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alternative medicine???

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 6/28/2010 9:45 PM (GMT 0)
hello all! i am 31 yrs old and have been diagnosed with uc 2 years ago... i seem to flare up @ least once a year and that pretty much puts me on prednisone for 6 months out of the year and apriso daily since jan. 2009... i am one of those that HATES being on prescription drugs (plus i would like to get pregnant soon) so just wondering if there's anyone out there that has had any success with alternative medicine and has been drug free???
oh ya, my uc is considered "moderate to severe"... ugh!!!
Posted 6/28/2010 10:28 PM (GMT 0)
There are many suggestions of alternative, or should I say supportive treatments/remedies, etc for UC and good immune support.

I will firstly suggest you have your vitamin D checked and to make sure you are treated for h. pylori if that's the cause of your stomach ulcer.

As well....rectal meds....please consider them.

quincy
Posted 6/28/2010 11:23 PM (GMT 0)
Don't forget to take folic acid before and after getting pregnant (among other vitamins). I second Vitamin D3.
Posted 6/29/2010 12:01 AM (GMT 0)
I have tried a lot of supplements and dietary changes but never had much luck seeing improvement without medication. I wish I could say otherwise but unfortnuately, it's not the case for me. Maybe in the future I will try some vitamins and supplements again with a different outcome.
Posted 6/29/2010 12:46 AM (GMT 0)
Although I am not med-free I wanted to answer your question. Years of Rx never did anything I could detect to help my UC. My remission (first time in 10 years of UC hell) came with diet modification, Specific Carbohydrate Diet. It's not alternative medicine just an alternative diet.
I take the bare minimum of meds, just Balsalazide.

If you are still having symptoms be careful about dropping all meds in favor of something "alternative". I was pretty sick of taking meds that did nothing to help but gave me unpleasant side effects so I understand your goal. Just be careful not to make things worse.

Probiotics are a good place to start. I take VSL#3.
Posted 6/29/2010 1:35 AM (GMT 0)
Hi colongirl! I have had great success with alt. medicine. I had to try it as 5 ASA's made me very sick. I became pregnant shortly after my diagnosis. Thankfully, pregnancy was great for my UC and I went into remission. Shortly after delivery I had to take antibiotics and I had a flare. I took pred for 3 weeks and had to be tapered quickly as I was ready to have a breakdown. (I'm sensitive to meds) My GI was pushing 6mp at the time and there was no way I was going to take it. I looked for something natural that was safe for a nursing woman. I found applied kinesiology. I looks funny, but it worked. I also took probiotics and fish oil. Reiki was great too. Long story short. My first scope 2 years ago showed angry pancolitis. My last scope in April showed an almost normal colon. The biopsies came back with no signs of colitis. Now my GI says he isn't 100% I had UC! I'm pretty sure I do as I have had symptoms on and off for 10 years. I'm not saying this will work for everyone, but it worked for me. If you have any questions, let me know. I'm happy to help!
Posted 6/29/2010 1:59 AM (GMT 0)
thank you so much to everyone that replied... =)
i know i wont do anything drastic like go off all meds unless i get the ok from my dr. but i definitely will try all the vitamins and supplements suggested and really try to alter my diet... the specific carb diet sounds hard for me since everything i like has gluten in it! haha... but i am one who will try anything... so we'll see! thanks!
Posted 6/29/2010 2:35 AM (GMT 0)
I'd definitely try the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet).  I've recently started it and it's not too terrible to follow.   (I have 2 little kids already, before I had any idea I would ever develop UC)  I read recently somewhere that if you get pregnant while in remission you would most likely stay in remission, but if you get pregnant during a flare, you would probably be flaring all during pregnancy.  I don't know how true that is, but I thought it was pretty interesting.  Make sure to take all your prenantal vitamins, get good exercise, sleep well, all that stuff. 

The Fish oil and probiotics should all be perfectly safe to take while pregnant (and trying to control UC) too.

Posted 6/29/2010 4:40 AM (GMT 0)
I'm going to a Kinesiologist next monday. I'll let you know. OH and SCD is amazing. You can still make most breads out of almond flour so its not too bad. Probiotics helped me almost immediately. I'm too scared to stop taking my meds. I'm on 8 Apriso a day because my last flare was horrible. I just added tumeric and l-glutamine too.
Posted 6/29/2010 6:19 AM (GMT 0)
Yes.

