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People who believe that it's all caused by diet or gluten drive me nuts

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/24/2013 2:27 PM (GMT 0)
My Chiropractor neighbor, who believes that he is better educated than my GI, keeps on telling me that my problems are related to my diet and other health issues. He keeps on pushing me to take viatamins and says that the drugs that I am taking only mask the symptoms and don't cure them. He goes on to tell me that the traditional, non-chiro/holistic, doctors are just out to make money and don't want to cure me.

This kind of stuff drives me nuts. I mean, the guy thinks he can cure my hay fever and allergy to cats through some kind of holistic process. Aren't Chiropractors just supposed to make your back feel good?
Posted 10/24/2013 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
ya, he sounds pretty nutty alright - the only thing that helps my cat allergies is a 3 foot deep hole - i try not to resort to that method till their dead of course ;-)
Posted 10/24/2013 2:34 PM (GMT 0)
You will find a lot of people here (I am not one of them) who agree with your neighbor. However, he has no right to try to treat you without your permission. If he annoys you, try smiling politely, saying "thank you" then changing the subject. If you decline to talk about your health issues he should pick up the cue and move on. If he doesn't, it would not be inappropriate for you to say "Thank you for your concern, but I don't care to discuss my health any further." Then don't. When we open the subject, a lot of people feel free to give us all sorts of opinions, unfortunately.
Posted 10/24/2013 2:39 PM (GMT 0)
sigh. So sorry that you have such a preachy neighbor. Unfortunately, his annoying attitude has made you unwilling to listen to him, and SOME of what he's saying is probably right. If you haven't yet explored dietary changes to help with your illness, you are probably missing an opportunity. That being said, the medications we use are not just superficial symptom managers. They reduce inflammation, and that is good.
Posted 10/24/2013 2:42 PM (GMT 0)
Today's chiropractors are primarily in the business of selling supplements, not cracking backs.
Posted 10/24/2013 2:43 PM (GMT 0)
I second your notion on "People who believe that it's all caused by diet or gluten drive me nuts"
Posted 10/24/2013 3:01 PM (GMT 0)
I've tried many times. I've cut gluten out for a month and have done the fodmap diet as well. Nothing works except for serious meds. I'm about to start simponi and am already on Humira along with 6mp after Remicade failed after 18 months.

Even after telling him this, he insisits that it's my diet.
Posted 10/24/2013 3:21 PM (GMT 0)
Tell him diet only masks the symptoms and doesn't cure UC either. It's true, and should give him something to think about.
Posted 10/24/2013 3:32 PM (GMT 0)
People who think diet has nothing to do with UC drive me nuts. :-)

Actually people who can only see one point of view, their own, drive me nuts. And I consider the posters here to be my neighbors because we talk a lot more between ourselves than flesh and blood neighbors.

Just because diet has been my salvation from UC-hell does not make me tell everyone that they must follow my diet. I try to say "What works for me" when passing info along.
We are all different.
Before this last diet mod. succeeded I failed several times with diet modification and would have said "Diet mod. doesn't work, I tried it."
Posted 10/24/2013 3:42 PM (GMT 0)
It's got to be a chiro "thing"- there was just a big article in the local paper about how more & more parents are refusing to vaccinate their children- and guess what, one of the parents against vaccines that was quoted was a chiropractor! What a surprise... I tried one once, it was nuts- the guy actually made me crooked, one shoulder was higher than the other. It eventually evened out. They all seem to be these holistic wackos. I agree, mind/body connection is indeed major, but... come on! I agree with you too, rguyer- I've done every diet mod in the book, & the only things that semi-help are the biologics. Even those are like kiddie band-aids.
Posted 10/24/2013 3:49 PM (GMT 0)
Well said, Imagardner. Most people who say diet, etc has nothing to do with it have not truly tried. There was a time I felt the same way. Thank god I decided to try alternatives to RX UC meds otherwise I would probably be bashing diet, etc like many others here.

