trying to control UC naturally

hi, i know probably what you are going through - i was diagnosed with UC when I was 4 months pregnant and did not start using any medication until he was 2 months old. i am not allergic to medications, i think, the problem is , they don't always help. and too much side effects. i tried homeopathy. you need to see a registered homeopath,someone with lots of experience, or at least a decent person who is really willing to help and not only to take your money. i haven't found a trustworthy homeopath yet, i am trying to figure it out myself but it's not easy. what i have found is that a remedy called' Phosphor Homaccord' product of a German company called 'Heel' really helps me. you can ask about it in a natural health store or check a website www.heel.ca. i have been trying to read about homeopathy as much as i can, without much success. good luck, write back, if you need to talk about it..

I am also allergic to all 5-ASA, even to the point that I would become severely nauseous whenever I inserted a Canasa suppository. Fortunately I have been controlling my UC quite successfully for the past 10 months or so thru watching my diet and natural supplements.

Diet is most important. All other supplements are useless if you are regularly eating a triggering food. Most people have problems with gluten and dairy. The following thread has some good advice how to become vigilant concerning other foods that may cause problems:
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=1982114

There is solid research proving that some natural supplements are just as effective as mesalamines for maintaining remission. Probiotics are the most popular supplement here and are very effective. I find that combining probiotics with psyllium fiber especially effective. Other proven supplements are boswellia and turmeric. But just as certain meds are not for everyone, specific supplements are not effective for everyone either.

This is for maintaining remission. Escaping a full blown flare is a different story. Hopefully this advice will work for you but it might not be effective for a bona fide flare. Antibiotics with probiotics ended my last flare but that was just me.

I am a believer in medications, but I'm sure open to other things helping!

Between my family and me, we have been to three GIs who totally believe in probiotics and have urged us to take them, have told us stories of probiotics helping folks when medications failed.......so I would think that within the medical community there might be a more open-minded GI than the one you've been using. My UC (I feel as if I could jinx my luck by saying this - lol) seem so far unaffected by diet and calm as long as I continue a pretty hefty dose of probiotics - 2 sachets of VSL #3 DS each day. I do take maintenance meds on top of that, and mesalamine enemas because so many here have found them to help.....

I tried slippery elm in a flare a few years ago and it did seem to help some, but the difficult thing for me was taking it between meds, since I take meds 4 times a day. Others have done well with the spinach and sunflower seed diet (sun butter if the seeds are too rough in a flare) in addition to the non-dairy, non-gluten and other suggestions here already.

I take supplements prescribed by a nautropathic doctor as well as meds that my GI has prescribed. I think that if you can find a ND it would be worth trying to see if they can help you with their supplement suggestions.

I use natural herbs to help remission my UC. I have persoally found it much more helpful than the doctors meds. I used melsalizie, but it stopped working. I was too scard to go on things like pred so i searched for natual remidies to help. The things which i find really helpful are golden seal, and worm wood. Also like Kim123 i use an anti fungal diet. I cut on sugars, grains honeys, things with fungus in such as vinagars and mushrooms i also dont eat. The diet i use is called an anti candida diet. It is to stop the overgrowth of candida from feeding. Candida feeds on sugars. It has really helped with me. I have had my self tested for candida and I do have a large over growth in my intestines. Im sure i have other things besides candida which i will have to eleminate. I have to be stict though i cant cheat on my diet. Its difficult and i am more strict than most people. I guess its because i cant get a way with alot. I am med free and control my UC completly naturally.

Try to see what works for you. The anti candida diet i use is in a book Called Breaking Through The Untouchable Diseases by Gerald Green
You can also use the SCD diet book but with that i find you have to cut out the fruit and the surgar such as honey.
I do use Geralds herbs such as golden seal and wormwood, you can get these at health food stores though.


Soon i will also be trying probiotic enemas. I will post to let everyone know how that goes. Ive never tried them.
Jini’s Probiotic Retention Enema is supose to be good. you can get them easily in the US. a bit more difficult in the UK so im going to have to find another sorce

Post Edited (Hellokitty) : 12/27/2010 2:47:21 PM (GMT-7)

Delarge, how do you dose curcumin?

If your body is sensitive to meds, than it might be sensitive to food as well.

Just because your doctor doesn't believe in diet and probiotics, doesn't mean you can't try it. What do you have to lose?

In regard to food, some things to look out for include:
Diary
Wheat
Gluten
Yeast
Fructose
Other sugars
Food additives

I'm on an anti-inflammatory diet:
http://nutrition.about.com/od/dietsformedicaldisorders/a/antiinflamfood.htm

I also don't consume foods/beverages high in fructose, but many on this forum do.

Some people on this forum swear by the spinach and sunflower seed diet. I also find spinach and nut butters to be very helpful.

Last but not least, I add turmeric powder to many of my foods and drink ginger teas (without cream and sugar).

Diet and probiotics got me out of my third flare. So your doctor is wrong. However, probiotics and diet don't work for everyone. And then again, meds don't work for everyone either.

Vitamin E enema works for me

lady1982 said...
Have you tried Ayurveda. It is most natural and does not have any side effects like allopathy medication. please go thru website www.ulcerativecolitiscure.com for more information. I found it quite helpful and i personally met doctor verma and he prescribed me medication. This doctor had seen over 5000 UCers all over the world and has invested 20 yrs of his life in researching medication for UC. He very well know and predict when the medication would start working for us depending on our sympton and how old our colitis is. I have spokem to many of patients who have being cured with his medicines before starting his medication. I hope this help. Recently he had visited USA/ Canada (last month).

So you consider yourself cured ? I saw his website years ago but never bought into it.

Hi all. I am new here. I feel proud because here I get my medication ways as I one of my problem is UC which is for five or years.
Thanks

Me either

Hi, im a Newbie to this site, but had UC for about mmm 4 years now. Had 1 big flare up, 1 super big flare up and some mini-ones (which only lasted few days and were easily handled, just up my steroid dose). There seems to be a load of debate about natural remedies here. I mean we all have the same problem and we all want a cure, but short of letting the doctors hack out our intestines there is not quick fix. Actually funny thing is for all the herbs people say to take the one with the highest proven success is smoking hahaha - there is irony in that. And a good excuse for why i still smoke :(. Ok look, we must take our pills, has anyone ever personally met someone whose had the magic cure, if not the blah blah its rubbish, and even if i met them id want to see their medical records to be sure it wasnt IBS. So we must take our pills, and know that we'll get through our flare ups and normality will return. And with plenty of pills and some supplementary dietary options it'll be ok.
For drugs i take 4 salazine, 1 Azathioprine, and just down to 1 predonine.
Supplementary: Drink: Yakult, Green Tea, and Blueberry juice. Eat: Blueberries, avacado, lots of cheese (moves slowly through system), anything naturally purple- like red cabbage etc.

Though i stress on a flare up, i do not really eat....just for pain and in a vain attempt to reduce toilet trips.

My UC doesnt seem to be affected by diet, alcohol or stress. GO FIGURE eh !! I can tell you this though, if i was to say something did affect my UC its the winter. Both my big flares happened in winters, and my mini flares too. Mine is definately gentic though, there is a strong frequency on my mothers side of these things, auntie has celiacs, brother has IBS, Uncles all have IBS too i think, and i think even my dads side and my have mm 'dodgy guts' as he calls it. haha.

I tell you what i am interested in if any one knows..the fetal matter transplants? - i know thats disgusting, but i can see their is some logic in it. In that we lack gut flora, which is present in everyone else to a much greater degree.

Ok i best get back to work. Hope everyone gets through it as quickly and painlessly as possible.