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I Cured myself and want to help!!!

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 5/18/2011 1:05 PM (GMT 0)
@I'mCured....

I know they say that they don't have an answer on what causes Colitis... but here is my story and my theory on why I have it (that is always subject to change as I become more educated on UC.)

In 1992 I had a PSYCHIC down in Casa Dega Florida tell me that I needed to watch out for colitis because I worry so much and kick up acids in my stomach.

I was diagnosed with colitis in 2005.

So, here is the 3 part reason on why I personally think I have Ulcerative Colitis:

#1 No colitis to be found anywhere in my family. I AM an excessive worrier and Type A sort of personality. I am extremely sensitive, not only in my 'feelings' department, but I can't have any fragrances or things in my soaps or laundry detergent and have had several episodes of going to the Dr. for mysterious rashes/hives that I've had to get on prednisone just to calm it down.

#2 I have had a WAY over-exposure to anti-biotics in my life. I can't tell you how many times Drs have prescribed anti-biotics for this or for that and I definitely think it's killed off my good gut bacteria making me vulnerable.

#3 And this one is important.... THE CRAP that they put in our foods, the preservatives, the growth hormones, the toxins, the chemicals, pesticides, etc., etc., etc.. wreck havoc on your digestive system on top of the two things I mentioned above. When I grew up, I had all healthy pure water from a well, and since I lived on a farm I always had fresh vegetables, milk, fruit, and meat until I turned 18 and moved away to the filthy, cess pool, turning into Third World country- American cities.

So, it's NO WONDER my colon is rotting and inflamed!!!

Is this MY fault that I have colitis? Yes and No.

It's my fault that I should have made myself more educated on the foods that I was eating, as my diet, especially in my twenties was "whatever I wanted to eat." I didn't listen to the warning of the psychic, and really didn't even know what colitis was when she mentioned it.

But, it's NOT my fault that we, as Americans, are being lied to about what is in our foods at the grocery store. When they lie and place a list of things that can be under the "NATURAL INGREDIENTS" label, that does not help us. When they lie and not label which foods are GMO or not, that does not help us. That is not my fault that I'm being lied to about the garbage they are sneaking into our foods, but now that I know they are doing this, it would be my fault for not spreading the information around and trying to do something to stop the GOV. from doing this to the citizens.
Posted 5/18/2011 1:14 PM (GMT 0)
If this was the case, then why doesn't everyone eating the standard American diet have colitis?
Posted 5/18/2011 1:27 PM (GMT 0)
1. No UC in my family and no history of AI diseases.
2 No over exposure to antibiotics.
3. Grew up on whole grains, home grown organic fruits, and a mostly vegetarian diet.

I also had UC. Food and heredity did not play a role in my disease.

Sue
Posted 5/18/2011 1:27 PM (GMT 0)
I was diagnosed in the late 80's with colitis and finally had my colon removed in '95. I am not a worrier, and never took a lot of antibiotics, and there is no history of it in my family. I was just one of the lucky chosen ones to get this. I am trying to find a way to pay for meds to help ward off pouchitis and c-dif. I have had both and each can be worse than having the colitis. Any help much appreciated.
Posted 5/18/2011 1:30 PM (GMT 0)
People, READ the post before replying... that is MY THEORY on why "I" have colitis.... not why YOU have it.
Posted 5/18/2011 2:00 PM (GMT 0)
Many of you have posed the question about why if diet was the answer, how come not everyone eating the typical American diet does not have UC? My answer to this is as follows. We are all individuals and such have different strengths and weaknesses. My guts along with most everyone else suffering with UC and crohns are probably the weaker point of our bodies. But think for just a minute about people you know who show their illness and intolerance to their crappy diet in different ways. Diabetes, obesity, kidney stones, cancers...etc. So many people here want such a concrete highly researched and clinically proven cure that they just stonewall the idea that diet can help them. It makes me crazy, but I will keep trying to reach you all. Also, if you read through my posts you will see that I has parasites and that the diet and supplements I was taking helped to eventually rid my body of these. NO ONE to my knowledge has beat UC by taking any concoction of drug. Those who have even gotten their entire colon removed still have plenty of complications and reoccurring problems. Why then is it that when myself and other like-minded people who actually have persevered over this disease do I get so much resistance from others who refuse to open their minds to see the simplicity of it all? It is not an overnight change by any means. It took me six months and I continue to take care of myself now. Just think back to your youth and recall that you were always told to eat your fruits and veggies. This was not by accident. They answers have been around us all along... the docs and drug companies just over complicate the matter so much that we think we need these harmful and dangerous chemicals to keep our crazy bodies in check. The simple answer is we don't.
Posted 5/18/2011 2:16 PM (GMT 0)
@I'mCured...

