Food and Crohns

I have been thinking lately about the whole argument that food somehow induces disease activity or controls it. It does not make sense to me since I lived for 20 years without any symptoms from food. Then after a long course of antibiotics (the first I had ever been on) I developed Crohns Disease and then I associated the disease with food because when I ate then I would notice symptoms. Well, that is understandable because I was trying to use an organ that was diseased. So it seems to me that food does not play a direct role in the disease process. Any thoughts?

I don't agree. Since I started eating SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet), I've had a whole host of symptoms go away. First and foremost, my fistulas are gone. Fistulas were one of my first crohn's symptoms, so I'd had them since I was around 19 or 20. The only time they cleared up was for the year I was on 6MP, and the year I was on Imuran. After a few months of SCD, my all 3 of my fistulas healed, and have remained that way. My constipation is gone, my fissures healed, I no longer get cramping or bleeding during bowel movements, my acid reflux is gone, my seasonal allergies are WAY better, and my eczema has gone away. Something I was eating pre-SCD was most definitely aggravating these conditions.

There seems to be a lot of people whose bowel problems began after a stint of antibiotics. They're very hard on the gut.

certain foods definitely influence how i feel. i KNOW if i eat them i will be much worse off after...is the food the cause? to some extent it has to be...

I never had any issues with foods BEFORE my resections. But since the resections I no longer digest the same. But before my resections, I could eat just about anything without any problems at all. And I had a nearly 20 year remission like that. So I am not so sure food really was an issue for "me". JMHO

medieval_peasant said...
I developed Crohns Disease and then I associated the disease with food because when I ate then I would notice symptoms. Well, that is understandable because I was trying to use an organ that was diseased.

Think you've hit the nail on the head.

Of course it's going to be uncomfortable to eat. The semi-digested food is passing through inflammed and ulcerated areas of the GI tract; that same inflammed and ulcerated GI tract also has to absorb the nutrients and calories from the semi-digested food that your body needs in order to stay alive. It's going to be a sore, uncomfortable and sometimes painful process. And whatever you eat it's going to have to go through that process. To make it even more fun, it typically takes 2-3 days for one meal to pass through the GI tract. (It will be faster than this if you have diarrhoea, but you are still looking at several hours from beginning to end.) No wonder Crohnies suffer so much. They don't get any break from food being in their intestines.

It's like having a painful tooth. Anything you eat is going to hurt it further, but that doesn't mean the food itself caused the painful tooth. Similar with Crohn's; food passing through your intestines might aggravate your symptoms but that doesn't mean the food itself caused your malfunctioning immune system to start attacking in sight: good bacteria, bad bacteria, food, etc. The actual cause of Crohn's is currently an unknown environmental trigger in genetically susceptible people.

I personally think that diet has little to do with Crohn's onset/activity in most people. I could be wrong, but until further evidence comes along I'm sticking with that for now.

Thanks Harry for sharing with us your success re Makers. Your success provides an inspriation for others (like me!). I read makers but am going the SCD route although out of Makers 1) I am using Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon a lot. 2) I use strong stocks for the basis of virtually everything I eat, 3) trying to go organic on most stuff (that I can afford) 4) stopped Pork and shell fish 5) getting probiotics from SCD yogurt 6) made lactose fermented veg and probably a few other things. For me a bunch of things in Makers made sense, but for me it seemed like SCD might work even better. So I SCD with a lot of Makers influence. I 100% agree that putting garbage in our systems can not be best for anyone and for sure not for folks with a chronic illness. I do not understand how folks still eat garbage when at worst it will give better nutrition to an impaired gut and at best might take all the symptons away. I still have symptons but on my good days I feel great. I have my fingers crossed that I am doing the right things to get more and more good days Thanks David

Food does not play a role in developing IBD. Genetics and a host of other unknowns can though.

Your story sounds very similar to my Daughter's. As a Teen her Dermatologist had her on a long term course of antibiotics and then she was severely injured in an accident and had tons more of antibiotics pumped into her, so much so that her teeth actually changed color dramatically. A year after that she was diagnosed with Crohn's/Colitis.

Very good possibility that my Daughter had a pre-disposition to IBD as she suffered from chronic constipation pretty much since birth and methinks the all the antibiotics triggered it into full blown IBD. No scientific/medical proof, just my own feelings on it.

As for food aggravating IBD, it varies from patient to patient. If my Daughter's IBD is active, she really has to watch what she eats and uses a bland or liquid diet. If she is feeling well, she can pretty much eat almost anything without causing an attack on her guts. She switched her diet totally while in College to vegetarian and found that was the least offensive on her guts whether her disease was active or not. She does seafood on occasion and currently sways between Vegetarian and Vegan diet.

My Daughter's GI also told her after diagnosis that she could eat whatever she wanted! That did not work well at all! First 4 years of her 5 years in College she was not in remission and her Crohn's/Colitis was pretty much active all of the time! Dorm food absolutely killed her guts and she had to come up with a whole new way of eating. She did take a Dietetics/Nutrition Course and that helped a lot. She learned much and the Professor made a Nutrition test case out of her for the semester because of her IBD which he found interesting.

My Daughter actually admonished her GI after taking that course and told him he really should
change his way of thinking about his IBD patients' diet and possibly bring a Nutritionist on Staff.

Obviously, we honestly do not know the answer to this question. These diseases may have entirely different mechanisms/etiology for each person. I think we are still at the tip of the iceberg. I sure wish I could eliminate one food group and have it all go away!! I'd be such a happy camper. No easy answers for me. When my tummy is good, I can eat a wider variety. When it's not, it just acts up regardless.

yeah i've been doing SCD for a while, it worked but it's a drag on life, i understand why people don't want to do it, i don't blame you

We talk about this a lot and we are all so different. My disease is in the lower colon (as far as we can tell) Certain foods really set me off so I have to try to live a delicate balance with fiber. I would LOVE the SCD but all that roughage would send me over the edge. I have been on prednisone for a week so I decided I'd get a little wild and have eaten a salad every day for lunch. Well, I was good until today. I've been in the bathrrom 5 times in the past hour. I hope I am done. However, before the prednisone I wouldn't dare to eat that much roughage. I was hoping I could go back to my before IBD diet but looks like I may have to try to strike a better balance and not OD on the veggies. I have to basically stay on a low residue diet and just eat cooked veggies that are safe for me like carrots, potatoes. I miss salads, veggies, tomatoes, pizza, Greek and Italian food-:)

@dfdavedf - Sorry, I missed your reply last time. I wasn't ignoring you. Bit late, but no problem! I wish, alas, things were working for me better, but I know that they could be worse. A lot worse... :-/

I am currently in remission. I didn't get here because of any special diet. Its because I take my medications to control the disease. I think like NCOT said that its not food that causes the disease, but that food when flaring just hurts an inflamed area. I think most of us eat what agrees with each of us individually. If SCD, Makers or low residue works for you great, but respect that what works for one doesn't always work for all. Just like the meds we take, some have no issues while others get side effects. Just respect each persons choices and what works for "their" Crohns. Hugs~