Diet (SCD especially) how long does it take to see results?

how long did it take before you noticed significant improvement?

I've tried several different diet modifications over my 13 years with UC and none of them ever worked.....until 2.5 years ago when I tried one more time out of desperation because my flare was awful and the only drugs left for me were ones I did not want to use.

I went gluten-free at first, no other food mod., and saw results in 3 days, dramatically less bleeding. Thrilled to see something positive after years of no improvement I went back to SCD. Improvements came there too but took longer and were less dramatic.

My suggestion, because it helps talk yourself into it, is to do a 2 week trial of SCD. Do it as well as you can, keep a journal and see if you feel it's worth it to continue. Some people don't respond to diet modification. If you do, even a small amount, then you've learned something about yourself. I suspect if you see even a little improvement you'll want to keep going for a month.

No one's making you so you can quit whenever.
It's not easy making these diet changes but there are plenty of people here to help you. Yes the first 2 weeks are tough, heck the first 2 days are the worst NO DAIRY NO BREAD eventually it gets easier. You should never be hungry so if you are read the protocol again and eat as many of the allowed foods as possible. Meat protein will give you energy and keep drinking fluids, especially chicken broth.

Best of luck. Just take it one day at a time. It's worth it.

I tried SCD for about 3 weeks but lost too much weight (20 lbs) and didn't see any improvement. My Dr's said they saw better results in Crohns patients with SCD vs UC. Based on my symptoms and what I read I did the following diet modifications; eliminated foods with sulfites (they caused me to bleed due the action of sulfate reducing bacteria), eliminated foods with carrageenan (caused loose / watery stools), eliminated dairy (caused loose watery stools), eliminated sugary foods/sweets (caused fermentation and inflammation/constriction in my colon), follow the low FODMAP diet (high sugar content foods caused fermentation / gas), eliminated gluten (caused feeling of constriction/swelling/inflammation and drove up urgency and frequency). I do fine with rice and potatoes for starch/carbohydrates, in fact, rice is probably my most gut friendly food. For me, low FODMAP works the best because I think the undigested simple sugar molecules cause me the most problems. I saw results within 2 weeks when I made the changes. Diet changes didn't knock me into remission but they along with rectal meds and probiotics reduced my symptoms down to a manageable level. My theory on diet is as follows; it doesn't cause or cure UC, but when you've got inflamed tissue and less protection with an eroded mucosa certain undigested food particles and food irritants can make a bad situation worse.

Yes you can start with SCD but make sure you do the intro diet.
breakingtheviciouscycle.info/beginners_guide/the_intro_diet2.htm

Also keep a food journal to find out which food effects you how especially when introducing new foods.

It sounds like if I'm really going to do the whole diet thing and I'm kind of desperate because only pred works, SCD is the first one I should try. Opinions on that?

I want to be clear that "pure" SCD did not work for me. My gut had problems with several legal SCD foods. I can't tell you what would be the best diet for you to try. I looked at FODMAP (heck I may have even tried it, I forget) and looked at GAPS and looked at/seriously tried several others. Lots of people have success with SCD but I am only half-baked SCD. It's not my Bible.

Our guts seem very individual. But...I think removing gluten/wheat, dairy, caffeine, sugar (in all forms including fruit, juices, starchy foods and fake sugar/sugar substitutes of all kinds) is a good idea to start. Do not go to the gluten-free aisle of the grocery store and load up, just quit eating wheat/gluten for 2 weeks, it won't hurt you at all.

That's great that you can get the intro sent to you. I found the book very confusingly written and difficult to nail down what the intro was. That's not why I failed at pure SCD, I adhered strongly but my gut was finicky. I started getting better when I kept dairy including SCD yogurt, fruit and juice out of my diet for a long long time (along with all the other SCD "out's"). My first year diet was more restrictive than SCD, which sounds awful, but it is true.

hey I saw this post online - imagardener I think I am having similar things happen with scd as you may have- I can't tolerate a lot of the foods either. Ive been trying scd for about 3 weeks. (haha unfortunately had a cheat last night cuz I lost my marbles for a bit) but other than that been really good about following it. But I feel like I can't tolerate a ton of foods. So been struggling there, cuz frankly it is so boring every day to eat the same stuff. other problem is I'm on pred again so i really don't know whats working, when I got low on pred my symptoms came back full force. So I'm not even positive if the diet is helping or not. But yeah, just saw this and I am way limited as well!! I know now you are a lot less limited though from the last time I talked to you a long time ago.

