. Last time I took it it made me nauseous, my body temp would drop and I'd throw up. It's not doing that now and I feel fine. Can't explain that.

Taking N-acetyl glucosamine which is supposedly like super-charged L-glutamine to heal the stomach and gut.

Andrographis which has documented effects on Colitis but not studied for Crohn's. I've used it in the past and have leftovers, never noticed a benefit, but usually improved after taking it, so maybe it did? It's supposed to be taken with Siberian Ginseng though which I don't have.

I think I'm just gonna bite the bullet and call my doctor, I can at least explore my options and maybe get my card so I can try CBD oil.
 
As a quick update with my slight diet change and health - I have all kinds of energy this evening. This is after weight lifting this morning and going for a long walk. Typically I would be down for the count, tired out and looking to camp out in front of the TV by this point. If the good energy continues I'll happily stay with the avoid bird diet.

I tried the anti-fungal/ yeast ideas at one time. I tried the super low sugar diet plus the many supplements. It didn't work, or better said didn't improve my health, in my case. I had high hopes for that idea. To me at least, it's one of those ideas that makes sense on paper.

Hope you have much better success with it than I did. Good luck with working with your doctor also. I know that avenue has not proven fruitful for you in the past before. Hopefully some new ideas can be suggested that provide relief. I'm not familiar with CBD oil for IBD conditions. Many years ago I used to work next door to an oil extracting plant that processed hemp oil. It was a popular product for them. They would get the seeds in from Canada, often times roast them, and other times crush the oil out and sell in bulk.
 

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