Naturopath

[Wiles]

Last time I saw my GI he told me that I've tried most treatments and has refered me to a surgeon. I've always put-off thinking about surgery, but now I have an appointment tommorow and I have to make up my mind. I've known some people who've had surgery and have had to go back under the knife again because their Crohn's came back. Then again there are people who do well after surgery. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could share their experience with Naturopaths. I really don't want to have surgery if I haven't exhausted my options.

 

[Mazen]

I suggest you try all options before surgery. Basically what most Naturopaths will tell you is to avoid wheat, corn, dairy, red meat, and sugar. then they will advise some supplements.

From my experience, I advise you to reasearch everything they tell you and only use what you feel comfortable with.

For me, I got the best results after going on a low residue diet and taking Omega 3 supplements (fish oil and flax oil). I also take a multivit. Also you should minimize as much as possible Omega6 fats, saturated fats and most importantly trans fats. You should aim for a 2:1 ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3

2 books I recommend are:

"The New Eating Right for a Bad Gut", this is specific for IBD
"The Omega Diet"

Also you can try the SCD diet. I never tried it, but some people have had success with this.

I hope this helps, and Good Luck for you......

 

[mikeyarmo]

Mazen has some good recommendations that really would benefit all people (like a high omega-3 to omega-6 ratio). The biggest problems I can tell you with a naturopath are that you may find the suggestions of the naturopath to be totally different than anything you have experienced before. For example, all of a sudden you may be told that whatever drugs you were recommended were wrong and instead the answer to your problems are other things. They may be items to avoid eating you are familiar with (and maybe enjoy consuming), or you can be told to take certain items (which may seem common or be things you have never heard about before).

In addition to this, you may not have the time necessary to try out these items. I know I had already lost a lot of weight when I started seeing people that encouraged more natural remedies, and with one person the products they recommended put me on a diet of between 500-800 calories a day. When a person is already not absorbing their food well and they are losing weight as it is, this is not the most effective long-term strategy. Therefore, you should consider any visits with a naturopath as steps for a lifestyle/diet change. I was in a similar situation as you when I started seeing people like naturopaths, and the solutions they offered were not working. This made surgery my only realistic solution. The surgery went fine, and I am doing much better now. Surgery does not guarantee further surgeries, especially if you make other changes in your life. So if you must have surgery, realize it is not the end of the world and it can really help you overcome the disease at least in the short-term.

 

[jack02]

Re:Naturopathy

My friend as long as I know there are no reports in the scientific literature to support the contention that any alternative medicine operates through an established immunological mechanism. Regardless of the means used to evoke an antitumor response, all the evidence available from clinical and animal studies clearly shows that only after the attention of the normal immune system has been attracted by some external manipulation of its components, is there any recognition by NIS of the existence of the tumor.