Tips to heal an ulcerated colon

I have been using Liquorice to try and heal my damaged colon, but with little effect.

Does anyone here have and tips medical or dietary that might work better?

G

I tried all sorts of herbals & supplements prior to being diagnosed- not a one did a darn thing. Slippery elm, marshmallow root, Omega 3's (which recently have been proven NOT to help in IBD, according to the CCFA website), you name it. The only thing that helps me are probiotics, and those along with a lot of other conventional meds. I wish I knew how to heal a damaged colon! If you ever find out, please let us know!

The only way I was able to heal mine was through extended remission. My c-scope 18 months after starting Remicade showed no ulcers, no inflammation, no signs of UC at all. It's still there, and I notice it starting to rumble a bit if I'm more than a week late for my Remi, but the pathology is all normal for now.

One of my UC symptoms is stomach pain that can be severe when in a flare. I found that chewing DGL licorice 20 minutes before meals and before bedtime to really help.

Presumably if it helps the pain then perhaps it is helping to repair tissue? DGL must be chewed to interact with the saliva. It is hard but not impossible to find DGL without other crappy additives (to make it taste good I suppose) that don't help me.

Of course another way to repair intestinal tissue and much discussed here is supplemental glutamine.

Gargamel, I was diagnosed with UC a few years ago and have been taking asacol and canasa since. The meds help, but The flare-ups have continued. Always seems like something I consume gets it all going again. I have identified certain foods (pizza especialy) and all beer to be culprits. I do have a mild to moderate condition of UC in the bottom portion of my colon.

I recently had a visit to my GI doctor and he took me off the asacol, he said my creatinnine level was border line too high. At the time I was taking 8 asacol a day (4x2). I slowly began getting worse and finally after consuming my bowels archrival, pizza, I was full blown symptonmatic again. I called My GI doctor and he was on emergency leave. I talked to one of his associates and told him I wanted to take the asacol again to get the flare up under control. He agreed to let that happen. During the Easter weekend I began to get a little better and on Easter Sunday I ate whatever I wanted. Noodles, Pastas and bread are some of my favorites.

I told my wife that I needed to get back to a better diet because my UC seems to do better that way. Eating fruits, vegatables and meats, nothing processed! Then my puny brain had a revelation. I remember a good friend trying to be gluten free a few months ago. He didnt have an IBD, but he wanted to be without gluten in his diet. So, I started looking for info on google about gluten free diet and UC. I know celiacs have major problems with it, but was I also having issues with gluten? In the past when I changed my diet to less processed foods, my UC would improve but I would still have set-backs. Then I remembered that I would still consume beer, breads, pastas on the weekends. I was consuming gluten!

So as of today I have only been on a gluten free diet for 7 days. My UC condition has gotten much better. No frequency, gas, blood, urgency or loose and watery stools. I have cut back to 4 asacol a day and didnt use a canasa last night. I havent had 7 full days without a flare-up in many months, so I am almost convinced at this point that my bowels dont like gluten. It has been a challenge to be gluten free. Most gluten free foods are easy to find though. It has been a challenge eating out. The gluten free beer doesnt taste great, but I will get used to it. The resteraunts are probably cross contaminating foods that im eating with gluten foods, but I dont seem that sensitive to it. Last night I tried rice sphagetti and it was great!

I am definately not trying to say I am cured. I have UC and my diet and medication must be controlled to keep it at bay. I hope you read this and it can help. It has taken me 4-5 years to figure out what foods flare me up and everybody's UC is different. I also stay away from lactose, but i might try to renintroduce it to see if it was really a culprit. I may have been consuming gluten with it.

Good luck!

I think everyone finds something different that works for them! So it's good to explore. Personally, I *didn't* have any luck with the following, but YMMV: marshmallow root, licorice root, fish oil, boswellia, peppermint, milk thistle seed, chamomile, calendula. All but the fish oil and boswellia were prepared directly from high-quality whole herbs, and I took all for a month or longer. I'm trying probiotics now, at the advice of my Dr. -- he suggested doing this in yogurt form, since that way you're sure that the little buggers are still alive and kicking. The probiotic supplements may be OK too, but you have no guarantee as to what's really in there, or whether or not it's still viable.

glutamine and that liquid iron suppliment from germany in dark brown bottle sold in white box the name of i cant recall currently have been two best things ive found . also juice fasting . and living on alot of fruit . quiting coffee/ caffeine . quiting all processed and most cooked stuffs . drink only water or fresh / raw plant juices , nut & seed milks and smoothies all home made from whole foods . quit oil / frying . that iron suppliment is floradix , it was helping but its expensive . get a vitamix and spend alot of days living on a raw rich liquid whole plant substances diet , home made nut & seed milk with fruit smoothies . raw spinach leaf healing for the g.i. tract imo , fresh oranges too . nightly meditation to focus & calm , try doing so to ocean wave videos at youtube . i doubted at first but many say it and i now believe slowing down / calming the mind from its over excited modern day state helps with g.i. tract health . yoga movements to stretch the abdomen every way possible . its spring northern hemisphere , time to grow alot of spinach if it tastes good to you . the late raw foodist norman walker said raw spinach most healing for tract and ive found it to help . can get alot of seed cheap , get bloomsdale , at wilhite seeds in texas , cheap shipping too . get 1lb for $8 , its 32,000 seeds = alot . NOW brand L-Glutamine powder from amazon.com . 6oz size good to experiment with , it'll last you say 2 months = enough to find out if helps

ive read folks say grow wheat grass then juice it to use for enemas . modern people have severely damaged g.i. tracts from all the processed junk foods in cans / bottles / packages , plus eating too much cooked and not enough raw . and fried stuff dont help . so its a daily struggle to eliminate all wrongful ' foods ' and replace with whole , vastly raw , plant foods straight from earth . and its my belief that eventually there'll be discovered a plant whose raw juice shall be the great g.i. tract healer . but for it to work diet has to be right , days of foolishly eating are gone . we did it too long and are now paying !