Prof. John Hunter's IBD book

Dave- Wow, I just a long response to you but it didnt save it!!! Not my day. Anyway, I went with low fat because my dad had a heart transplant at age 50. I am just being conservative. I am happy to have assisted in a good laugh!! I am going to laughing when I tell my GI I will no longer be her guinea pig and if she is so in love with Tricyclic Antidepressents, maybe she should take them and prescribe me my ambien so I can sleep!!! LOL.

Erwin- You are right on how she should have weaned me off. But, I am not surprised she handled it the way she did. After all, she prescribed me a black box drug, Cimzia, which has unknown health effects, Lialda, that is linked to kidney problems BUT she is concerned that Ambien may cause addiction...am I the only one who sees a problem with this rational? By not sleeping, I am starting to flare pretty badly and might end up on prednisone, the prescription medicine Cimzia and Lialda will probably eventually kill me, yet she is worried about someone getting addicted to Ambien...I think my quality of life should be taken into consideration and if it means I get addicted to ambien, then so be it. I will take my chances if it means sleeping and reducing flares and having a better quality of life.

Erwin- I agree wholeheartedly!

Ok upon reading this post a few weeks ago I ordered this book and it was great. I have been a follower of the SCD diet for about the last 2 years with satisfactory results. However, I often get depressed about how this diet has limited my life socially. When I started the diet, I clung to the line in Breaking the Vicious Cycle that said after 2 years most cases of IBD are cleared (something along those lines). I'm certainly in remission (2bm's per day, no symptoms, alternating loose stool, intermittent trace bleeding) but I know the disease is still there. This book goes into more detail about what other books are so reluctant to discuss --> what happens long term when you are on an IBD diet? When can you attempt to go off.

This book actually gives you an answer that gives me some genuine hope. He says most of the patients he's treated require about 5 years on an exclusion diet before they are confident enough to go off the diet. He says the disease tends to "burn out" by this time and you can then start to introduce previously problematic foods carefully again. I know many may get upset at this notion of the disease just burning out, but this is his experience with his protocol and this has definitely been the experience of some people on the SCD who have done it for that amount of time or longer. If you read the book, he clearly explains the science behind how the diets work (which is his hypothesis), possibly better than even Elaine Gottchall.

Another surprise in the book is that he resolutely states that diet has no place in the treatment of ulcerative colitis. In his experience it, elemental/exclusion diets may work initially but these people inevitably relapse. He recommends medical treatment for UC.

Overall I was impressed by the book. It was published just last year, has a lot of updated information about IBD and I learned a lot!

pmed, I go to sleep specialist. On monday i go to pain spec. it seems most dr's don't know much about pain med's or sleeping med's. Yes they are addictive, but you know I don't give a crap. I want quality in my old life. sorry if I offend anybody about these drugs, but rest is so important for ME. If I have to take these drugs for a decent quality of life, than so be it.

AG

Echo70 said...
I have seen prof hunter for the past 17 years. He is highly respected and legitimate. His trials and studies are far reaching and I would appreciate if people would not presume to know more than a man of his standing because they've taken a shed load of pills for something and never tried treating themselves with diet. The diet approach is clearly the first port of call. It's a shame people would rather die than try it. Sometimes it seems as though people wear their drugs and diagnosis as a badge of honer. There is another way. I still do elemental diets when I flare up and I'm 42. I was diagnosed at 17. I have not had an op yet, thank heavens. I took steroids and the rest until I was in my 20's but then found out about diet and its powerful effects and I have not taken drugs since except for after pregnancy and birth when I had my worst flare ups. Even then it was antibiotics and I got straight back into the spiral of illness. I did elemental even
whilst breast feeding. I had to top my baby up with formula but I managed and so did my baby. There are bearable ways to use diet and eat delicious meals. One just has to make an effort. I have always stayed away from these blogs and sites because I hate the scare mongering and this disease is about thoughts and feelings and perspectives too. Nothing can be overlooked in finding ways to treat such a miserable illness. The drugs did make it worse for me. Western medicine is amazing and I applaud it and have been saved by it. I have also used it to diagnose and then have walked away with gratitude to find my own solutions with the help of other approaches from other sorts if trained professionals. Professor Hunter is a fantastic place to start if you are at all interested in treating yourself with diet.

Echo70, I too, like you, am currently following Professor Hunter's approach, however I've flared whilst doing it so am currently giving it another go.

I don't know if you're still on these forums but I'd love to know how has your inflammation been over the course of just under two decades? Have you been able to control it all this time using diet alone?

Thanks Ides. Oh well, it's worth a try. It's so hard to find others who have tried this route. Maybe there's someone else who is reading who has followed the lofflex diet for some time - I'd love to hear how you've got on!