Hi,
I understand your feelings on not wanting to take medication for your inflammation. After my son's diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, the G.I. doctors put him on Prednisone, and other powerful anti-inflammatories which all have terrible side-effects. Without going into a lot of detail, we began to look into alternative medicine. We found a naturopathic doctor who did more for us than the specialists could do. Keep your mind open to the fact that there are more ways than our dear M.D.'s know on how to treat these severe inflammatory diseases.
Don't try to decide for yourself, you need to get the best advice you can that ethically fits how you believe YOU should be treated. We did not agree with the protocol of medicines that were being lined up for our son, so WE made the choice to opt out and do something extreme and different. We did a lot of research online, and we interviewed various alternative doctors in our area before making our decision. Until you know which direction you are going, continue doing what your M.D. has advised. You don't want your condition to worsen to the point that it is uncontrollable (and that can happen rapidly!)
I also found that our G.I. doctor felt very threatened by our comment to seek other medical advice. He actually stated that he felt we didn't trust his expertise, and that there is no proof that alternative treatments work. He also told us that eating more fiber will help colitis, and that diet really doesn't seem to be the main issue. He is right, the main issue is a combination of several different factors: Diet, healthy lifestyle choices, and limited stress!
You are wise to look at special diets. To really know what foods your body feels threatened by, you must take a food allergy test. A naturopath or other alternative medicine doctor can perform these kinds of tests. By the way, there is a kind of test for this that only requires a blood test. No pricking and painful food allergy tests are necessary if you ask about this kind. I feel these tests are CRITICAL! Even though they can cost anywhere from $150 on up, it gives you a firm foundation to beginning a detox of your body to invasive and inflammatory causes to your disease. Your body won't change overnight, but within a short amount of time, our son reacted very positively to taking these foods out of his diet.
I also suggest taking natural supplements such as a good "chelated" multi-vitamin, natural anti-inflammatory herbs, and the like. Your alternative medicine doctor will have suggestions for you in this area. Our doctor also recommended herbs and anti-inflammatories that calm and re-build the colon. They have worked beautifully. We also looked at Juice Plus which has good documented research on how their products help the digestive system. (Don't worry, I don't sell this product, we just use it.) Do prepare to spend money - I won't kid you! But, I would rather spend it on things that don't give terrible side effects to my son. In time, these medications won't be needed as much as long as he follows the basic rules to keep himself healthy. It isn't easy, but it is better than being so sick you can't go into public!
We began this journey when he was 9 years old, and he is now 14. I am happy to say, he has been in remission with no flare ups at all for almost two years. While his body was healing, he would have occasional flare-ups usually caused by lots of stress, or by eating too much of the wrong foods. I attribute his success to the treatment and advice of our naturopathic doctor, and to much prayer which my family feels is vital.
I hope this encourages you, and please feel free to keep me posted on how your journey is going with this.
Rosewood65