Fecal transplantation
Probiotics
Vitamins and supplements
Diet
Meditation and breathing exercises
...
Posted 6/30/2010 2:34 AM (GMT 0)
colongirl...if you want to hear my story send me an email...good luck!
Posted 6/30/2010 3:41 PM (GMT 0)
I suggest seeing a Naturopathic doc, I think they are in the best position to guide you through the possibilities with a goal of being drug-free. But know that it might not be possible.
Posted 6/30/2010 4:24 PM (GMT 0)
Probiotics and watching my diet worked for me for 3 years.

That being said, I was so anti-prescriptions that I let a flare go too long on alternative medicine.  The result - a flare that wouldn't go away and an 8 day hospital stay when my baby was 5 weeks old, and 2 near misses where I almost had to have immediate surgery to stop the bleeding. 

I could have avoided that by taking Lialda once a day to prevent a flare.  The ASA medicines are really very tame (as prescriptions go).  They're safe to take during pregnancy, and have very few side effects for most people. 

If I had known where my UC road would take me, I would have stayed on my ASA meds.  Now I'm on Remicade and 6MP plus Lialda, either for the rest of my life or until I have my colon removed, plus all the side effects that a 9 month stint with prednisone will give you.  No fun.

Posted 6/30/2010 4:37 PM (GMT 0)
Colongirl- I did acupuncture before I got pregnant to help get out of a flare. I would highly recommend trying it out.
Posted 6/30/2010 5:25 PM (GMT 0)

erinkate23 said...
Probiotics and watching my diet worked for me for 3 years.

That being said, I was so anti-prescriptions that I let a flare go too long on alternative medicine.  The result - a flare that wouldn't go away and an 8 day hospital stay when my baby was 5 weeks old, and 2 near misses where I almost had to have immediate surgery to stop the bleeding. 

I could have avoided that by taking Lialda once a day to prevent a flare.  The ASA medicines are really very tame (as prescriptions go).  They're safe to take during pregnancy, and have very few side effects for most people. 

If I had known where my UC road would take me, I would have stayed on my ASA meds.  Now I'm on Remicade and 6MP plus Lialda, either for the rest of my life or until I have my colon removed, plus all the side effects that a 9 month stint with prednisone will give you.  No fun.

You shouldn't beat yourself up over stopping the 5ASAs. I always took mine and I still ended up in a terrible flare that was not controllable with 5ASA drugs. It could have happened to you regardless. Just because you take the meds daily doesn't mean you will be able to avoid a flare forever.

Posted 6/30/2010 5:53 PM (GMT 0)
ditto on what notsosicklygirl wrote...same thing happened to me.  i took 5asas religiously and still ended up in the worst flare of my life. this disease has a mind of its own.
Posted 6/30/2010 5:59 PM (GMT 0)
My alternatives are listed in my sig below...I'm either allergic or non-responsive to traditional oral RX used to treat IBD and I have IBS as well so that's another reason I incorporated diet change....
Posted 6/30/2010 6:03 PM (GMT 0)
Some cannot tolerate 5ASA meds, but that doesn't mean they don't work for others. And.....yes, once again till I'm blue in the face....please try the rectal 5ASA meds in conjunction with the oral.

They do also help lessen the incidence of cancer in the colon....a good insurance as well.

Using meds doesn't mean one cannot use alternative/supportive therapies as well.
q
Posted 6/30/2010 7:05 PM (GMT 0)
I was going to add you can try about 500mg of boswellia 3 times a day for UC. Just an idea along with watching your diet.

"A small clinical study found that people with UC taking 550 mg of boswellia gum resin three times daily for six weeks had similar improvement in symptoms and the severity of their disease as people with UC taking the drug sulfasalazine. 42 Overall, 82% of patients receiving boswellia, along with 75% of patients taking sulfasalazine, went into remission."
Posted 7/2/2010 6:04 PM (GMT 0)
I'm another that had better success with alternative methods than drugs, although I agree with Quincy - it doesn't have to be either/or. I take sulfasalzine (an ASA) and stay on a low maintenance dose as a little extra insurance.

The approaches that have helped me are in my sig. If you want a top three, I'd have to say a good quality probiotic in high doses to rebuild healthy gut flora, dietary changes to remove offending foods, and omega-3s in high doses to reduce inflammation.
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