I was diagnosed with UC a year back. Colonoscopy revealed a 21 cm area affected. Biopsy revealed chronic acute colitis. I was going to the loo 7-9 times a day, bloody stools, mucus...nasty stuff.
I went for ayurvdic treatement. not because i am a fan of it, but because it makes sense. Almost all allopathy forums i visited, most folks had a flare up after a remission and it went on, untill they went on steroids based meds or a removal of their colon. for UC (i dont know about
crohns, but in ayurveda they are both same, except one is genetic and takes years to fix) the root of the problem is stomach/intestinal abuse by taking improper foods for years. i had done so by falling for the high protein diet propaganda. i did that for 4 years and during the 4th realised what i had done to my internal systems. ur colitis will never be 'cured' if you dont kill out the root cause of the disease - food intakes that aggrevates your ulcerated colon and those weak intestines.
first thing i went in for a basti(vasti/enema). this is part of panchkarma. but you must approach a knowledgable and experienced panchkarma vaidya (doctor), cuz basti has IMMEDIATE effects on your disease (in my case UC). after 2 months of basti, i was down to no bleeding and 1 or 2 time visit to the loo per day. i have been told that ppl that had severe colitis might need months of basti. a basti course is 7-14 days long. they take a months break between basti courses. for colitis basti is basically a mixutre of freshly prepared ghee and some oils. good stuff for your ulcerated colon.
i was on very strict diet for almost 8 months, took ayruvedic (herbal) medicines + some allopathy medicines, did pranayama (bhastrika, anulom-vilom, NOT kapalbhati). so after a year i think myself as cured cuz i keep a tap on my diet. although now my diet is not as strict as it was in the early days, but i still avoid the usual culprits - spicy foods and wheat. in moderation - salty foods, heavy lentils like urad and toor, beans, peas, dry fruits, garlic, ginger, oils and milk and milk products, leafy veggies (if ur UC is diarrhea oriented and not constipation oriented). eat mung lentils, rice, Sorghum (jowar), buttermilk, corn(maize), veggies, fruits and spices your ayurvedic doc recommends.
also, i hope allopathic, ayurvedic, naturopahty, whatever doctors worked for the well being for their patients, rather than being fanboys of their philosophy. i never told my ayurvedic doc the meds i was taking and vice versa. this is dangerous. i dont recommend you do this, unless you had stubborn docs like i had.
the goal is to rid patient of the disease, and not make him/her an experiement that your line of medicine works and feel smug about
it
UC is a tough disease to deal with, but if you can keep a tap on your diet for lifetime you will overcome.
HTH.
EDIT: In general, papaya, pomgrenate and apples are very good for UC. So is
Shatavari and
bael. this is common medicine for UC in ayurveda.
Post Edited (rahul) : 7/8/2009 10:59:18 AM (GMT-6)