Best...
Posted 10/24/2013 3:57 PM (GMT 0)
"It's got to be a chiro "thing"- there was just a big article in the local paper about how more & more parents are refusing to vaccinate their children- and guess what, one of the parents against vaccines that was quoted was a chiropractor! What a surprise... "

i know - i also heard that chiro's drive cars, go to church, and they even mow their lawns - they think they're like real people !

Posted 10/24/2013 3:58 PM (GMT 0)
Most people who say diet, etc has nothing to do with it have not truly tried.

Not to be disageeable :-) but I think some people have truly tried with diet and failed. I was one of them at one time. They have the right to say it didn't work for them. But they don't have the right to say "Diet doesn't work for UC". That's what I have a problem with.
Posted 10/24/2013 4:05 PM (GMT 0)
seriously soystud, any chiro I've ever met has been somewhat wacky, nothing but holistically minded, & pretty unapproving of medicines overall. My point was, that of all the people who eschew vaccinations, you're going to find a whole bunch of them who are chiros- or, call around, ask your local chiros what they think of vaccinations. Imagardener, I suppose one could say "Diet sometimes works for UC". Like everything- glass half full, glass half empty!
Posted 10/24/2013 4:42 PM (GMT 0)
el - i just don't like to lump all docs in the "idiot" category - obviously many of them belong there, just like the rest of us regular people -

i like my gi doc, i like my md doc, i mostly like my nd, i like my son's gi doc, my dentist is awesome, my vet is the absolute bestest vet ever -------- but the rest ........there are some real dopes out there -
Posted 10/24/2013 4:50 PM (GMT 0)
I don't like preachers either. There is no doubt that diet works for some but to lump everyone into the same category and claim that diet is the cause and cure for everyone just means that that person isn't playing with a full deck. There are many who were health nuts and still came down with UC. I wonder what the cure is for them? Others led an unhealthy lifestyle and changed to a healthy lifestyle and then came down with UC after the switch. I also hate it when these people start throwing out an answer to everything like:

1. For the health nuts that came down with UC anyway, you forgot about that cookie you ate when you were 8 years old. That's why you came down with UC.

2. For those that have tried gluten free for a year and it did nothing - you probably cheated one day or something got by you that you didn't realize. If you had truly gone gluten free you would be cured now.


We all hate meds and we all wish we could find that magic bullet like going gluten free, etc. but in most cases that just will not work. The truly amazing irony here is that one of the most unhealthy lifestyles you could possibly have, smoking, is proven to be a link to UC when you quit and also proven to help your UC go into remission by resuming smoking again. Everyone wishes we could find an easy answer to finding the cause of this disease and we have probably all wondered at one time what we did wrong to come down with this disease. Food and diet is an easy scapegoat but, like any other disease, sometimes we just get it and often times we did nothing wrong. We just got it. Even though diet has some links to cancer and other diseases health nuts still come down with just about everything there is to get out there so there is no one size fits all answer as the preachers would lead you to believe.
Posted 10/24/2013 5:01 PM (GMT 0)
Soystud- I don't know who you're quoting when you quoted "idiot", but it sure wasn't me. And overall, I like doctors too- I don't think chiropractors are doctors, & in this post, that's the only type that's been discussed. I like that term "preacher" though, it fits the bill.... I find it funny though, that for many posters who tout diet & supps as their "cure"- when you read their sigs, they are also on 2-3 meds. So who's to say what is helping?
Posted 10/24/2013 5:04 PM (GMT 0)
"I find it funny though, that for many posters who tout diet & supps as their "cure"- when you read their sigs, they are also on 2-3 meds. So who's to say what is helping?"


show me one -
Posted 10/24/2013 5:07 PM (GMT 0)
so what is you definition of "preacher" gary ?


someone who talks about the same thing, over and over and over ............

