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Alternative medicine. Can it work?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/6/2016 11:08 PM (GMT 0)
I have been battling UC for over 6 years without even a taste of complete remission. My doctor and I have tried just about every drug (and combinations of drugs) possible without any luck. He feels the next step is surgery. I am determined to fight off the need for surgery as long as possible. My father read an article about about a study that found acupuncture and herbal medications effective in relieving colitis symptoms. I am a skeptic, but a desperate skeptic. Has anyone tried using these methods to treat their colitis, and if so, were they effective? Any information is greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!
Posted 10/6/2016 11:37 PM (GMT 0)
I was like you in not reaching remission for my first 10 years with UC, my various GI's gave many RX but my symptoms were very bad. During this time I tried many different supplements, some of them herbal. I also tried acupuncture for UC because it helped a bad knee that several MD's could not fix.

No results from acupuncture, I also tried hypnosis. 98% supplements I tried (many, many) made my symptoms worse, only a couple were keepers.

Over those years I also tried several different UC diets that others had success with such as SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet), Paleo and others. I got a little benefit from them but not enough for remission.

I was at the point that biologics were the next RX and I reaaallly did not want to start that. So I started diet modification....again. Kept a food journal and paid a lot of attention to symptoms. Gluten-free gave benefits right away, even though I'd tried it at least twice before and didn't see benefits. Then I cut dairy out and again saw benefits. It took a very long time and was not easy identifying problem foods. Long story short diet modification got me to remission.

Some supplements have been beneficial: wild oil of oregano (WOO), clay water, 95% curcumin/turmeric capsules, veggie juice (no fruit), chicken broth, well cooked spinach. Also RX mesalamine enemas are great to stop bleeding and lower inflammation, VSL#3 probiotics (edited to add this).

While you are searching for answers I really suggest getting mesalamine enemas and using them nightly.
many people here have gotten no help from diet modification. You need to see for yourself if that helps you or not.

Many people have also done well on biological RX.

Search this forum for whatever supplement you think of it and read what people say about it.
Don't believe everything you read on the internet. many people will take advantage of desperate people and sell them "cures". There are no cures but there might be a way to feel better.

Good luck.

Post Edited (imagardener2) : 10/6/2016 9:02:00 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/7/2016 12:10 AM (GMT 0)
I agree with most all imagardener said. I too tried the scd for a while but I found it humanly impossible to stay 100% on it without cheating. I found over time that the things that whip you like crazed slave master the hardest making to rile in pain on the floor screaming for hours all during the night are

1) bread (soft or hard) with nuts and seeds in them and
2 dairy and
3 sugar

If you at least reduce those you should loose about 50% of the torture. Problem for me is that I am so weak and lustful I still give into even these things regularly.

I actually tried the Raw Milk thing just in the last month for the first time, trying it every day for about 3 weeks, did nothing. I found a local organic farmer who does the cow share thing. It made me feel literally high the first time I drank it, and it makes your skin really really soft, but no change to uc diarrhea.

Better things to eat
1) Quick oatmeal (the softest kind) with nothing in it or maybe banana
2) bottled water, not tap water, or at least chemically filter the tap water somehow with reverse osmosis machine or whatever.
3) Don't eat or drink after 7pm. This is one of my worst habits, I am tormented to eat and drink near bedtime, it always makes me wake up more and scream in torture more all during the night. If you must pig out in lust do it on your Lunch meal, or if you don't have to leave the house, your breakfast.
4) broth soups, stews of carrots, fish, bones, etc. Live mostly on this. I just found a thai place near me
where I get a large broth soup for 9.50 and plan to get it every day now instead of trying to cook myself since I am so weak to cook usually, let alone go out and shop for the food too.
5) Cook stuff all on one day, buy like 15 glass small containers with sealing covers. Put portions of each meal in each container, then you can just grab and eat, no cook time. This is important because if you don't have prepared stuff I guarantee you especially on saturday night you are going to see nothing in the fridge, the kitchen filled with dirty dishes, and you see a phone and are going to want to order a pizza or drive to mcdonalds in 5 minutes and hope all false hope you will be ok, but you won't be.

I think enemas helped me but I can't do them currently as I am too damaged in that area to even try.

The last hope I really have is getting an FMT somehow someway, but it is illegal for me in canada to do it now and I don't trust the guy in argentina to get one there and need cdiff most everywhere else unless I go to india or some way more expensive place to fly. I am too afraid to put out ads to get donors as I may get in legal problems in canada the way things are here if I tried to do that, and I don't have enough friends or family to ask them.

