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Has anyone ever fasted for 3+ weeks?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 4/29/2011 9:59 PM (GMT 0)
I've been interested in this story http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article1650852.ece

I managed to get in touch with the lady and she's for real, at least she's not stupid enough to say she's cured but when I spoke to her maybe 2 years ago she had been completely symptom free for about 2 years. She could also describe symptoms that you couldn't make up if you didn't have the disease and she was quite ill when she started the fasting and like me she never had long before attacks of UC and never 2 years before.

I'm considering trying it but there's very little to no information on the safety of fasting for so long and also if it works for everyone, or at least the majority of people.

There's also this http://www.newtreatments.org/loadlocal.php?hid=825 but less convincing - I think he sells books but sounds authentic.

Any thoughts? I can see how it could work 1 month with no food would be long enought to perhaps kill off all te bacteria in your gut, or maybe 1 month is long enough for it to heal properly, or both?
Posted 4/29/2011 10:45 PM (GMT 0)
I was on "bowel rest" for two weeks once, but it was in the hospital with IVs and supervision. And..... I was only a bit better when I was finished; ended up on prednisone to take care of the inflammation.
Posted 4/29/2011 10:50 PM (GMT 0)
Ah! I just read the article - it's the David Klein thing. We have some past threads about that:

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=1835679

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=1016635

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=1676887
Posted 4/30/2011 12:04 AM (GMT 0)
Yes I tried to fast for over 3 weeks, I thought I would be better because nothing would be irritating mu colon but it almost killed me. 

I lost so much weight that I couldn't afford to lose.   I was week  and tired but after the weeks went on I didn't care about food at all.  I felt like I had an eating disorder all of a sudden.  I couldn't eat anything and my husband would force me to eat so I could gain my strength back, the food was so hard to put down.  I gagged, everytime food was in my mouth.

It was strange how this could happen over the course of a month, but I had to make myself to eat solids again.

My hair also started falling out from the sudden weight loss I had bare patches and for a female it was horrible.

I'm not sure for us with colitis if fasting for that long is a safe thing to do.  Thats just my opion.

Posted 4/30/2011 12:08 AM (GMT 0)
3 weeks seems like an awefully long time.  I did a 3-day "juice fast" (the David Klein thing), followed by very gradually adding in soft cooked veggies, then fruits, then eggs...  Over the course of a couple of weeks as I was doing this, I felt very weak and lost a couple of pounds that I would have preferred not to lose.  BUT, I also stopped my GI bleeding for a short while.  It did come back again, but I went from bleeding every day to bleeding maybe just a little once/week.  Hope that helps...
Posted 4/30/2011 12:09 AM (GMT 0)
You can also search this forum for "intermittent fasting", a topic someone brought up last year. I tried it and thought it was very useful at the time. It really did give my gut time off from working so hard. It was surprising to me how little hunger I felt but I doubt I could go 6 weeks unless things were realllly bad. I didn't use fruit just veggie juices and water, lots and lots of water.
Posted 4/30/2011 2:20 AM (GMT 0)
Sounds extreme but the first thought that popped in my head is Elisabeth Hasselbeck's story, previous Survivor player (Season 2), author of the G-Free Book (she went gluten free), etc.

While she was playing the game of Survivor in Australia for close to 40 days I believe, she said her IBS and bowel issues were minimal and all she was eating was rice. She jokingly said she was allergic to a Western diet. Later when she returned to the US she was tested for celiac disease.

If you watched that season, she literally wasted away, her hair was coming in big clumps near the end and she was skin and bones.

When my family and I watched it later (we missed a few early S. seasons), they all gasped - hey mom you should go on Survivor, you wouldn't be in the bathroom all the time! Sigh.......
Posted 5/1/2011 10:22 AM (GMT 0)
I am also interested in fasting, and hope to try a longer fast this summer. In my research, I've found a good book called "Fasting and Eating for Health." It's written by a doctor that has used fasting to help many of his patients with various conditions. It explains exactly what happens in the body during a fast, and how fasting can help the body heal.
I know that longer fasts can be dangerous without medical supervision.There is a fasting clinic called TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, CA that does doctor-supervised fasts. I wish I could go, but they are a little out of my range $$$. Insurance won't cover a medically supervised fast, but it would probably cover any needed bloodwork, I guess.
Posted 5/1/2011 2:38 PM (GMT 0)
A lot of people view food as the enemy but that i think thats a huge mistake. Its what fuels our bodies. If you don't give the body its right nutrients nothing positive is going to come from it.
Posted 5/1/2011 3:16 PM (GMT 0)
I can't do juice fasts. I'm fructose intolerant. Perhaps a tea fast. But that would be a long time to go without food. The SCD diet might be good for you during flareups if your colon is sensitive to roughage.
Posted 5/1/2011 5:11 PM (GMT 0)
i know someone who fasted for about 25 days. put his Ankylosing Spondylitis into remission for about two years with that one.
AS is an immune arthritic condition that has many connections with UC.
Now the guy does shorter fasts - about 3-5 days - when his AS flares. He does a no starch diet - much similar to SCD - that keeps his AS in check.

i tried it too last year - made my UC worse. I prefer a highly restricted diet daily over fasting.
Posted 5/1/2011 5:25 PM (GMT 0)
While I have not fasted, I am on the SCD diet which in a way feels like fasting. The first week of it was hectic as my body craved some of the carbohydrates that it was used to. I still wasn't getting enough nutrients and felt really weak at all times. Not before long, my strength started to come back and the bleeding disappeared. So far the results are very promising, though I still feel a little weak (I have a mild cold which is bothering me at the moment).
Posted 5/1/2011 5:43 PM (GMT 0)
While I have not fasted, I am on the SCD diet which in a way feels like fasting......So far the results are very promising, though I still feel a little weak (I have a mild cold which is bothering me at the moment).

