LDN and Diet

[abcdef]

I'm wondering if those who have had success with LDN have done diet modifications as well. If so can you comment on what those modifications are if you feel they are helping.

I've followed SCD for 1.25 years and I have been on LDN for 2.5 months. SCD really seemed to help me about 2 months in but then very gradually over the next 6-7 months I was getting worse in that I kept losing foods that I had tolerated early on. Since starting LDN I've gradually improved and incorporated more foods (all SCD legal). At this point I'm not sure how much SCD was helping in the end and I'm wondering if I need to stay on SCD or something similar long term if LDN keeps improving my tolerance.

Thanks for any info from your experince

 

[JDTM]

Personally, I haven't adhered to any sort of strict diet, for better or for worse. I don't know what sort of long term effects that may or may not have, but during a recent MRI, there weren't any signs of active inflammation. For me, at least, it looks like LDN is keeping things at bay pretty much on its own (Pentasa notwithstanding).

 

[abcdef]

Thanks Jesse! That is very good to know. I'm not sure I want to go back to as bad as I used to eat, but it would be really great not to be so restricted.

 

[JDTM]

Right on. I will say that things work differently for different folks -- even though I haven't tried SCD and am not a big proponent of it, I know that it has legitimately worked for a bunch of people, so I'd never advise people to just quit SCD without giving it a second thought. Much the opposite, in fact... I'm a big fan of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach.

That said, I also love food, including tons of non-SCD-legal goodies. Ironically, I have gained weight since I flared last (which is good, of course, but I definitely am overweight now and need to trim down -- most of the summer clothes I own are from when I was sick, so I don't fit in them anymore!!), so starting tomorrow, I'm going to try a more robust exercise regimen and change up my diet to something more protein-heavy and lower on carbs. It's not quite SCD, but it's probably way better than what I've been eating. So yeah... we'll see how that goes.

Anyways, I'd be real curious to hear how you end up doing, so definitely keep us posted if you're so inclined! Good luck!

 

[JDTM]

Also, to clarify, when I first flared I kept a pretty detailed food diary for many months, but for the most part it was a standard low-residue diet. As I slowly got better, I stopped keeping track; by the time I had started LDN, if I remember correctly, I was pretty much eating whatever, for better or for worse.

(Mostly for worse.)

 

[abcdef]

Thanks for the detailed info! I really appreciate it.

I still have some food intolerances so I am going to stay on SCD for now in case it's helping. With the LDN I gradually keep eating more and more though. Hopefully in a couple of months I will be well enough to start adding some "illegal" foods in

It will be so nice if I'm able to go out to restaurants again!

Good point on the weight. I have already gained some weight likely due to better digestion on LDN and perhaps that I can now tolerate cashew butter - mmm. I'll need to watch that I don't add too many yummy foods.

Thanks again!