I agree with your last post immensely. And this whole conversation also applies to Jenny McCarthy's fight on vaccinations causing Autism. She claimed that she cured her young son of Autism by supplements and nutrition because of the extra chemicals they are adding to the vaccines. Why doesn't --every kid-- get Autism from vaccinations? This is the oh-so typical, usual line of questioning by the people who think only in terms of black/white...

Because!

Exactly as you stated... some people are stronger and more immune to the chemicals and toxins they put in the vaccinations. Some people may be able to ward of pesticides in foods, where others it affects them. Everybody is different, but how in the world can anyone say or even think that a chemical free, healthy diet and extra added nutrition would not benefit EVERYONE for any disease?
Posted 5/18/2011 2:31 PM (GMT 0)
NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING about!!! THANK YOU! Keep that positive thought going and be strong and confident that you can beat UC. It is a challenge but have faith in yourself. I have faith in everyone here to beat this disease. There is nothing wrong with you that you can't overcome.
Posted 5/18/2011 2:50 PM (GMT 0)
Ok, I have to post and say that not every diet works for everyone, its good that you are writing a book and hopefully it gives you success. As for me, I have my own diet that works really well for me. I am taking 1 drug called Humira and am staying away from greasy foods, dairy products with the exception of some dairy, and eating a lot of vegetables. I do tend to get flares yearly though, but I am able to control it.
Posted 5/18/2011 4:29 PM (GMT 0)
I also do my own diet. I know what will negatively effect me and what won't. I take 2 medications and alot of herbs. Other than this disease, my doctor tells me I am healthy as an ox! I get a flare every now and again but I control them. My last flare was in January. Since I started taking Lialda, I am having no issues right now at all.

I think along with medication, diet needs to be maintained, stress needs to be maintained. I think these three things go hand in hand with maintaining this disease.

If by chance, you do get cured, that's fantastic!
Posted 5/18/2011 6:30 PM (GMT 0)
I have the same regimen as Michelejc; I know what foods bother me, so I stay away from them, but follow a pretty healthy diet. I take Asacol and several other supplements but nothing else. The doc says I'm healthy as an ox too! I agree with the three things; diet, meds, and reduce stress. :-)

Posted 5/19/2011 12:08 AM (GMT 0)
No one here is stonewalling you. You just fail to read and understand the posts.
Posted 5/19/2011 1:00 AM (GMT 0)
Love this thread, people are very passionate about what they believe , what their reality is. It's difficult to open up ones's mind to something else working. That something else could be drugs, could be nutrition, could be anything. I look forwrad to a day where insurance companies cover alternative treatments

@I'm Cured - finally had a chance to read your story. If nothing else, you are one strong minded guy, to have the will-power, when nothing is working, to throw away all your prescriptions and drugs, when all Doctors tell you otherwise. Doctors we are brought up to respect their word as the word of G-D. That alone is worth a medal. This is EXACTLY why I do Yoga, why I see my TCM, etc. I am handcuffed by my drugs. Exactly as you write. What if I want to back-pack the world for a year, can I. nope, currently I can not, and I'm not satisfied with this! Your story is commendable, and while your bodies solution is not a cured for all, it would help most, when one is ready to hear it. I have always ate fairly healthy, and since UC, I eat extremely healthy..but symptoms still persist. Bloody BM this week, just a regular day at the toilet :-)

