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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 1/14/2008 6:12 AM (GMT 0)
I've been gone a while.  Still in remission and life keeps me busy.  I did a search on SCD in the forum and either the search isn't working or no one is talking about it anymore.  It was such a hot topic last time I was in here I would be surprised it is the latter.  Anyone still on it and if so how long have you been symptom free?  I still have a strong feeling UC does have some food links, but honestly the drugs keep mine in check and so I haven't had to give up my addiction of bad food thanks to living in the UC.  Just wondering if anyone else has the strength/willpower to stay on that hard diet.
Posted 1/14/2008 1:48 PM (GMT 0)
I was on the SCD for a few months, and I was feeling a bit better - no bleeding, just a tiny bit of redness in the stool. But then I had a colonoscopy, and my doctor said I was still in the middle of a flare and put me back on Pred and Imuran, and since then I haven't bothered with SCD and have felt better (probably because of the Imuran)

So I sort of think the SCD does a good job at reducing the bad effects of flareups, but it doesn't stop the flareup itself.
Posted 1/14/2008 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
I follow a less stringent version of the SCD. In my experience, personal modifications are required. There are allowable foods I don't tolerate - like the homemade yogurt - and there are forbidden foods that don't bother me in small amounts. Through trial and error, I've found a low carb, dairy-free and gluten-free diet works very well for me.
Posted 1/15/2008 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
Hi all,
first time post, I was diagnosed with pancolitis 11/20/2006. I started SCD immediately and found it easy being that I was on the Zone Diet for the eight years prior to diagnosis. I stayed very strict with it with the exception of psylium husk that I use to make protein cakes. I went more strict in May 2007 when I realized that although I hadn't missed a day of work and my blood tests looked good, I was still getting symptoms and getting extremely tired of seeing blood everyday.
My feeling was that SCD is a diet that is in the middle of a of high carb/SAD and a no sugar and no fruit diet. I figured if SCD kept me OK, going more strict as it relates to sugars would be better.
Today I had grilled chicken and spanich with olive oil for brealfast, lunch and dinner. I have protein "cakes" which are protein powder and psylium and yogurt once a day as well. I will have this tomorrow and everday if required. This is essentially what I've eaten for the last six months. I don't see blood, I don't miss work and I've not needed and meds beside Colazal. So I think it has defintely helped me.
Posted 1/17/2008 2:41 AM (GMT 0)
I've been on the SCD for almost 2 years. I think it has helped immensely and perhaps the reason you don't see many SCD success stories on here is that the successful people don't have to come to this site a lot! I usually check in here every three weeks or so. The diet is easy now and I am used to eating this way. I still take my meds and would likely get sick without them (oral and rectal mesalamine, none of the big guns). Before the diet, the meds weren't enough to keep me in remission. I could see a flare coming and felt powerless to stop it. But now that I combine the meds with the SCdiet, I feel like I have some control over lurking flares and feel like I can modify my meds and eating to fend them off. Experience has proven this to me.

I encourage anyone to try the SCD. I think it works. I think it comes down to how commited you are to staying healthy. When my friends ask me if I miss certain foods or if it's hard to watch other people eat stuff I can't, I always say the same thing: those foods lose their appeal when you associate them with getting sick. This diet is not very hard and I challenge anyone here to find a person who likes baked goods more than I did. I think that says a lot.

I am so grateful to have a harmless way to help manage my disease.

Healthy bums to all,
Jane
Posted 1/17/2008 4:47 AM (GMT 0)
The SCD worked for me but it was a bit too strict, so I follow a less strict version of it...something closer to the Zone Diet. Before doing this I was a complete mess...and I mean a complete mess, for years! Every summer, I was in the house exhausted, lying on a bed while my kids went to the park with their mother...it was frustrating... But the SCD definitely helped me. NBT
Posted 1/26/2008 3:43 PM (GMT 0)
I did the SCD diet for 3 months STRICTLY. But like UCinGV symptoms better although it is hard to to tell because I was also on pred. i did wean off the pred and was solely on diet for 1 month with blood and lesser symptoms but not really consistant. then 1 wk ago I started with fever x 7days. BM were still formed and with no warning i had a bucket full of blood and my sigmoidoscopy showed a really bad bleeding ulcer I did not have before. Back on pred. started for the first time on Imuran and my Dr. has me for Remicade in Feb. I was dx in2006 and not been in remission, just better days/weeks. i REALLY believe in the SCD even though I somehow got bad. I sometimes think it was the fact that I stopped all meds thinking the diet would hold me over. It sounds like you all cont on the meds and the diet. The asacol, colazal, canasa, 6mp have not worked for me. Any suggestions?
Posted 1/26/2008 6:22 PM (GMT 0)
The book warns of set backs in the first several months and even beyond that, set backs will occur though less frequenly and of shorter duration. I stay on the colazal because, if the science behind the diet is true, it took years for the illness to progress to the point that it is and it will take years to reverse completely via diet, so I stay on the Colazal to speed this up and as insurance against the inevitable set backs...

