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SCD diet?Does it work for people with strictures?

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Posted 4/26/2012 7:26 PM (GMT 0)
Hi all, I am thinking of trying this SCD diet, was going to buy the book, but want to know will I be able to follow it being as I have strictures and need to eat low fiber/low residue diet. Does the diet give options for that?? I am just wanting to find something that will work for me!!!!!!.. I am failing with Imuran and was so reluctant to try that, now my doc. is talking biologics, I really do not want to!!   Thanks for any thoughts!
Posted 4/26/2012 7:56 PM (GMT 0)
You can get a lot of answers at www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info

 

Posted 4/26/2012 11:18 PM (GMT 0)
If the strictures are mainly scar tissue, nothing will get rid of them except surgery. If they are mainly inflammation, SCD might work, but personally I wouldn't count on it.

Edit: This is a bit terse. (I'm not in a very good mood.) If you're scared to go on the biologics because of the risks, then don't be: they are basically far lower than people think. It's a lot safer to be on a biologic than it is to have uncontrolled Crohn's getting worse. SCD diet is not suitable for stricturing Crohn's, in my opinion. It cuts out too many food groups to be viable as a truly healthy diet, once again in my opinion. Anyhow, if you still want to do the SCD, then I'd ask other SCDers for advice - not me, to be fair. I suppose the link above is as good a place to start as any.

But I would see about getting your strictures treated. There are other surgical options besides snipping out bits of your intestines, such as dilating the strictures. It's worth looking into.

Post Edited (NiceCupOfTea) : 4/26/2012 5:35:04 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/26/2012 11:47 PM (GMT 0)
Check with your doctor before you try it. SCD is difficult to adhere to and can be hard to do, if you're on a limited diet. I tried it before I had my resection and I had a lot of trouble. I did it for a month, lost a lot of weight and felt worse. So ultimately, the diet was not for me. A lot of foods that are central to the diet (meat, fiber and nut flour) set my Crohn's off.

I'd also second what NCOT says. Depending on what you're stricture is, SCD can be dangerous. My stricture was mostly scar tissue and I had a few obstructions while doing the diet.

From what I remember reading somewhere (website, book, here??), is that SCD is best started when in a state of remission to help maintain that remission indefinitely ie - after biologic therapy, after surgery, etc.

Best of luck to you whatever you decide. There's a lot of people on this board who are a great resource for the diet...just be careful.
Posted 4/27/2012 1:06 AM (GMT 0)
SCD is designed to balance out gut flora and correct the cause of inflamation in intestines. As mentioned above it won't get rid of scar tissue. I don't know why people are saying SCD is dangerous? If you have strictures any food that might be bulky going through your system might cause problems.. SCD or others.
Posted 4/27/2012 3:12 AM (GMT 0)
My daughter (with UC) was on SCD twice and lost a lot of weight so we had to stop but during that time I subscribed to the yahoo list and did a TON of research and yes, like others have said, narrowing caused by inflammation has been treated by scd but I'd figure scar tissue wouldn't. You might want to do some research on that.
As for SCD, interestingly, I spoke to a GI at a top American university yesterday (not Rush University) who is treating IBD with antibiotics and I wanted to consult about this as a potential treatment for my daughter. Without me prompting he asked me if we had tried the scd. He told me that his department was doing a trial on scd for ibd at the moment and they were seeing excellent results for CD and mixed for UC.
For my daughter, a full scd might have been okay but we had kept having to narrow it down to manage her symptoms (barely) so we stopped. I think you have to do your research and use you common sense on this one. If you're willing to try it, it could be worth a shot. Good luck!
Posted 4/27/2012 7:24 PM (GMT 0)
The SCD diet is definitely hard to do. Even the book's author cautions not to try the diet unless you really know what it is about (and that means read the book) and are ready to be fanatical about it.

SCD does allow many types of foods - I tend to think the typical American crap diet is dangerous, not the healthy foods allowed by SCD. My daughter had a very narrow stricture when she started SCD, so that meant vegies were cooked to death, fruits were peeled and/or cooked (like homemade applesauce), even strawberries were skinned of seeds.  

The biggest challenge my daughter had on SCD was in keeping her weight up.

Posted 4/27/2012 7:31 PM (GMT 0)
killcolitis, would you mind sending that doc's name and the university name to my email address? My daughter is doing OK without SCD now, but I like to keep track of latest developments.
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