Would love more information on what exactly you took to heal. I saw a nutritionist, she did not recommend anything of this sort. she accepted I had UC, and advised on what foods to eat/not eat(To her credit, We discovered insoluble fiber sets me off, thankfully I stopped that). You mention supplements and black walnut tinctur, would love to learn more about that...and what made your nutritionist different than most
Posted 5/19/2011 1:33 PM (GMT 0)
To I'mCured,
Thank you for sharing your story. I was just diagnosed with UC 3 months ago. Since then I have been reading and researching like crazy. There is so much conflicting information, but I believe there is truth in what you have stated about drugs masking symptoms and the body being able to heal itself. I have not decided what course of action to take yet. I was disappointed in my GI for immediately prescribing Predisone. After reading others' UC stories here and elsewhere, I realize that my symptoms are on the mild side. Why would she prescribe Predisone first without even trying a healthier approach? She spent about five minutes with me,by the way. Well, I didn't take the Pred. I decided to try alernative methods first, and give myself at least 6 months before going on drugs. I am almost 3 months into this experiment, and my symptoms have truly decreased. I am now back to a spot of blood on the TP (just like when I first noticed symptoms.) I have been focusing on eating for maximun nutrition, whole foods only, no processed junk, no chemicals, and supplements. I would like to read any scientific research you have pertaining to this approach to healing.
Posted 5/19/2011 8:23 PM (GMT 0)
I really believe I got very lucky with the nutritionist I found, but I know there are plenty of other people out there that have the same knowledge and intuition that she had that enabled her to help me. The black walnut tincture actually came from another source and was an early attempt by a self proclaimed healer who also was convinced that I have parasites. It is a strong drink that drives out parasites. In the nutshell, what enabled me to heal was a balance of supplements that helped to drive out my parasites, aloe vera to help sooth and reduce inflammation and promote tissue grown, whole foods that were well cooked so they would break down easily (cooked vegetables, brown organic rice) and lots of probiotics to stimulate growth of good bacteria flora in my gut that had been lost due to inflammation and antibiotics like flagyl that I was given by my GI previously. That along with a lot of positive thought so that my mind would make my body heal. You do need a support network and for me it was books such as Patient Heal Thyself, Self Healing Colitis & Crohns, and Biology of Belief. Unfortunately to do what I did is like walking into relatively uncharted territory. There is not a ton of documentation or clinical trials to reference because the drug companies are not going to invest in a method that will yield them no return. If they can prove that diet and parasites are the cause of most people's supposed UC, crohns, and so many other so-called autoimmune diseases (which I don't even believe to be a real thing in the first place) they would cut their own throats. By the way I have a second cousin who had "lupis" for years until she discovered on her own that she was gluten intolerant. She too lost many good years of her life, but the lesson learned is far more valuable. In response to Dr. A in regards to how he has researched the diet approach, I know its not what he wants to hear but I am convinced he is personally blocking his own healing by constantly requiring such proof all the time. Make yourself the proof. That's great if you are a doctor and your line of work requires you to be that way, but be that way for your career and loosen up on yourself and let your body heal and accept that it can. That is the first step for you. Also regarding your comment about myself becoming a chiropractor, I admire your sense of humor but honestly, if more people sought the advise of a chiropractor or nutritionist before going to a doctor, our health insurance industry would not be nearly the mess it currently is. The reason we pay so much for health insurance and doctor's visits is so that doctors can cover their exponential malpractice insurance that comes from over-medicating and excessive surgery that brings about pricey law suits aimed at the doctors. Personally, i have no need for medical doctors anymore other than to get a annual colonscopy.
Posted 5/19/2011 8:26 PM (GMT 0)

Congratulations! You've done it. You've sacrificed urges to eat like a normal person and to listen to mainstream medicine even though your gut feeling tells you its wrong in this instance. I applaud you big time. Keep it up and keep trying to spread your message. So many of us are suffering and need guidance from positive healthy solutions such as diet, exercise, meditation, prayer and the like. I'm proud of you!!!

