Management of crohn's Disease

Well after 2 years Im finally begining to cope and understand my disease process a bit better. I have CD in the term illieum which causes bowel obstructions. Luckily I have not been blessed with chronic "D" yet.....

I am experiencing my 2nd major flare "total bowel obstruction" now and have responded amazingly to Pred, Asacol, and Flagyl.

this combination of meds worked in about 24 hours, I have normal stools and feel great except for the side effects of the meds. Im going on 14 days post flare and see the GI in the morning. Hopefully he will discontinue the flagyl and I can continue to wean the pred and asacol.

MY QUESTIONS.

What can I take (OTC, herbal, holistic, whatever) maintence medications that will

A. Act as an antiflamitory in the small bowel

B. Keep bad bacteria levels down.

I figure If I can do this on a daily basis I may be able to prevent future flares.

Are there any PROVEN methods to doing these things?

Thanks Nanners :) Redspot :) Here are some natural anti-inflammatories that I use which have helped me tons....

bee propolis (but avoid if you're allergic to bees), daily
omegas 3-6-9, daily
drinking chamomile tea EVERYDAY
Fibre supplements, daily and also indefinitely as suggested by my GI

I also take a good probiotic called primadophilus rueteri which has guaranteed intestinal release, also aids with lactose intolerance, high cholesterol and for women, vaginal health (still fine for men to take).


My proof, I was going 30X/day, I now go 5 or less and that's the least amount I've ever gone in my entire 16 yrs of having CD, I've been in a constant flare my entire time, and I still am, but there's been alot of improvements since taking the above mentioned, no bleeding, no mucus, no D....I still have some frequency/urgency issues but this is still much better than before.

:)

Try to follow an anti-inflamatory diet like pb4 suggests, it can only help and we have to do all we can to help ourselves. Dr Andrew Weil recommends adding Tumeric to foods, its a know anti-inflamatory, I now add it to my cooking.
Tess

Hi Chris, yes I have heard of the VSL 3 probiotics, they are expensive and I know that some GI doctors are doing experiments on CD patients with it. They seem to be helping people but according to someone I talked to at the IBD clinic (she was a patient) and she told me that she switched from VSL 3 to Bio-K and that she did not see any difference between the 2 except for price. I talked to her about Nature's way Primadophilus Reuteri (recommended by pb4) and she was very happy to know that you could take it only once a day and that it is not very expensive (1 month supply for 27.95$ cdn). She said that she will try it and let me know. Anyhow I just want to let you know about this conversation I had with this lady, who swears that probiotics are the way to go for CD. That's her opinion and I know that probiotics have helped a lot of people here including my son.

Bye and take good care of yourself!

 

Exercising regularly is a huge benefit all around...

Any GI that says it's a waste of time taking probiotics while flaring is sadly confused...there's research done on UCers that were all flaring and given VSL3, the majority went into remission with the rest of the test subjects noting at least some improvements with their disease...I'll post the link here...

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2006/10/12/probiotics.html#skip300x250

When the link loads in, scroll to the top of the page to read the article from the beginning.

:)

I use omega 3-6-9 from puritans pride, right now (for the next 2 days) they have a buy one get 2 free sale on...

NO, DON'T USE FIBRE IF YOU HAVE A STRICTURE...talk to your GI and see if he can help you.


:)

If you have strictures then that's likely why your GI said not to take fibre supplements...I don't have strictures thankfully and my GI told me to take fibre supplements daily for the rest of my life, I have benefitted from taking them so I'm sticking with it.

:)

gemini kiwi said...
Try to follow an anti-inflamatory diet like pb4 suggests, it can only help and we have to do all we can to help ourselves. Dr Andrew Weil recommends adding Tumeric to foods, its a know anti-inflamatory, I now add it to my cooking.
Tess

I believe Turmeric helps me quite a bit for inflammation. I stir 1 whole tsp in 1/2 cup of grape juice and drink it down. It's really not too bad this way. Days that I don't do this I feel the difference, esp. in my joints. Of you can buy Curcumin capsules (Curcumin is the isolated part of Turmeric that helps) at the health food store.

Regarding keeping bad bacteria down, I am on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, for what it's worth. It has restored my bm's to normal. They were anywhere from mucousy to yellow and floaty before. This has been a drastic and notable improvement that directly coincides with beginning the SCD. The diet is designed to starve out the "bad guys" and feed the "good guys" via a special yogurt you make per the instructions they give. Check out www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info or www.pecanbread.com.

As a safe, cheap, lesser-known therapy you might look into Low Dose Naltrexone www.lowdosenaltrexone.org Also "Low Dose Naltrexone Improves Active Crohn's Disease" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=17222320 I can't say personally if it works but I am starting it next Wednesday, Sept. 26th.

I recently started taking Serrapeptase, an extract of the silkworm which "eats up" inflammation and dead tissue in your system. I take Doctor's Best brand http://www.vitacost.com/DoctorsBestBestSerrapeptase. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serrapeptase http://www.serrapeptase.info/

Digestive enzymes can help ameliorate the digestive issues we have. See my signature for the brand I take. Also S. Boulardii can be very helpful in maintaining good gut flora. http://www.crohns.net/Miva/education/articles/Probiotics_in_the_Treatment_of_Crohns_Disease.shtml