Kev
Senior Member
Just a brief update. 3 years ago, I started on LDN.. Kept a daily journal of my experiences here because it was a potential new treatment, and I was sort of playing guinea pig. Well, my initial diary entries seem to have vanished, so I'm not able to put the 3 year anniversary update info there as I would have liked, but I thought the info was important enough to create a new posting.
Anyway, long story... My GI now has a number of patients taking LDN, all seem to be doing remarkably well, and it was decided that a formal paper be prepared to share with other professionals who treat the disease. In light of that, and in keeping with my having the longest history with low dose naltrexone, I was asked to volunteer my medical info AND to undergo a colonoscopy. I agreed.
It took place yesterday morning. One side point I will throw in is that since it has been awhile since my last scope ( and I was undergoing it on a voluntary basis... it wasn't medically necessary based on my current symptomology) my GI offered a me a new, milder prep procedure... consisting of Ducalax 2 nights before my scope, Pico Salax 2 times the day prior to, and drinking lots of clear fluids right up until the scope while otherwise fasting. It was a cake walk in comparison to the Go Lytely prep of all my previous colonoscopies. (I highly recommend it as an alternative if available in your area).
Anyway, back to the scope. For this procedure, I was kept awake. In all my past ones, I was totally out of it (no one wants a guy my size acting out in the middle of one of these procedures). But, since this was a milestone of sorts, and there were extra staff on hand (just in case) I was awake. This is the 1st time I've seen via the monitor what my GI was seeing. The news is that I am presently totally free of any active disease activity. Nada, zilch, zero... I got to see a lot of healthy, pristine tissue. That is the good news.
There is, however, oodles and oodles of scar tissue... resembling the surface of the moon... or, perhaps more appropriately... a battlefield. I think that is the best way to refer to it. So, I have seen with my own eyes just what the LDN treatment can do, and also what it so obviously can't do. It can stop the disease in its tracks, but it can't undo the permanent scarring resulting from the fight. My GI tract will never return to it's pre disease state, but if my LDN continues to keep working (and so far no indication that it won't) my condition shouldn't deteriorate. So, all in all, it marks a happy anniversary of sorts. And I would recommend serious consideration be given of LDN to anyone else.
Anyway, long story... My GI now has a number of patients taking LDN, all seem to be doing remarkably well, and it was decided that a formal paper be prepared to share with other professionals who treat the disease. In light of that, and in keeping with my having the longest history with low dose naltrexone, I was asked to volunteer my medical info AND to undergo a colonoscopy. I agreed.
It took place yesterday morning. One side point I will throw in is that since it has been awhile since my last scope ( and I was undergoing it on a voluntary basis... it wasn't medically necessary based on my current symptomology) my GI offered a me a new, milder prep procedure... consisting of Ducalax 2 nights before my scope, Pico Salax 2 times the day prior to, and drinking lots of clear fluids right up until the scope while otherwise fasting. It was a cake walk in comparison to the Go Lytely prep of all my previous colonoscopies. (I highly recommend it as an alternative if available in your area).
Anyway, back to the scope. For this procedure, I was kept awake. In all my past ones, I was totally out of it (no one wants a guy my size acting out in the middle of one of these procedures). But, since this was a milestone of sorts, and there were extra staff on hand (just in case) I was awake. This is the 1st time I've seen via the monitor what my GI was seeing. The news is that I am presently totally free of any active disease activity. Nada, zilch, zero... I got to see a lot of healthy, pristine tissue. That is the good news.
There is, however, oodles and oodles of scar tissue... resembling the surface of the moon... or, perhaps more appropriately... a battlefield. I think that is the best way to refer to it. So, I have seen with my own eyes just what the LDN treatment can do, and also what it so obviously can't do. It can stop the disease in its tracks, but it can't undo the permanent scarring resulting from the fight. My GI tract will never return to it's pre disease state, but if my LDN continues to keep working (and so far no indication that it won't) my condition shouldn't deteriorate. So, all in all, it marks a happy anniversary of sorts. And I would recommend serious consideration be given of LDN to anyone else.
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