My GI totally discounts anything but western medicine

I just came back from seeing my GI. I had a sigmoidoscopy. Apparently, my second flare did involve the whole colon. I thought it had just involved the left side, because that's where I thought I saw the ulcer. Anyway, this time, I just have a very, very mild flare, which is restricted to the rectum. In fact, it's right at the bottom of the rectum. My GI prescribed Canasa suppositories in addition to the bottle of lialda he had given me about a week ago. He says the inflammation should be gone in about a week or two.

Anyway, my GI wants me to keep taking the lialda owing to the fact that the previous inflammation affected the whole colon. He totally discounted the fact that I was taking antibiotics, solely because the antibiotics were topical. However, I have read that topical antibiotics can cause antibiotic-associated colitis. Moreover, asacol might have made my last flare worse, and colazol stopped working. It's possible that lialda will loose its effectiveness too if I take it every day. I figure I'll keep using turmeric as my anti-inflammatory and add boswellia and lialda if I notice any signs of inflammation--such as my poo becoming thinner and smaller. Plus, I'll stop with the topical antibiotics. I seem to be handling this mini flare very well. I do believe that using turmeric and bowellia has made the difference in keeping the flare in check before I saw my GI. In the past, I would have been in a bad flare after three days of seeing the first sign of blood.

Remember that your GI is trained in Western medicine, as are almost all MD's. That is their specialty and what they are trained for. They don't do chiropractic manipulation, or homeopathic treatment, or Santería or any other discipline. In theory, that's what we go to them for - Western medicine treatment and diagnosis. If we choose to augment that with other disciplines, we can, but expecting them to do naturopathic, homeopathic or other treatment is like asking your dog to be a cat.

I agree with fruitgirl.

I think you are expecting too much if you ever think your GI will be supportive of you dropping the western anti inflammatory drugs for herbs/supplements/holistic treatments. I think you are at a crossroads as to whether to continue seeing a western doctor or changing your care over to an eastern/holistic/naturopath. A GI is going to expect his/her patients to stay on maintenance doses of western meds for the duration of the illness, that is life or if surgery is selected.

Sue

Well we all have bad days, I hear you!  I hope tomorrow is better :)

Sue

Just remember a teeny flare can end up worse....and it probably won't be totally gone in 2 weeks. I hope you use your meds, and definitely double up the supps by taking 2 a day.

Of course, the enemas would be better.

Yes, life always gets in the way and it can exacerbate any situation tenfold.
Hope you feel better soon.

Venting is good.
q

NicoleB, if you're in NYC, there're Ron Hoffman and Leo Galland - both are "integrative" doctors, MDs who use diet, supplements etc as well in their treatment protocols.