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IS what you're eating causing your inflammation?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 1/31/2012 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
Have any of you tried to eat for your blood type? In 2004 I started the Atkins diet. While I was on the diet I was doing great and had perfect stool. When I started to let carbs back in it was mostly wheat and wheat pasta and stuff and I was having lots of issues with bowel movements and had some blood, was feeling bad and lethargic. I went to the dr and stuff, long story short, mild uc diagnosis.

Later I decided to check out eating right for your blood type, and noticed that for my type, I should be avoiding lots of the things that I was eating recently like the milk, the wheat, the corn, the grains. It was making sense.

I seriously think that our inflammation is brought on by ourselves and what we eat, and could possibly be completely managed with diet alone.
This can be said for the SCD diet also and lots are having good luck with that.

What are all your thoughts?
Posted 1/31/2012 4:22 PM (GMT 0)
My thoughts?

I think this disease is brought on because it's in our genes and it got triggered somehow. Why is it that you can get UC at 2 years old and up to 65 years old. I think that 65 year old person that got UC had the gene but never encountered the trigger until that year. The same for the 2 year old.

Would you say that the diet of a 2 year old is not good that is why she/he got the disease?

I work with overweight people around me and all they have is high blood pressure, but nothing too bad and they eat anything they can find.

I think when doctors mention that diet does not cause colitis it might be true to some extent.

To be honest I don't know what to believe.

Posted 1/31/2012 4:22 PM (GMT 0)
i think diet has to do with some of our inflammation but not all of it. toxins in our environment (in food, air, water, clothes, lotions) and EMF radiation have a lot to do with it too. i think we all bring this disease among ourselves just by how we live today. if we knew of a sure fire way to not get it, i think all of us would follow that lifestyle.
Posted 1/31/2012 4:34 PM (GMT 0)
I agree that what you eat can irritate your colon and give you symptoms but food doesn't cause UC.
Posted 1/31/2012 4:36 PM (GMT 0)
I've read articles that state UC and other inflammatory bowel diseases are more prevalent in countries with Western diets. Definitely seems like there is a link but I don't think anyone has pinpointed exactly what it is.
Posted 1/31/2012 5:14 PM (GMT 0)
I think diet is more helpful for some UCers than for other. Perhaps the UC was triggered by different things. For me, I haven't noticed diet having much impact on my condition. Of course, I eat much healthier than many people but not because of having UC, I eat healthy because I choose to eat a certain way. I don't eat fast food or drink soda. I don't eat much processed food. I ate this way long before I developed UC - it wasn't a response to getting the illness. I have tried restricting my diet and my UC didn't respond. I am sure I will try again in the future, hopefully I have better results.
Posted 1/31/2012 5:20 PM (GMT 0)
I dont think it has anything to do with food. In my case anyway...UC is in my family so I believe it's genetic. Maybe diet can help someone's symptoms but in my case and my sister's, diet changes did nothing at all.
Posted 1/31/2012 5:22 PM (GMT 0)

notsosicklygirl said...
I think diet is more helpful for some UCers than for other. Perhaps the UC was triggered by different things. For me, I haven't noticed diet having much impact on my condition. Of course, I eat much healthier than many people but not because of having UC, I eat healthy because I choose to eat a certain way. I don't eat fast food or drink soda. I don't eat much processed food. I ate this way long before I developed UC - it wasn't a response to getting the illness. I have tried restricting my diet and my UC didn't respond. I am sure I will try again in the future, hopefully I have better results.

 

Yeah, I don't know how old you are but there is no WAY that diet caused your UC. I mean, what happened all those years that you ate the way you did and you never got UC, yet all a sudden you got it. You hit a trigger. The trigger probably was, the birth control pill you took and at the same time a bird shat on you while you were picking a quarter of the floor and you were wearing a purple blouse. If that didn't happen you probably would have went on with your life without any issues. (disclaimer: slight exageration in this post)

Posted 1/31/2012 5:40 PM (GMT 0)
I bet my trigger was quitting smoking. It all went south after I quit!
Posted 1/31/2012 5:50 PM (GMT 0)
Stress.......that did it for me.  I do believe that food is a trigger.  I also believe that while one person can eat something, another person cannot.  But, food is not the cause of UC. 
Posted 1/31/2012 5:55 PM (GMT 0)
lol Somedude. I wish I hadn't worn that purple shirt that day!