I truly believe if I can buckle down and eat like I know I should be that my type of colitis can also be totally controlled. The only thing that has helped me ever reach and keep remission is diet/supplementation and prednisone. I'm very interested in hearing more of your story. I haven't logged on in probably over a year, but i'm still around guys. Probably a lot of you all remember me. I'm going to try to eat better because I'm going through a bad flare with lots of D and urgency. I also have severe joint pains and inflammation in my neck and back. But thank GOD, diet has made the bleeding subside a lot to almost no bleeding recently.

THanks for sharing I'm cured. You give many hope and for those with the more negative attitudes, please believe that is expected in just about anything in life.

Posted 5/19/2011 8:33 PM (GMT 0)
It's great that you found something that helps you. It will be nice if your ideas help other UC sufferers but I personally have tried diet and probiotics. I've always tried a lot of different supplements including black walnut, bitters compound and slippery elm. I am sure many people see improvement with these drops but it didn't help me one bit. I would say that there are some people out there, self included, where it doesn't matter if I eat rice all day or if I eat McDonalds Hamburgers all day, when I am flared up, I am flared and no dietary change are going to change that. I went through a severe flare up in ~2008 where I practically starved myself and ended up trying SCD diet. I didn't eat anything unhealthy in the least, no grain, no sugars, nothing processed... I didn't see one iota of improvement in my condition.

I think it's wonderful that you're passionate and that you want to help people but please have respect for those of us who have tried all the alternatives and haven't had any luck. Of course it is not fun for us to fail finding remission in diet or supplements or by seeing a nutritionist. If I had to eat Brown Rice and Veggies every day followed by probiotics, I could do that, but it wouldn't help me. I wish it were that simple for all of us. I do not take everything a doctor says as truth, I will continue to search for alternative treatments but for me, diet is one area I have exhausted and I don't believe it is my "cure".

Oh and a note on positive thinking, when I started SCD, I was 100% convinced it would help me. I read so many positive reviews of the diet and I really went into it think I was going to be healed. I am not.

Posted 5/19/2011 11:45 PM (GMT 0)
Any disease is different from person to person. I find this more so true with
skin disease. 1 person uses something that works, another person uses same thing & its a disaster.

I believe intestinal flora is a big factor with all intestinal diseases. But I think
many would agree with me on that.
Posted 5/19/2011 11:45 PM (GMT 0)
Cured person. I was also cured, for about 5 years, then kaboom, it came back. Saying you are "cured" is nice, but don't be depressed when your "cure" goes away.
Posted 5/20/2011 12:51 AM (GMT 0)
This is my first post as I was diagnosed with proctitis and 1 year later to full blown severe UC. I have lost about 30 lbs in 2 weeks and have been going to the restroom 30 times a day. I can no longer work. It has been awful. My question to you, is that you have indicated to have tried many alternatives available, have you tried ingesting eggs from some type of worms that seem to really work? It looks like I am more or less about to enter that route. Better question, has anyone in this forum tried it?


Dr-A said...
I refrained from posting yesterday. I argued with a guy back and forth because he thought everyone could cure their UC by doing sit ups after every meal. This falls right along the same lines. One person does something that works, and all of a sudden he is a genius and knows everything. I don't have a problem with your info, but the broad blanket statements make you seem very naive. It would actually completely deter me from buying a book of this nature. We are not all to blame for our own disease. Dealing with it the past 13 years I have seen that things that help some, completely flare another person up. I have had access to and used some of the greatest nutritionist in the US. I read "Biology of Belief", have the video on my HD and have seen the guy speak. I have sat in front of and spoke with Dr. Demartini who took part in "The Secret." I have been there and done that with about everything because I have a positive outlook that my UC can be cured if my body decides to do so. My profession forces me to understand and believe above, down, inside out. It would be very arrogant for me to tell another person suffering from UC all they needed to do was "this" and they would be cured. Change the way it is presented and the information you are giving is good. Maybe you should go to Chiropractic school, lol. You would fit right in with the rest of us health nuts. My disease has taught me humility, and made me a much better doctor and person because of it.