2 suggestions: Make sure you are drinking enough water daily, weakness can be dehydration in disguise. Also eat more protein, as much as possible. There are a lot of vitamins in meat believe it or not. I'm guessing you are in the elimination stage which doesn't allow much solid food so keep up with the chicken broth, very nourishing. Good luck.
Posted 5/1/2011 5:54 PM (GMT 0)
I've heard of this before...actually, there was a that did this over 15 years ago ...I can't remember his name, I'll need to do a little research on it. However, he went to a specific hospital that specialized in this type of treatment and he "fasted" for months. Hospital being the operative word. He was heavily monitored and was given IV's the whole time. I've thought about trying a "fasting" type thing myself for a week or two but always chickened out. I think it was David Klein...Songlady hit the nail on the head!
Posted 5/1/2011 7:20 PM (GMT 0)
The whole idea is scary to hear. Unless one is under medical care for fasting, it's not usually recommended for UC.

q
Posted 5/1/2011 8:09 PM (GMT 0)

imagardener2 said...
While I have not fasted, I am on the SCD diet which in a way feels like fasting......So far the results are very promising, though I still feel a little weak (I have a mild cold which is bothering me at the moment).

2 suggestions: Make sure you are drinking enough water daily, weakness can be dehydration in disguise. Also eat more protein, as much as possible. There are a lot of vitamins in meat believe it or not. I'm guessing you are in the elimination stage which doesn't allow much solid food so keep up with the chicken broth, very nourishing. Good luck.

I agree with that. I drank quite a bit of water during the elimination stage. The urination was always accompanied by diarrhea (bacteria die-off) and drinking seemed to help get rid of the extra toxins. The fatigue, from my understanding, was an expected symptom. My body literally craved something as simple as toast at that point. As far as proteins are concerned, that was essentially my "bread and butter" during that stage. I was kind of uncertain of the foods I could tolerate so it was mainly eggs and chicken, though I have found that eggs aren't friendly for many people in the intro.
Posted 5/2/2011 8:39 PM (GMT 0)
I think the every other day fast was intriguing...I still want to try it when I can focus.
I would have to stay busy because I know I would think about food constantly!
Posted 5/2/2011 10:31 PM (GMT 0)

quincy said...
The whole idea is scary to hear. Unless one is under medical care for fasting, it's not usually recommended for UC.

q

How would you go about getting medical supervision for this? I guess you could not do it on the NHS. What are the risks?

I'm intrigued simply because I spoke to te woman in that article - she was more ill than me and achieved remission for a minimum 2 years and I suspect a lot longer than that.

I'd probably prefer to try this than have a cut n shut on my bowels.
Posted 5/3/2011 7:13 AM (GMT 0)
I would assume hospitals put one on colon rest to give a person a break if a flare is absolutely extreme and not able to have any improvement via medications.


For CD, it's been recommended, especially when the small intestine is involved. As well, CD runs the risk of strictures, not a usual issue with UC.

You seem convinced that this will help...I don't think anything I'll say will change your mind.

q
Posted 5/3/2011 8:15 AM (GMT 0)

men8ifr said...

quincy said...
The whole idea is scary to hear. Unless one is under medical care for fasting, it's not usually recommended for UC.

q

How would you go about getting medical supervision for this? I guess you could not do it on the NHS. What are the risks?

I'm intrigued simply because I spoke to te woman in that article - she was more ill than me and achieved remission for a minimum 2 years and I suspect a lot longer than that.

I'd probably prefer to try this than have a cut n shut on my bowels.

i've heard that there are clinics in USA and Germany that use fasting as a therapeutic approach. under medical supervision. maybe you should search them

even if i said i know people who benefited from long fasting, i agree with quincy, it's a risky endeavour if you do it on yourself. yes, they were desperate, they tried it and it worked for them, but what about those who got into bigger problems and we never heard of?
Posted 5/5/2011 9:46 PM (GMT 0)
just a rumor, but I heard Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights
Posted 5/6/2011 9:45 AM (GMT 0)
yeah, but he was under VERRY HIGH supervision :) can you say the same bout you ? :))
Posted 5/6/2011 11:56 AM (GMT 0)
Hi,
I never did this myself but I was put in the hospital for colitis for just under 3 weeks to get me off food so my bowel could heal a bit. I was given IV and clear fluids and even TPN as my weight was dropping (which I couldnt afford to lose). Wouldn't recommend it on your own, but if admitted, they can watch you to ensure you get enough fluid intake and nutrition.
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