Also, I think a lot of people move away from the starter diet too soon and start eating anything legal. This makes sense because the starter diet seems like a diet for someone that is home and sick in bed while most people go to work a go on with life while trying to get better. I've been on a modified starter diet of like 10 things for 6 months and am doing well: Chicken, eggs, fish, spinach, olive oil, coconut oil, beef once a week as a treat, SCD yogurt and Casien protein powder (illegal on SCD, but by definition, lactose free and has no sugars or carbs and plenty of beneficial amino acids) and psyllium. If nothing else, it signicantly reduces gas and movements and most other symptoms. The stomach does most of the work when digesting animal proteins and they provide little if any food for intestinal organisms. I think the SCD is the next step after getting significantly better with a strict starter diet consisting of only meats and very low fiber/carb vegetables.

Posted 1/28/2008 2:15 AM (GMT 0)
Good suggestion. Because i did move on from the starter diet since I was also on the pred. when I started the diet, I really did not think I needed longer. But it is a good idea to stick with a set of foods that work for awhile. However, do you take a multivit or supplements if you are not eating friuts or anything else that might be missing. I am willing to eat whatever to get better and be able to work. I have not been able to work since I got dx. Thanks ioscan.
Posted 1/28/2008 4:29 AM (GMT 0)

Transformers,

I know what you mean about moving off the starter diet, I don't think I ever really did the the starter diet and just started eating anything legal. I didn't realize that this was wrong till I started eating almond butter which is completely SCD legal but it "came out" the other end completely intact and undigested, it was then that I realized that just because something was SCD legal doesn't mean I was ready to eat it. I now eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner pretty much everyday. I am a little afraid to change it up because it is working so well.

I would take a multi-vitamin whether on a strict starter diet on not, Freeda vitamins make an SCD multi and B-complex which are excellent and not very expensive, they are also Kosher which I think is cool and adds credibility to the product. I take the following:

SCD mutli and B-complex

Carlsons Cod liver oil x 2 *****

Fish oil x 15 (5 caps 3 times a day with my colazal that I take 3 times a day) *****

L-Glutamine powder 15 grams a day *****

Magnesium x 3

Primadolphilus(Probiotic) x 1 *****

Note that I took many of these suppliments prior to diagnosis simply for better health. The ones with stars next to them are the ones that I think are most important for UC. Good luck, keep at it, you will get there. It took me a year with diet and colazal to feel better than I felt before being diagnosed. Now one movement a day and my energy level is back to where it used to be.

 

Posted 1/28/2008 12:26 PM (GMT 0)

It is a fact that once people get better they hardly need to check on this forum. That is my case too. I have had UC for over 6 years. The last couple of years I have followed the SCD as it must - strictly and I am so much better.  I ciould say today I am cured as I have no symptoms and take no meds.  But I know this is not going to last forever and so I prefer to say that I am in remission.  And that was achieved with the SCD. Meds are also important but the diet does a long time job to bring you to remission.  It is strict and it does not work if you don't follow it fanatically.  That is the only problem with the diet. But if you are in trouble and really want to get your health back and have the determination give this diet a good 6 month try - not less. I bet most of you (hopefully all) will find important improvement and, same as I did, will not give the diet up and continue to get better and better.

Bob 59

Posted 1/28/2008 3:12 PM (GMT 0)
I've found supplementing with a high quality/potency probiotic to reestablish good gut flora and taking omega-3s for inflammation to be equally as important as the diet. And yes, even Elaine says it's a good idea to stay on your maintenance meds while you give the diet a fighting chance to work.
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