New to crohns

[Collier]

My wife was diagnosed with crohns this past January after having diahrea for about 9 months. Her doctor diagnosed it after a colonoscopy, he prescribed steroids and told her not to change her diet as it was "not related to diet". Instead of taking the steroids she started the no guts no glory diet after reading the Jordin Rubin books. She got immediate results and had no symptoms. She went to the same doctor who was not happy said "he didnt agree with the Rubin book" and scared her into taking the steroids, she started and immediatly had the diahrea again, she was reassured that the steroids should not go into her breast milk despite eht warnings on the bottle but within a week our baby began to develop breasts so she stopped nursing. A couple weeks later she began to develop migranes whenever she took the steroid (Budesonide) so she took herself off the steroid. She has been restarting the no guts no glory diet eating the chicken broth, but she does cheat sometimes, she has diahrea most of the time but no other symptoms. My questions are with her doctor, is it true that diet changes dont help? dont the steroids just mask the underlying problem? what do you guys think of Jordin Rubin and his diets?
concerned husband

 

[David]

Hi Collier and welcome. It's great of you to be supportive of your wife and reach out for more information

1. Diet matters for most people. Some more than others. I'm not familiar with Jordan Rubin's books.

2. The problem with treating Crohn's Disease just with diet is you don't know for sure, even if you are symptom free, if there is any active inflammation. And the problem with chronic inflammation is that it can lead to scarring of the intestines which can lead to a whole host of additional problems.

That's where the steroids come in. Budesonide (Entocort) works to knock down that inflammation. It's not a cure, it simply reduces or hopefully eliminates any active inflammation. One thing Budesonide isn't very good at is helping the intestinal mucosa heal which they're finding is important for long term health. Other treatment options are much better for that.

I personally think a combination of diet, conventional treatments, and lifestyle changes are the way to go. The problem is finding the combination that works best for you. It sounds like you and your GI don't see eye to eye. I think finding a new one who will help treat your wife within the boundaries you feel comfortable with might be in order.

Again, welcome

 

[glum chump]

Hi Collier

Welcome to the forum. As David says, diet is highly influential to our well-being, but one thing that is clear is that our diet affects us differently. So a diet that may work for one person with Crohns may not work for another person.

I had researched Rubin's (The Maker's Diet) a few years ago, but it wouldn't be a diet that would work for me. The list of prohibited foods in the first phase were the very foods that were keeping me standing upright. For that reason, I couldn't pursue the diet. While I believe that older religions likely had strong reasons for dietary precautions (if I remember correctly, Rubin's work is based on Jewish dietary laws?), I wasn't sold on Rubin's diet. However, if it works for your wife, then that's great.

Diets also help ease the symptoms and alleviate inflammation, but may not likely have the effect of putting us in remission. At least, that hasn't been my experience.

You might want to check out the Diet, Fitness and Supplements section of the forum, along with the Parenting subforum for some guidance or to post some specific questions.

I really hope things turn for the better for your wife really soon.

Cheers

Kismet