Almost in remission with no meds.....

I went to see a naturopath doctor 2-3 months ago that came very highly recommended, and he put me on a pretty strict regime (diet and vitamins) mentioned in my signature. I was skeptical but decided to stick through it.

I am almost symptom free now, I would say 95%. I get the odd cramp or urgency, but feel fantastic for the most part. And this is without any meds.

Granted every case is different, and I know some people need meds plus the diet does not work for others. But I wanted to share nonetheless, you have all been so helpful and nice to me since I joined.

For anyone that has not tried diet modification along with vitamins etc, PLEASE give it a try. Yes it takes a lot of discipline, but feeling great is so worth it. And besides, my doc said that as my gut heals, I can slowly reintroduce certain foods and test to see if they bother me. I would say the biggest improvement came from going gluten free, hard to say for sure though since i implemented so many things at the same time.

Feel free to ask me any questions and best of luck to all,

Hanz

p.s. For those that don't know, I was having a lot of problems before I started the diet/vitamins. I had bleeding, D, urgency, mucus, cramps, etc... And ended up in the hospital twice from bad attacks. I tried many different medications, but nothing was near as affective as this diet/regime.

That sounds great! Thanks so much for sharing.
B

good for you!

Are you avoiding all carbohydrates or just gluten foods and starches?

Zippy - I am avoiding gluten foods and starches, but am fine with certain carbs, and am fine with grains (rice, etc), nuts and seeds (some must be ground as they are pointy like sunflower seeds and flax seeds).

I usually have rice or corn cereal with almond/rice/oat milk (I choose one of them) for breakfast, chicken with cooked veggies and rice for lunch, and chicken or fish with cooked veggies for dinner. I have red meat 1-2 times per week, and eggs 2-3 times per week for breakfast or lunch (omelette). For snacks I have my nut butters with buckwheat toast or crackers, rice chips, bars (sunflower crunch, lydias cacao crunch, "simply" bar), or rice cakes with nut butter).

The MAIN things I avoid are gluten, dairy and sugar. Also I avoid potatoes, raw veggies, fried foods, no coffee at all (it DEFINITELY bothers me even decaf), no sweetener (I use stevia or xyletol), no fruits for now (the sugar bothers me) .... Yes its strict, but I got used to it, and feeling great is well worth it for me. Can't wait until I can slowly reintroduce foods and test down the road..

Heidi - Am so happy its working for you, yes its similar to SCD but with grains (which are ok for me but I'm sure not OK for some). And for the record, I would've still been on the meds, but was getting headaches, bloated, and still getting bad attacks. They were not working for me, and I needed to find an alternate solution. Looking back it was a blessing in disguise :)

Post Edited (hanzsolo) : 8/3/2010 5:02:52 AM (GMT-6)

I'm pretty much doing the same thing 'no-meds' and when I start eating everything in the food spectrum in excess it usually gets to a point where I have to eat 'clean' for a bit until it straightens out but usually if I just keep the bread and sugars etc to low-moderate amounts I am fine with eating across the entire spectrum with a majority of the diet being protein or spinach salad, yogurt, milk-protein shakes etc. Highly processed foods and foods with giant ingredients lists are always minimized.

I quit taking everything even vsl#3 unless I have misbehaved per above.

I have not taken lexapro and think I would benefit but what happens when you stop taking it ? Seems it would leave you in a bigger hole since you were adding it exogenously and your body will want to balance out by producing even less, much like the adrenals shutdown from prednisone. I'll read up on it maybe its not that simple.

I take my D3 by intramuscular injection but may reserve that for those times when things start to slip and just consume it orally which would save money. I suspect absorption of D3 through the GI tract is not efficient. IM injections bypass that nicely.

I also read body builders who don't gain should take 80, thats right 80 grams of l-glutamine per day for a week before dropping to 20 grams.

Another trick I use is a warm tall glass of 3 heaping tablespoons of turmeric 1st thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

How do you know it's the diet that's helping and that it's not just coincidence that you happened to be going into remission at the same time you began seeing the netropath?

I tried SCD Diet and it didn't help me at all. This disease is definitely very individual.

I hope you continue to have success without medication. That would be a dream come true for me!

I agree and I have considered trying SCD again for that reason. I have also thought about eating "raw". I am not sure what would help my situation, diet doesn't seem to have too much impact but it's definitely worth trying, it has helped a lot of people.

I haven't heard much about raw to be honest, except that my doc said to stay away from uncooked veggies (rough on GI) and from fruits for now (lots of sugar).. That's me though :) Best of luck and thanks to everyone for your feedback