I am 33 btw.
Posted 1/31/2012 6:04 PM (GMT 0)
Somedude is spot on. Our genetic makeup is a loaded gun and the environment pulls the trigger. And once that trigger is pulled, there could be a wide variety of factors that could affect 'further' inflammation, including (but not limited to) stress, toxins, foods etc. and the solutions to it won't be like a yardstick i.e. every person will/may show improvement or worsening of the symptoms/condition to said intervention.
Don't blame yourself, you did not bring on this disease on yourself.
Posted 1/31/2012 6:22 PM (GMT 0)
I think that one reason UC is more prevalent in Western countries is because it is more likely to be diagnosed in a Western culture where more people have access to professional healthcare...there may be more people in other nations who just live with it and do not have access to a physician so they have no idea what is wrong... Access to healthcare is a huge problem in more under developed and under served nations. Also reporting of disease findings is less common in those nations.
Posted 1/31/2012 6:43 PM (GMT 0)
Of course there is a genetic component.

The specific individualized version of our immune system is initially built by our genes. Experiences (including in the womb) modify the genetic blueprint a bit. Other experiences (like antibiotics, or quitting smoking) seem to permanently dysregulate the immune system in some folks (i.e., in some blueprints but not other blueprints).

Once the immune system is dysregulated, consequent changes in the mucosal epithelial cells, and associated changes in the luminal bacteria, seem to create sensitivity (antigens) to foods that did not previously exist. So food can be related to symptoms, possibly to triggering a flare, or ending one sooner.

But this is different from food causing the dysregulation in the first place. As far as what to eat after getting IBD, I posted a link and summary of a recent article on "diet and IBD".

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2328117

Two of the goals (i.e., HOW it is thought to work) of SCD are the removal of foods likely to have antigens, and the manipulation/restriction of available food for gut flora, which hopefully keeps bad flora from blooming. These ideas are consistent with findings about what all is going on within IBD.

I think when you start talking blood-type diet, you are very far removed form whats going on with IBD and any logical explanation for HOW it helps. I also think that statements like "we cause our own inflammation" play dangerous blame games.

 

Posted 1/31/2012 7:21 PM (GMT 0)
I don't believe diet causes UC...I believe it can maybe exacerbate symptoms though and make you heal faster possibly if you eat healthy.

When I got UC, I was under extreme stress and had been living in an apartment with lots of mold issues for a year and a half. I don't know if either of these are related but I was eating healthier than i ever had before in my whole life when UC hit. And I smoked which is supposed to keep me from getting UC! The one good thing cigarettes could have done for me and it didn't do it! lol
Posted 1/31/2012 7:25 PM (GMT 0)
When a lot say, "I was eating fine all these years and then suddenly something triggered it", maybe your body finally got fed up with cokes, coffee, mcdonalds, etc?

I just do not know anymore and really want to know. I hate meds.

I am the type to get stressed easily and I had the worst stress ever when I got divorced in 2004 and struggled with single life again. All the drinking and mess along with stress of the divorce, may have induced it. Not sure. Will I ever know....?
Posted 1/31/2012 7:27 PM (GMT 0)
stress, western diet, genetics, quiting smoking...i believe they all played their part in my case.

but diet helps me. as antidepressants helped when i needed them. same for the mesalasine. i cannot change genetics, but i can change other things.
Posted 2/1/2012 3:59 AM (GMT 0)
I am getting more sure by the week that diet caused my UC, which was diagnosed scientifically with an emergency colonoscopy.
Posted 2/1/2012 5:25 AM (GMT 0)
Very hard to nail down a root cause. However I think the complexity of this disease origin and the complexity of seeking a solution is an asset to my career. They are nearly the same at times. I work literally round the clock trying to solve problems for a fast-moving startup company that are equally elusive. Sometimes we are forced to workaround unsolved problems as best we can despite exhaustive effort. Eventually you have to move on and accept it not dwell on it.

Origin
------

I suspected my ex poisoned me since she prepared my food, no arsenic found but how to check other things ? She could have introduced a lot of bacteria I recall her telling me when angry she allowed my 2-year old to go around the house cleaning with my toothbrush.

I got UC late in life 5 years ago around 43. I never experience the level of coffee, sucralose, over processed lab 'supplements' nor stimulants like ephedra when I was younger. Clearly my habits changed as I got into my 30's and then my 40's.

Remedy
-------

I think UC is the naming framework they give to the same end result that has many root causes. I read somewhere a doctor describing it that way. A catchall for all things that go wrong down there in the lower bowel. It fits the problem domain well when you read the reports just within this thread. Some people are sold on their meds because THEY WORK. People like myself are sold on other methods because meds FAILED to have much impact beyond early prednisone. Then there are the poor souls who cannot find relief in either.

Flare began yesterday after 48 hours of abuse and next to no sleep. My remedies worked, fever gone, burning inside is gone - calm stability restored.

I have something new to try but cannot upset the apple cart as a 10 month project is nearing showtime for me - an 18 hour marathon I alone perform with the entire company down. I cannot risk triggering a flare with the introduction of 'Humic acid' - effects unknown. I will experiment later when a total collapse of my med-free solution can be better tolerated and not let people down. Someday I would like to kill the bad bug that lurks in me and be UC free but it might turn out to be something else. No way to know but to experiment myself.

