Treating it like an infection- and feeling good!

For those of you who don't remember, I had a weird little experience in July where prednisone made my symptoms worse. I have since been treating my UC as an infection (previously had focused on diet and trying to find a food that "caused" my symptoms). Since treating my UC I am doing SO MUCH BETTER. I went to see an Tropical Infectious Disease specialist last week who said it was unlikely I have been infested with worms (my first guess considering how well I respond to the natural anti-helminth black walnut tincture) however agrees that UC/Crohns is quite likely an infectious disease, they just haven't figured it out yet. He also commented on a strong theory that it is caused by one pathogen called Mycobacterium Avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). You can read about that here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3031217/

The doctor found it very interesting that out of 4 of us who lived together 10 years ago, 2 developed ulcerative colitis, one developed Hashimotos (another autoimmune related to MAP infection), the fourth I am no longer in contact with.

Anyway, the problem with MAP is that it is hard to find (he is sending off a stool culture but says even if it comes back negative it doesn't mean I don't have it) and it is harder to treat. I believe in Australia they have a 5 antibiotic treatment you have to take for several months but it is not yet FDA approved for North America (forgive me if some of my details are wrong here, I read about this a while back).

MAP would also explain why so any UCers get worse on dairy (dairy is my gut's enemy) as it feeds off lactose.

Where does that leave us UC sufferers? After a bit more research, I came across this study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2565950/

Which, to abbreviate, states that cinnamon oil, followed by oil of oregano, are two readily available natural compounds which can help treat MAP. I've noticed a few people on here mention Oil of Oregano helping them. They did not mention black walnut, but I'm guessing it also helps treat it, as Olive leaf extract probably does too (I've noticed this is also a very common supplement that people have success with one here).

So I have been taking black walnut tincture, oil of oregano, and just started cinnamon. As well I am taking turmeric, vsl#3, and mezavant (these three have always helped but never gave me remission or could even stop bleeding in 3 years). I am happy to report that it is working!!! I have had days with no blood. Some days with a tinge on the toilet paper, but no more toilet bowl full of bleeding. Every day I get a bit better. My energy is slowly slowly returning. It's not an overnight cure but after everything I have tried this is by far the most successful! It seems that treating my body like it has an infection is what I needed to be doing all along!

I hope this helps even one person on here :)

I agree with your approach and for a while I did something similar. Be careful with oregano oil, I got some problems from it, like burning in the stomach and then developed allergy to it.
I have also tried grapefruit seed extract. Would not recommend it either-too rough, too acidic for the gut.
Olive leaf is better. I also used colloidal silver with some success and uva-ursi, which was very effective. Try Goldenseal root (get standardized only) and iodine like Iodoral tablets. Both very potent and have a long history of use as natural and very effective antibiotics, antiviral and anticandida.

Interesting. Question about the walnut tincture: I see on amazon, walnut hull tincture, is that it? Also, interesting to note, there is a black walnut extract (is this different?) that is sold as an anti-spasmodic, perhaps another benefit from black walnut? Also, looks like walnut gets paired with wormwood supplements quite a bit.

Sorry for the delayed response, my in-laws have been visiting! Yes, the black walnut hull tincture is what I use (also called black walnut just depending on the brand). I use the St. Francis one and use it according to the interactions on the bottle (I believe 1mL 3 times/day). The oregano I use is OregaFirst and use the maximum recommended on the bottle. It was actually starting to give me a stomach ache so I cut back a bit but just ordered enteric coated pills instead so we will see how that goes. I also ordered cinnamon pills. I've seen a lot of people have success with olive leaf on here as well! I'm also taking loads of probiotics and eating fermented foods which have probiotics in them (I can't eat dairy so no yogurt for me). All in all the regime is continuing to work! I actually have days where I don't see any blood at all. Yay! :)

I've been treating the OOO like it kills vsl and take them separately. I tried the enteric coated OOO yesterday and a few hours later had major burning pain in my colon! I'm not entirely sure how to deal with it, maybe take it with slippery elm or a large meal to dilute it? I also took the cinnamon oil but took it today without the ooo and it is fine so I'm pretty sure it was the oregano. It is potent stuff!

Just an update:

WE see improvement!

After starting the WOO, black walnut and wormwood along with an increase in dosage of VSL#3 we saw some results. Also for the last two days he hasn't been taking iron pills (forgets to? lazy? I don't even know *rolls eyes*) but has been trying to chew wheatgrass for 10/15 minutes daily.

He initially was on the SCD diet (5 weeks ago), and we seemed to be seeing improvement in the number of BMs. BMs decreased down, and then he started LDN (at 1.5 mg) and his BM went down from 5/6 to 1/2 a day, no cramping, some gas. BUT there was considerable bleeding.

While we were doing this, we were also tapering his prednisone, slowly (it seems like he had become pred dependent, he had tried tapering previously but flared while tapering. The GI had said to increase the pred back to 40 mg, or consider imuran. So we increased the pred. and went onto the SCD diet.) As the diet progressed and the prednisone tapered, his BMs were still down but the bleeding seemed to increase.

So about a week ago, we stopped the SCD diet, and started VSL #3 (started at 1 packet and increase 1 a day, because he doesn't seem to have any gas/bloating), continued the LDN and the cabbage+carrot+fruit juices (he mixes vsl #3 in the juice). 3 days ago took some slippery elm powder nightly, and WOO and black walnut and wormwood tincture daily: 1 to 2 doses daily each. (haven't been consistent)

Yesterday the overall amount of blood in his stool decreased considerably and the stool was more formed, today there were only a couple drops and the stool was almost normal formed. This is while we are actually tapering prednisone, because it wasn't working. I haven't seen him like this in months, and that was while he was on 40 mg of pred for at least a couple weeks.

I'm not sure what exactly is working, we are doing a lot in a short time. But I have been keeping a journal and analyzing things. I think its all these things put together that seem to be working well.

If the theory is that it is bacteria (MAP?) that is causing his UC, then all of these things should only be helping him recover. Which they seem to be.

Soystud,

He eats whatever... mostly eating Indian foods right now. Rice, curries, lots of spices.

Started taking the black walnut again yesterday, bleeding gne today. I swear that stuff is magic for me! Too bad it can't be taken long term.

I'd be curious as well. Also:

www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=3139572

Just thought I'd throw the link to this thread on here since MAP is mentioned. You can read through and help understand why it might be hard, if not impossible for some to clear a MAP infection "IF" it even plays a roll which ultimately we'll have to wait to find out.

In any case, even though I have/had very severe Crohn's-Colitis for the last 12 years, I to did not see dramatic improvements and normal stool until I started treating it as if I had an infection...

For the record, I used WOO/Thyme and Cinnamon Oil combo but most WOO/Thyme - combined with Imuran.

The only symptoms I have left are very specific food responses - stay away from those foods and I am normal now. The problem I face now is that the amount of foods I can safely eat is very minimal. But I'll take it over crapping blood, mucus and foul stuff 30+ times a day.

And an additional question to those who have helped with these stuff, do you mind linking the products you used here?
Thanks in advance.