Post Edited (Tortured) : 10/6/2016 6:13:39 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/7/2016 1:00 AM (GMT 0)
I think it can work. In my case, it didn't. I used to think the chances of having luck with alternatives was more likely if you have mild inflammation, but some people claim they have gone from severe to somewhat remission with alternatives.. I had a very drug-resistant case personally, and it also didn't respond to alternatives. I was pretty open to trying everything, and I did my best to dabble with whatever I could tolerate. At a certain point, I was so sick, I couldn't get off my couch for days at a time. I didn't eat because the repercussions of putting food in my mouth were so extremely vile, it was better to starve and avoid 10+ extra BMs that were caused by ingesting ANYTHING, I was no longer living life. I was just going to the bathroom, 20+ painful trips a day (20 if i was lucky). I didn't eat, I was exhausted. I was on loads of drugs just to try to keep going - and none of it did anything. I had surgery and I am doing much better. The problem with surgery is, you will never be 100% normal afterwards. I accept the faults I have and I've learned to live with them. For me, going 6x is way better than my life with UC, the drugs, the expense, the worry, the doctors visits. I am done with all of that thankfully. I wouldn't ever paint a perfect rosy picture of life without a colon though, it's always better to have all your organs if you can. I am happy to be without mine because it was a lost cause - but in most cases, it's not that dire and something will work - alternatives? maybe, but in my case, they didn't work, so I don't put too much value in it anymore. When I started moderating here, I had mild UC and I took all sorts of supplements and watched my diet and i believed it helped - but looking back, I don't think it did. It was just that my mild case hadn't progressed yet.

What have you tried?
Posted 10/7/2016 10:49 AM (GMT 0)
"Alternative medicine. Can it work?" There's many things that won't work for your ulcerative colitis and only a few that will. The world of alternatives is quite vast, if you have the time and patience to try them all then it's possible that you can find some alternatives that help with your symptoms. It's also possible that you will find that none of them help.

Alternatives did nothing for me. Others swear by them. Uc is very individual.

I wouldn't fear surgery, we have a number of posters who've gone through it, and are quite happy with their results. Surgery is just another treatment for uc.
Posted 10/7/2016 1:27 PM (GMT 0)
UC is so individual and different things work for different people. I had a stubborn flare last summer and became prednisone-resistant - we started discussing Remicade, which I really didn't want to take unless I had to. I had some luck with tweaking my diets and am very open to alternative medicine - but nothing was really helping. I had seen some posts on here when I was researching things to try and there were some stories of success with a chinese herb called Isatis Cooling - I figured I had nothing to lose and bought it off of Amazon. It was a lifesaver for me and I've been able to maintain a solid remission for a little over a year. You might want to read some of the threads on it here - it may not work for everyone but for those that it does work for, the improvement is fast and remarkable. Good luck!
Posted 10/7/2016 3:06 PM (GMT 0)
If by "alternative" you include medical marijuana, then I would encourage you to speak to your doctor. I had tried everything..and nothing was working. Then I had my doctor send me to a MM clinic. That was in January, during a flare.

I saw my GI last week and the news is very, very good. I don't need another colonoscopy until next summer (2017). I do not have ANY symptoms. I have had a few symptoms begin (like blood/d/c) but by vaping some MM, I seem to be able to stop it in it's tracks.

Last month I ordered oil. My producer has been authorized to sell it. The result is every bit as promising. I can go out now and not worry about vaping in private or d/c or pain of any kind. This stuff really works.

Dry herb helps me for approx. 2.5 hours. Oil helps me for almost 6 hours. Unbelievable but true. I have definitely found my answer.
Posted 10/8/2016 10:07 PM (GMT 0)
Dear Kaker,

I am a new member and only decided to join after reading your post. I only came across the site earlier today.

My daughter is the one that suffers from Ulcerative Colitis. She has been on so many medications and they wanted to put her on Remicade. I actually opted for alternative, but when I say alternative, I mean watching her diet. She has come off dairy and gluten and I am trying my best to follow a 'cleaner" diet. I have had to tweak some things because I noticed that they were affecting her adversely.

Right now my daughter is medicine free and has no flare-ups. She takes cod liver oil, vitamin D, tumeric, B12 etc. Even her seizures disappeared, which I believe was a result of all the medication she was taking.

I would say try changing your diet and see how it works. I am sure that it will help to a certain extent.

I wish you all the best.

Kind regards,

Princess D's Mum
Posted 10/11/2016 3:36 PM (GMT 0)
I am at the point I will try anything, and I have tried a lot of alternatives before even while being on all the meds and even remicade. some swear by aloe vera juice but it didn't help me. I actually plan to try a chiropractor soon and acupuncture. I have changed diets with little results. i am a lactose intolerant vegetarian, and i try to stay away from processed foods. i know i am worse when processed foods are in the mix. i am interested in the chinese herb mentioned in this post. i am also very interested in the the fecal microbiota transplant. I am supposed to do that once i get C Diff again (yep i have to wait until i'm sick "enough" for it). I would like to try turmeric, too. let me know if anything works for you. Remicade was amazing after my first infusion. However, no results after the last 2; but i think it is because I unknowingly had c diff at the time.
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