Posted 5/20/2011 1:31 AM (GMT 0)

OD said...
This is my first post as I was diagnosed with proctitis and 1 year later to full blown severe UC. I have lost about 30 lbs in 2 weeks and have been going to the restroom 30 times a day. I can no longer work. It has been awful. My question to you, is that you have indicated to have tried many alternatives available, have you tried ingesting eggs from some type of worms that seem to really work? It looks like I am more or less about to enter that route. Better question, has anyone in this forum tried it?

It's been talked about quite a bit on this forum before. Do a search on Google for:

worms UC site:www.healingwell.com

and you'll find quite a few links to where it's talked about.
Posted 5/20/2011 1:35 AM (GMT 0)

tankor said...
Any disease is different from person to person. I find this more so true with
skin disease. 1 person uses something that works, another person uses same thing & its a disaster.

I believe intestinal flora is a big factor with all intestinal diseases. But I think
many would agree with me on that.

I think that's exactly why the disease differs from person to person. The lining of the colon is very much like skin.

Yes. I agree that intestinal flora is a big factor. In so far as diet can affect intestinal flora, it can help UC.
Posted 5/20/2011 1:39 AM (GMT 0)

notsosicklygirl said...
It's great that you found something that helps you. It will be nice if your ideas help other UC sufferers but I personally have tried diet and probiotics. ... I didn't see one iota of improvement in my condition.

I understand completely. It doesn't matter what my diet is, I still get acne. The only food I found to make a difference is peanuts. I can get half a dozen boils after I eat one peanut. I'm suffering from five boils right now. sad Three of which are in areas that are inside the body and accessible (e.g. the mouth). Those are the ones that tend to hurt the most.
Posted 5/20/2011 1:53 AM (GMT 0)

I'mCured said...
I know this is a lot of information at once, but I would suggest anyone suffering right now to begin consuming large quantities of aloe juice available at co-ops, coconut oil, cooked carrots, potatoes, high quality yogurt with no added sugars, to drink raw fruit juices that are either fresh or at least not from concentrate. Do not eat anything with preservatives or anything that has things you can not pronounce in the ingredients list. ...

I know just how terrible this disease can be and no one should have to suffer with it considering there is such a real and obvious solution. Thank you for this opportunity to help... Joe

It's great that you want to help and tell people how you got in remission. The problem is that you think that what got you in remission will get everyone else in remission. As a result:

1. You act like you know something the rest of us don't.

2. You make us feel that we have UC because we aren't following you advise. In fact, in regard to your advice, I'm fructose intolerant. That means no:

i. juice

ii. coconut oil

They both give me severe diarrhea and can trigger a flare as a result.
Posted 5/20/2011 1:54 AM (GMT 0)
(Cured person. I was also cured, for about 5 years, then kaboom, it came back. Saying you are "cured" is nice, but don't be depressed when your "cure" goes away.)

Amen!  I have been cured and uncured so many times in the last 15 plus years that I lost count! I even have my colon out-a permanent cure-and it still comes back-lol.

That said-I'm happy for you that you have achieved remission but never let your guard down. UC is and will always be in your bloods and that is a medical fact. It has a mind of it's own unfortunately.

But I do have to agree that good nutriction is important and I too have been working with a Functional Medicine doctor in making sure that I am getting all the needed vitamins and such that UC can rob your body of, eating more whole foods and grains, less carbs, less sugar and lot's of probiotics. One of the best things she did was work with me to really raise my Vit D level which is associated with lowering inflamation. After my last attack where I almost lost my pouch, I truely believe that you need a good team to work with you in tradional and non tradional ways to acheive and maintain remission. My GI doctor has always encouraged me to seek out whatever it takes.........

A great book to read is "The China Study" It talks all about the things that "Cured" is talking about.

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