I have discovered something that I think will help you too. PART 1

Hello. My name is CLL. I am a 32 year old male construction worker and I live in a mobile home park in Riverdale Utah. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2003 although I had symptoms for 4 or 5 years before being diagnosed. I have experienced all the horrible things that comes with this terrible disease, the constantly having to use the bathroom, the not being able to eat what I want, the crapping my pants in public, the feeling of being in public and having the urgency come on and the terror of needing to find a bathroom REAL FAST! the blood, the mucus, the every where I go the first thing I do is look for where the nearest toilet is etc etc, I have experienced it all.

At one point I was in an extremely bad flare for two years straight non stop, I tried many medications and nothing helped much and I hated having to take the medication and not only that but it was very expensive. Then I decided I need to buckle down and find the cause or cure of this disease, I started keeping a journal of everything I ate every single day, I eliminated things from my diet, I did every thing I could to figure this out, even started drinking distilled water and changed my deodorant and toothpaste in case those were somehow the cause.

Well, I believe I have discovered the cause or cure, or at least how to be completely symptom free and be completely off medication and eat basically whatever I want with the exception of I keep my refined sugar and salt intake to a minimum because I have learned that these to things can aggravate uc symptoms.
Since my discovery I have been symptom and medication free for two and a half years now with the exception of symptoms just slightly reappearing every once in a great while but I can ride myself of them in just a few days now that have discovered what I have discovered.
The cure( or remedy, whatever you want to call it) is quite simple but I know I could make a lot of money if I took my findings to a pharmaceutical company or wrote a book etc etc, I am sure a pharmaceutical company would want keep the simplicity of my findings a secret and develop a medication that works with my discovery, and not let the public know exactly the simplicity of what is really going on. I was thinking for quite some time of doing something like this to make a lot of money, but I cant read your posts and have you people needlessly suffer any more, I need to help you, even if I don't get recognition for my discovery I need to help you people.

Ok, my discovery, don't mock it because of its simplicity, it works and I think you can be symptom and medication free like me if you do what I say.
OK, I believe the cause of ulcerative colitis is a beta carotene and possibly magnesium deficiency, now don't go out and buy a bunch of supplements, I don't take any supplements. When I am starting to have a flare I eat one 13.5 ounce can of spinach a day, it contains high amounts of both beta carotene and magnesium. Also sunflower seeds and peanuts are high in magnesium, I eat these daily. Also most nuts and seeds are high in magnesium. also I keep my sodium intake and refined sugar intake to a minimum. And I drink distilled water daily but I don't think it really matters about the water, that's it, other than these things I eat what I want. If you do these things I very much think that you too will be symptom free like myself. I only have to eat the spinach once in a while to keep symptoms at bay but at any little sign of a flare eat a can a day till symptoms are gone. Also I am sure most of you are in a flare so you will need to eat a can a day till symptoms are gone. And try to eat lots of nuts and seeds but if you cant eat nuts and seeds I think the spinach alone will help you and keep  your salt and refined sugar intake to a minimum and if you want to do exactly like I do, drink distilled water also. Now there are other things high in beta carotene such as carrots, But I would eat the spinach till your symptoms are under control and then experiment with carrots and things later because I know for a fact that the spinach works. When not flaring i only eat maybe one or two cans a week and it keeps me in remission. Also while in remission I can usually stay in remission by eating lots of vegtables and foods with magnesium in it and I can go for quite some time without eating any spinach at all, all vegtables have some beta carotene in it, but a large can of spinach contains a lot, and also contains a lot of magnesium. but if I have any sign of a flare I eat a can of spinach a day and it rids me of my flare every single time. If my flare is real bad and my colon is in bad shape such as when I first discovered this it can take a month of eating spinach and high magnesium foods daily to be healed, if my flare is just starting it only takes one to three days to be healed, and my flares now never get any worse than a firm BM with a little mucus on it now that i know the cure. I never have D now because I can always rid myself of a flare before it gets bad. 
For sharing this information with you I ask that you remember my name, maybe this way I will somehow get recognition for my discovery and I also ask that any of you that this helps that you write me and tell me about it. This is not a joke. It has worked for me for 2.5 years now , I take one firm bm a day, and before I discovered this it was 10 to 20 a day. Have a great day:)
Colby

PS. maybe cure is the wrong word but to me it has been a cure if I do as mentioned continuously. Lets just say its a cure but that requires work to keep things balanced. I hope it will be a cure for you too.

Post Edited By Moderator (Red_34) : 7/15/2008 5:42:20 AM (GMT-6)

I bought two cans of Del Monte Spinach, 10 for a dollar at Albertsons. I am going to wait to phase them into my diet so I can try and attribute any changes to the spinach and not to the one or two beers I may have over memorial day weekend. I'm serious.

haha.