Doing great, years ago I would never consider working downtown because of the long commute and the problem that presented to a person with UC. I never think about it and I don't think about UC much these days but like to check the board for new information.

Now that I HAVE uc, yes what I eat is directly related to my condition. It did not matter before UC what I ate.
Posted 2/1/2012 2:07 PM (GMT 0)
I began experiencing UC symptoms at around age 60, after quitting smoking and retiring from a stressful job.
I was amazed when I joined this forum and saw the numbers of young people that are experiencing IBS, IBD or other digestive ailments.....and it's a rapidly growing problem.

It seems logical to me that the increasing use of fast food along with the downright dangerous practices used by food growers (pesticides and other chemicals) and other producers (hormones and antibotics in animals we eat) is related.

In some cases, there may be a (genetic) family history, but that cannot be true for such a growing number of UC sufferers. Studies have shown that people in India experience less incidence of colon cancer because of their diet.
Here we are in a supposedly "developed nation" but IMO the way our food is being produced and the fact that our eating habits have changed over the years are root causes of the problem.
Posted 2/1/2012 3:48 PM (GMT 0)
Some of us didn't eat fast food for YEARS prior to diagnosis. I drank maybe 2 sodas a year. I ate tons of fruits and veggies and whole grains. It doesn't really matter why we got it anyway, does it? The most important thing now that we have it is how we can treat it and reduce our symptoms.
Posted 2/2/2012 12:47 AM (GMT 0)
The 1st 2 weeks taking Canasa, I tried to eliminate all "bad" foods from my diet. The blood was still there.

The 3rd week, I said, forget it, I'm going to have what I want, which is a couple of cups of coffee every morning, and about 24 oz of diet pepsi at lunch, and SPICY food at dinner. Now, the blood has finally stopped, after 3 months, and I feel great! So I don't think food is making a difference for me. I think it's the RX, and it just took a while for it to tame everything down.

A few years ago, I developed a bad case of shingles when I started working on a stressful (but good) life-changing thing. Late last year, I started working on another round of the same stressful thing, and I developed ulcerative proctitis. A coincidence? Maybe, but I'd put my money on a stress trigger for both.
Posted 2/2/2012 1:00 AM (GMT 0)
The blood type diets are complete bunk. Blood type is determined by a surface molecule present on your RBCs, it doesn't do anything else. Mature RBCs are barely metabolically active.

somedude, what you've stated is what science currently supports. Our model looks like this:

genetic predisposition + gut inflammation due to infection or injury (transient in genetically normal people) ---> loss of tolerance to bacterial antigens and continued inflammation

As deltaforce has stated.

Indycat- It's more likely due to the fact that those in western civilizations have different gut flora, and don't get parasites.
Posted 2/2/2012 5:41 AM (GMT 0)

Malkavian said...

Indycat- It's more likely due to the fact that those in western civilizations have different gut flora, and don't get parasites.

Yes and they have proven that UC/CROHNS/NORMAL all have different gut flora signature patterns in general.

There seems to be a balance that once struck allows smooth remission. Coffee, sucralose and many other modern foods are proven to effect gut flora and impact friendly bacteria. Even bleeding has been shown to decrease their numbers while the iron promotes the bad bacteria which thrive, hence the slipperly slope of a UC flare we are all familiar with.

I push it to the safe limit of the slope and can reign it back in by lending a helping hand to the friendly bacteria as long as I dont let it go so far as to have deep inflammation. I used to think VSL#3DS was the way to do that. It is of course more complicated sometimes that wont do the trick so I have an array of changes I make to build their numbers back up.

Number one is hydration. Dehydration favors the bad bacteria. Hydrating helps the good bacteria.
Posted 2/2/2012 12:04 PM (GMT 0)
Not all of us had a bad diet before UC. I always had homemade meals therefore was never having additives, too much salt, transformed food.
Diet is key once you have UC. Howver I always found that once my flare is under control I can go back to my diet before uc wich included some wheat and dairies. Its so easy to associate diet as well as we usually have a bm after we eat.

I transformed my diet cause i dont digest as well things i used to (pasta, tomatoe sauce, peppers, cheese unmatured)...
But I had enough of poeple in the past telling me I got this "infection" because i had too much croissants and cheeses... I'm sorry but if it was the case all France and many countries would be infected!

I refused to blame any of the food i had to justifie my uc. Why? Because if I feel guilty im not a happier woman. And that has a lot of bad consequences, life and gut wise.
And at the end of the day I recognize diet is important but at any moment I wouldnt try without my meds. Cause even if they would have a placebo effect well they are effectives! And id prefer to have some meds and treat myself once in a while cause the restricted diet suggested is somewhat dangerous for my social life and the pleasure i can get from a nice meal with a bottle of wine.
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