SCD diet, weight loss, and the possibility of Remicade or Colectomy

Hi everyone, I was diagnosed with UC in May '10 and spent most of the summer trying different medicines at different dosages: Asacol, Balsalazide, Prednisone, Lialda, Canasa, 6-MP - none of which did much (the steroids helped some, but had to get off them, the 6-MP landed me in the hospital for a week from a bad reaction). I stumbled upon Breaking the Vicious Cycle a few weeks ago, and am currently trying out the SCD diet - 2 weeks in. I'm still having bloody diarrhea but am somewhat hopeful, despite the fact my doctor said he didn't think this would help on its own. Unfortunately, in those 2 weeks I have lost almost 10 pounds, bringing me to about 116 lbs, which (as a 5'10 21 year old male who had healthily been 150) is very low. Do you have any suggestions as to how to maintain weight while on this diet? I took some time off from school as a result so I have plenty of time to prepare food, but have to avoid tree nuts due to allergy.

Also, if this does not work, I am left with a choice between Remicade and removal of the Colon. I am really hesitant to try Remicade due to possible side effects and at this point want a permanent solution if the diet does not work. However, I'd love to get advice on weighing these two options.

Thank you very much!

Add a good probiotic once or twice daily to SCD. I didn't do well with the SCD yogurt in the beginning, perhaps you will have better luck.

Protein and good fats are your best friends on SCD for muscles, energy, strength. Good oils are: coconut, olive. You can cook with it, put in smoothies for calories, take by the spoonful. Cook steaks with marbleing. Avocados are good fats. Cream and butter IIRC is allowed on SCD along with hard cheeses. All full of calories.
I would stay away from empty calories with sugar.

I lost about 6 lbs. in the first months of SCD then levelled off and no more loss until we went on vacation and we were go-go-go every day.

SCD doesn't work for everyone and didn't for me the first time I tried it. It is not an overnight cure either, but drugs never helped me, SCD has.

Best wishes on your try.

P.S. You went through a LOT of meds in a short time. It took me years to try those with the same non-results.
You don't mention mesalamine enema which was the one thing that has worked for me. Rowasa is the brand name.
Please try it also. We need to throw everything at UC that doesn't hurt us.

It does sound like you might not have tried those meds for long enough. Also, how extensive is your UC? Is it pancolitis (whole colon) or just a small part of it?

As far as SCD is concerned (Im on it)...I also second what Imagardener said about good fats. I lost quite a bit of weight at first too, but now, after 3 1/2 months, Ive leveled out. I eat yoghurt made the scd way, with full fat milk. Now, here you've been advised to stay away from honey but it does have a lot of calories in it. Also, I can handle really fatty meats, like pork, (but I dont handle roast chicken very well (funnily enough), makes me nauseus). So, what I do is bulk up on fatty meats a few days a week. Pork belly is what I use (I dont know what the American equivelant cut would be, sorry, just look for the fattiest piece of pork you can find, lol).

Have you tried the homemade SCD yoghurt? Try that. You can add cream to it (cream on its own isnt legal, btw Ima), or you can make a 'yogurt' with cream the same way you would do the scd yoghurt. It'd have higher fat content and it just sounds SO yummy! If you need advice on how to do the scd yoghurt, just ask us here. I make it regularly and I dont have a yoghurt maker or anything like that. I just make it as per the btvc website/book's instructions, but instead of the yoghurt maker or heating pad I just leave it sit on my kitchen counter, it works just fine.

You are only recently diagnosed and it really does take a long long time for some (or most) of us to find what works best for us. Its taken me a good five years, seriously.

Would you be willing to go thru with us here what exactly happened with the different meds you've already taken? It doesnt sound like you really had a chance to see if they would work. For me, I dont know if just scd alone would help. You can see the meds Im on in my siggie. I started the first lot of stuff (asacol to begin with) in July this year and now, in october Im still tweeking things. I was seriously in denial about my condition for a long long time after being dianosed. This was mostly down to being uneducated about it, the dr's being very unhelpful all these years. But finally Im beginning to see SOME results, well some major results actually, but Im still struggling with abdominal pain and some other frustrating things associated with this lovely disease we have.

So, to sum up... We might be able to help you better if you can give us some more details about how long you were actually on the different meds you've tried already. For what its worth, my personal advice is that if you can avoid prednisone please do so. It can have some nasty side effects and wreak havoc on your body. I remember some one on this site saying thats what you expect from meds that were made in hell, lol.