did I hear the word histamine ?
Posted 10/24/2013 5:14 PM (GMT 0)
That's a good point Eva. I have noticed that too.
Posted 10/24/2013 5:36 PM (GMT 0)
Maybe diet IS the cure for UC, but like all things UC, no one diet works for everyone, and the magical food combinations that cure my UC may not be prescribe-able by any doctor or witch doctor/chiropractor (bring it) because my UC-curing-diet is unique to me - not a far fetched notion as we know. I could spend the rest of my life trying this diet or that diet or eliminating this or that before I find that answer. I do know gluten-free, dairy-free and paleo didn't help me. I just hope the 6mp works for me and I have a long, long remission free of uc dietary concerns. I give up on diet (for UC).
Posted 10/24/2013 5:44 PM (GMT 0)
I wouldn't rule out diet completely. It does have an effect on me. I cannot go on and eat grains and rice all day, it would literally make me pass mucus and gas, if not worse.

It doesn't cure me either of course. But if the diet mod helps me to feel even a little bit better, why not? For me it's the combination of good meds and diet.

At this moment, I don't see a cure anytime soon. I agree with that.
Posted 10/24/2013 5:51 PM (GMT 0)
The thing is UC is an autoimmune disease where the body's own immune system has run amuck and starts targeting your colon or something in your colon for destruction (like a bad virus), causing inflammation. That's why many of the treatments center around weakening your immune system, disrupting this process from happening and why you have to continue treatments forever, because once you stop weakening the immune system it goes right back to it's old tricks and resumes the attack all over again. For the most part, diet isn't going to change this underlying issue unless there is one particular bacteria that is causing the problem and by eliminating this one particular bacteria through food choices you will get better. It could be any one of the good or bad bacteria or bacterias, including ones found in "healthy" foods. Assuming this to be the case, you would have to get lucky enough to solve the puzzle first in order to achieve success. With all the different bacterial combinations possible it would be kind of like hitting the correct numbers in the lottery, assuming this was the problem in the first place.
Posted 10/24/2013 6:44 PM (GMT 0)

Eva Lou said...
one of the parents... was a chiropractor! What a surprise... I tried one once, it was nuts- the guy actually made me crooked, one shoulder was higher than the other. It eventually evened out. They all seem to be these holistic wackos


I have degenerated discs in my lower spine from years of reckless skiing, heavy weight lifting, and hitting thousands of golf balls. And now that I am diagnosed with ulcerative colitis then probably some common side effects of UC like Ankylosing Spondylitis thrown in too.

Anyway I found a chiropractor on the internet and was delighted how effective she was. I would see her every 3-6 months for a 10 minute session whenever my back acted up and return to a pain-free normal.

After 3 years later I moved out of state and searched for another chiro. I went to a dozen different ones and they all sucked. Not only were they totally ineffective but most insisted that I needed to get a package deal of a dozen sessions before expecting any kind of relief. So I would agree with you that they are a bunch of holistic wackos, except that my original chiro was so darn effective.

So now I travel 500 miles to my home state every 3-6 months for no other reason than to visit my old chiropractor. Of course that is also a good excuse to visit some old friends. :-)
Posted 10/24/2013 8:15 PM (GMT 0)
lol, I think the few of you are just as nutty. I don't stereotype the whole board though just because of a few. I am a Chiropractor as some of you know... I am a PCP... I didn't get that at KMART or overseas somewhere. I put 8 years in to get that status... so whether you think we are a doctor or not really has no bearing on what reality is. I'll put my radiology and musculoskeletal diagnosing skill up against any other doc.

Today, I have a gentleman come in for upper back issues. He had gastro problems written down on his intake form and I am always curious so I ask. Has had UC for as long as I have. He completely stopped seeing a GI doc years and years ago. Only sees a GP now and that doc has had him on prednisone for years. So, what did this quak do? I told him to immediately get the referral to the GI doc I see and went over the need to get off the pred, because it had already given him diabetes. He had never heard of remicade, humira, uceris or any of the newer drugs. I also gave him the address to these forums so he could get some support. I then proceeded to get back to the problem he was there to see me for. I didn't "preach" or try and sell him vitamins. I'll get his upper back better so he can continue to make a living and hopefully he will get off prednisone.

I always welcome questions from anyone.
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