Alternative Treament's

Yikes, some of what Shanon mentioned would send me straight to the toilet. There are many different diets out there dawnc77. Food is tricky because what some people handle others don't. There are also lots of supplements that people try. Pretty much trial and error.

There are no proven alternative treatments for crohn's disease unfortunately. This is from one of authorities on the CD in the world. He also happens to be my DR. Not the friendliest guy, but he will tell it like it is and he knows his stuff. I have been sick since I was 2 and now im 34, so believe me when i tell you he is good.

http://crohnsend.com/2013/07/ccfa-alternative-therapies-chat/#more-2295

Now as far as trying treatments, I have tried them all, believe me, none work. If anything you think is working, its not. This disease goes in cycles. In 32 years of being sick, i have been sick for as long as 4 straight years and not sick for pretty much the same period of time. Totally random. I have tried to make sense of it more times than i can remember and drove myself nuts in the process. It sucks not being in control of your body and life, but thats what it is with this disease.

I have gone years with strict diets and gotten sick. I have not been on any diets and have not gotten one symptom for 4 years. I drank Chinese herbs to get out of flares and though it helped one time, so next time, i do it again and it fails. Bottom line is that there is science and than there is magical thinking. I lean to science. We are so lucky now with all these medicines that are available. In the 80's, when i was young and sick, you had three options. Sulfa drugs (which dont even work), pred. or surgery. I would have given anything in those times to have meds that are available today.

Please don't feel like I'm attacking you personally in any way, im not. Just trying to have a conversation about what works and what doesnt and by no means, am i against alternative treatments.

So as a long term patient myself, I would love to see a link to a clinical study for an "alternative" treatment that has been shown to work, couse i hate the Humira shots :)

It's likely that what we call crohns has more than one cause and may even be a variety of different illnesses that have similar symptoms. We all know what works for one person won't work for everyone. What I find frustrating is that when it comes to success with alternative treatments the docs chalk it up to spontaneous remission.

LDN, worms, diets, enteral nutrition, and high CBD cannabis concentrate and raw juice are all alternatives that have worked for some, at least for a while.

Great! Thanks everyone... It's very true for me as well.. What worked once didn't work the next time... Or vice versa... I am pretty terrified of drugs so only go on them when really needed... Drives my doctor nuts!! I am really looking forward to my MRI this Thursday to see whats going on now.. (refused another colonoscopy this year anyhow...) Lol

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2666243/One-mans-cure-dodgy-bowel-eating-stale-bread.html

I came across this and it might help some one

Hey Dawn, lots of alternative treatments that work for some. No magic bullet but the options are out there. Off the top of my head, in no particular order, I can think of Fecal Transplant, CBD(MMJ), Ayervedia, Diet(Gaps, SCD etc..), mind over medicine, meditation, yoga, all have put patients into long term remission(up to 27 years!) without meds or symptoms. I know it sounds crazy, but I've spoken to many myself. The anecdotal evidence is out there. Don't want to start a war on here again, but feel free to message me offline if you want more.

Fingers crossed for your test results!

Post Edited (beachlife) : 11/22/2014 12:42:06 PM (GMT-7)

I wish science would catch up to the millions of spontaneous remission cases. Been reading Deepak chopra quantum healing book. Pretty interesting stuff. Also the book mind over Medicine, scientific proof you can heal yourself by dr. Rankin is telling. I'm not here to debate, just answer the OP s question based on what I've learned

I've found Dr. Weil's web site and books to be helpful in exploring alternative treatments. He strikes a nice balance with traditional Western medicine and alternative treatments. The University of Maryland has a nice alternative medicine guide to help research stuff: http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed.

As others have said it's all individual. I found some guidance by seeing a naturopath in addition to a lot of reading on my own.

I have severe crohns so using just alternative meds isn't enough for me but I combine them with my pharmaceuticals and it helps me manage this very difficult disease. I use scd diet, ldn, several types of probiotics, fish oil, d3 with my traditional crohns meds, cimzia and lialda.

Nikki22 said...
I would definitely recommend mind over matter, that is the route I am now taking , along with a very controlled diet after finally telling the doctors where to shove their meds as they make me worse. I agree they is no cure and it all depends on the individual, trial and error is what is required, and maybe a prayer or too... Also as controversial as this is, the odd joint doesn't hurt (that's not an excuse to become a stoner though!!)

So you're controlling Crohn's with "mind over matter," - whatever that means - yet you don't have the ability to quit smoking?