I thought I had tried it all in my life in dealing with this illness, but never spinach. In most of my life especially when I came down with this when I was 16, I avoided green's religiously. I just always hated it. So this makes sense to me. I'm wondering how many other uc sufferers also lacked green's,especially spinach, in their diet. I'm a poor test subject because I've been in remission on Remicade. I just had a can yesterday and I actually liked it. It's actually been a kind of stress relief, sort of speak, because I feel should the Remicade ever stop being effective, this addition to my diet will keep me in remission. This is interesting, keep the posts coming with updates from everybody!! If anybody thinks this is bunk, then just ignore this thread. Easy as that, that way there won't be any trouble with flames going back and forth. This is to important and can potentially help alot of people for this thread to end.

Maybe you said this in the original thread, but why canned spinach and not fresh spinach?

Because canned spinach is very condensed. When spinach is cooked it shrinks very much. So if you were to eat fresh spinach it would seem like your eating a huge amount compaired to the amount in a can of spinach. If you cooked the fresh spinach and ate the same amount as whats in a 13 ounce can im sure fresh spinach would be fine. I don't put vinegar on my spinach, but I have had it with vinegar before and do like it but I read that vinegar can kill some nutrients, vitamin b-5 is one example.

Cfromutah,

I think your new heading is a wise choice indeed because sometimes we forget what the criteria is for a "Cure for UC". It's not about maintaining a diet because if you're cured you can eat whatever you want...I am like you, almost 100% normal, but if I slip up...just once, there will be an impact...so I am not cured.

The criteria for a cure is this (and this is just my opinion by the way)...

If someone thinks they are cured, they should have a colonoscopy performed that should show "no" signs of inflammation anywhere in their colon...only then, can we call it a cure and not before.

However, I do think you maybe onto something and if my current treatment doesn't work...I too may head to the supermarket to buy spinach...lol

Again, thanks for sharing,

NBT

Hey everybody, forget about the word 'cure'. We need to find out what works for us. I know people that can literally die if they eat anything with nuts. Their 'cure' is to avoid nuts. See where I'm getting at? There is nothing they could ever do about an issue like that. Same thing with us. IF there is something we are lacking in our diets, then we need to deal with it. Like I said before, I've had a horrible diet for most of my life, up until a few years ago, and I've NEVER had spinach up until yesterday. So I'm in this all the way.

Oh, and one more thing. This obviously isn't going to work for everybody, but I'm willing to bet right now, that out of 10 people, it will be helpful for at least half.

I love frozen spinach.  Would this be equivalent to canned?  I've never had canned spinach before, but willing to try it it helps.  Interestingly, I have been eating pb&j sandwiches the last several days just because my kitchen was empty and I hadnt been grocery shopping.  Also I have eaten cooked carrots for the last 4 nights (left over from a pot roast).  After seeing the original post of this subject I threw in frozen cooked spinach the last 3 nights and I have seen improvment in my UC symptoms starting yesterday.  I dont know if it is because of the spinach and peanut butter, but I will tell you that when I went grocery shopping today I loaded up on spinach.  I am hopeful that it will continue to improve things for me.  If it does I'll post again.

I have been thinking about this and for some reason I started thinking about "Glutamine."

I used to take it as a supplement when I lifted weights (before this DD). I took it for help healing muscles back then. Well, I think some people in here know about it, and there are some references to it helping heal intestinal tissue.

Well, I did a little bit of google-ing and raw spinach is supposedly a source of Glutamine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamine

I wonder if we could make a smoothie out of a few select items that would make some of us feel better. I think it's worth a shot, and I would practically drink any "fear-factor" cocktail if it would give me that right kind of healthy energy, you know, not just a caffeine buz but that good vitamin feeling of wellness.

At any rate, please ask your doctor before taking any supplements and heed any warnings on the supplements. But I think this is really interesting.

Just found one other article:

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
Glutamine helps to protect the lining of the gastrointestinal tract known as the mucosa. Because of this, some experts speculate that glutamine deficiency may play a role in the development of IBD, namely ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. These conditions are characterized by damage to the mucosal lining of the small and/or large intestines, which leads to inflammation, infection, and ulcerations (holes). In fact, some preliminary research suggests that glutamine may be a valuable supplement during treatment of IBD because it promotes healing of the cells in the intestines and improves diarrhea associated with IBD. Not all studies have found this positive benefit, however. For this reason, more research is needed before conclusions can be drawn. In the meantime, follow the advice of your healthcare provider when deciding whether to use glutamine for IBD.

From:  http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/glutamine-000307.htm

xpsunny, what ayurvedic approach did your dad use?

Oh, and isn't another benefit of spinach is that it's a good source of iron?

I am going to try this, I am in remission right now but I am always looking for good ideas. I love how people share their ideas on the internet and together we can help each other from the experience we have with this disease. You all have helped me so much. I am going to report back with my findings. Also I will mention this to my doctors if in fact I see this working. Because they can also help others like us.

Is it possible to somehow get in touch with someone in India, to get access to this Ayurvedic medication?  Because it is certainly not available here in the US. 

hello,your post was interesting, I think i have a cure also. I have been taking Bromelain for the last six weeks. All simptons have dissapeared. Bleeding has stopped 98%. I take one 500mg capsule after each meal. surprisingly, the pineapple dietary supplement contains magnesium trisiclate and magnesium stearate. coincidence? I dont think so!