The other thing I was noticing especially when I read insofia's protocol, is the book is saying all these supplements you guys use are not legal etc. But they help you guys so maybe some of those could help me too. And also kinda crazy the book says no bifidus for probiotics because isn't that the most important strain? But yeah I hope you are still doing well!! Not sure if you are still on here lol, but maybe you are hope everything is well though.

chrissy, if my memory is still working, I'd say you've been trying scd about 3 YEARS ;-)

kudos for your persistence !

Soy stud- I know. Haha! Like 2. Honestly this time I lasted 3 weeks. I was thinking about you today lol. So deciding to make my own darn diet! See what happens.

Ima- awesome :) I haven't tried those yet. Just a mellow probiotic and cod liver oil and vit d so far. At 3 weeks with scd lol I freaked. Lost it again lol so doing what I told soy stud up there. Also had to return to 40mg pred :( lol oh UC.

I saw great improvement on day 1 of the intro diet and strongly encourage people to do the intro diet and not just jump right into the full diet.

I had already been on full SCD for a long time but was not doing very well. So I cut my diet down to just the intro diet (mostly just the chicken and carrot soup) and had immense relief within 24 hours... And have been slowly adding back more advanced SCD foods ever since. If I had just stuck with full SCD I would have needed prednisone again within a week probably. Instead I'm in remission six months later.

Post Edited (Lacaille) : 4/25/2014 7:15:05 AM (GMT-6)

This is an old post, from 2012, and I'd be surprised if any of the posters respond.

SCD has been posted about a lot, and many have tried it. Overall, it is one of many things to try. It's been some peoples miracle, others have seen no affect at all from it, and some have had their symptoms become a whole lot worse as a result of it. There's never a guarantee of any one potential treatment working for you. Certainly try with an open mind, if you are so inclined, but expect results in a month or two. As you should see at least some positive sign of improvement within that time frame.

Good luck, and post back your results (preferably in a new thread). Cheers!

The book says if you get no symptom relief at all by 1 month then it likely will not work for you. Some regulars on this site swear by it, others got nothing from it. I had results that I couldn't categorize one way or another.

These two books made my SCD life a little less painful. Still a lot of work int he Kitchen and otherwise though. You can get them at most libraries. There are other books as well.

Oh - And I did not do all that well with the yogurt. Maybe it is just me and my gut though. I can eat Balkan plain yogurt though with no reaction.

https://www.amazon.ca/grain-free-gourmet-delicious-recipes-healthy/dp/1552856682/?qid=1550547031

https://www.amazon.ca/everyday-grain-free-gourmet-breakfast-dinner/dp/1552859185/?qid=1550547090

(I removed referral codes from the links, as we don't want anyone getting referral money from clicking those links. I do not believe anything was at all intended before, just keeping it simple and fair.)

Post Edited By Moderator (iPoop) : 2/19/2019 6:07:03 AM (GMT-7)

Sorry to bring up this old topic again, just wondering if anyone who replied on this thread has stuck with it?

Yes, 9 years from this thread start I have stuck with my "modified kinda-SCD more like Paleo" diet modification. It was the only thing that got me to remission. I can now eat many more foods that caused problems previously, dairy is OK (but oddly not yogurt, even SCD yogurt), some fruit is OK, few symptoms if eaten in moderation. Fiber turned out to be really important to remove and kept low plus take a Citrucel generic fiber daily (gut hates other types of fiber pills).

I can eat gluten now without bad symptoms but am semi-intolerant of it because when I stay gluten-free bumps on my skin disappear so I know gluten is causing inflammation internally too.

Resistant starch (rice noodles, potatoes) are my gut's best friend.
My diet is enjoyable cuz I have a bunch of recipes I enjoy eating. Eating out is easy, order chicken/beef with no sauce with mystery ingredients, a potato (or rice noodles in Asian restaurant) and salad (most restaurants have quit serving veggies around here lol). Yesterday lunch = Whopper Jr (no onion + skipped eating bun) with no salt fries, my guilty pleasure about 1x month, happy gut.

Canada Mark: our guts are on same wavelength.