Slippery elm and aloe

My thoughts on SCD are that not everything works for everybody. There are foods on the legal list that I can't tolerate and foods on the illegal list that I can. I personally think that if something works for you and has given you good results, go with it.

I have tried both elm and aloe. Aloe didn't do much for me and I really disliked the feel of the liquid. I've heard it works well for others, though.

Slippery elm I had more success with. Other things that helped were calendula, slippery elm, and marsmallow tea, peppermint oil/peppermint tea, and taking warm baths with various salts (Lavender being my fav <3).

Do you normally have formed stools, or have they formed due to prednisone use? I know when my stools became formed on Prednisone, those kinds of things happened to me, too. My bum just wasn't used to having anything formed come out so it caused some tearing/hemorrhoids.

Anyway, in the meantime, try not to worry too much while you wait to speak with the nurse. Let us know how the conversation goes.

Feel better!!

Sue thank you for responding. I agree. That is really what concerns me...the risks of ongoing inflammation. I have to say I'm a worrier and I get a sinking feeling about that very thing. I'm hoping the LDN will help with that. If not I'm going to be forced to take 6mp or Imuran. And that gives me more anxiety.

Slippery elm and fiber are a no no for me. They give me bleeding, urgenct stools that fly out of my butt with no notice! Also, probiotics do the same thing to me.

Just trial and error I think. Go slowly on dose and work up, is my only suggestion.

peaceandharmony, did you read about that in listen to your gut?? i got the ingredients to make that enema but my bag of comfrey said "for external use only." i called the company and asked if they made one for internal use and they said no. i still have my bags of marshmallow and slippery elm so maybe i'll just use those two if i start bleeding again.

seasons21,

Yes, I concur: don't worry so much about legal vs. illegal SCD supplements.

I've found Slippery Elm Powder to be great - and IMO it is nature's mesalamine because it coats the whole digestive tract.

Are you doing any probiotics?

 I've found VSL#3 to be great. Did you know it is especially formulated for UC, with 450 billion active cultures?

And if you have decent insurance, you could get your doc to prescribe VSL#3 DS (double strength) to take and it might only cost you a small copay.

As far as LDN, it has worked for me, and for many others on the forum. And I'm sure it will help you too.

What do you think?

Banangirl,

Just got the book yesterday. Don't think there's a different process for comfrey to be used internal/external. The book gives more information on comfrey and stubistutes if you want to try another herb. I'm just going to give it a try.  There's been article stating how comfrey causes liver damage but it doesn't give the details - dosage amount, treatment duration, % of users. All of our drug have that warning anyway.  Make sure you're taking an antioxident like Aphla Lipoic Acid (300mg/day) to clean out the toxins and portect the liver.

The only thing I question is the book says to lay on the right side and normally when you do enemas it the left side so the enema rolls downhill not uphill.  Think this is a misprint.

Season21,

I read the dose for slippery elm was between 1-3gm. Start low and traper up over 3-4 days to see how you do. Check out this site:  http://cureforulcerativecolitis.com/slippery-elm-powder

 

My intigrative doc told me to start with 1 tsp of powder and work up to 1 tbsp.

Hi all,
The SCD diet also did not work for me. I had great success with fruitarian diets and the Gerson diet, but both were too labor intensive or restricting to stay on for long. I slowly and carefully tested foods until I found what foods I should avoid. After a year of great success with this, I inexplicably started flaring badly in Feb of this year. I had to go on high doses of Prednisone, asacol and 50mg/d of 6-mp. No matter what I did, I couldn't get below 25mg/d of Prednisone. So frustrating! Like everyone else, I want to find a long term holistic solution. I ran across some scientific articles on helminthic therapy and learned that UC and Crohn's are unheard of in third world countries. After much research, I tried helminthic therapy in Mexico in May of this year. I finally tapered of the prednisone about 6 weeks ago. Today, I am quitting the 6-mp to see what happens. This is a slow therapy that sometimes takes a year to realize all the benefits, but I have improved a lot. I've been able to get off prednisone. I'm eating normal food again. I have no blood or mucus. And I have one loose stool in the AM with little or no cramping. I'm very happy and I hope to see continued improvement as time goes on.

colitismaster,
I'm interested... how do you do the fasting? and how often?

Resting the bowel is a good thing! I don't fast but go in a liquid diet. I've tried Ensure and Orgain. 5-6 drink a day based on my calorie intake. I just found Absorb Plus an "elemental diet" shake made from a powder. Tried a same it was good. It's specially formulated for IBD and doesn't have the chemical in it like the others.

i know ensure is basically a bunch of chemical nonsense, but the absorb plus is pretty good for you. i mean, it's not ideal, but if you can't have solids, absorb plus doesn't have carrageenans in it.

peaceandharmony, i was using absorb plus religiously over the summer but since i have been able to eat again, i still have 2 almost full canisters of the vanilla flavor.  i would be willing to sell them to you cheap if you would cover shipping (fyi- they are open but i maybe used about 1 serving from each one). if not, then that's fine. i just feel bad for wasting them because they are very good quality meal replacements for people with our disease. they were practically the only thing that i wasn't getting sick from.

also, i apologize if i'm not allowed to post something like this!