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Serious Juice Fasting Question

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/15/2011 8:28 PM (GMT 0)
Hey everybody,

I just joined this site, and it seems pretty cool. I have a question, I have had UC for a few years, but my last remission that went over a year has led to a bit of a flare up I am experiencing at the moment. I am on 2 tablets of 800mg Asacol a day (I know it's not much but I hate drugs and would rather try everything else before increasing the dose), and I have a question for my fellow UC warriors.

I am about to embark on my first ever Juice Fast (capitalized the letters because it is serious business), and I do not know what to do in terms of my Asacol, it isn't safe to continue using it for the mean time when I do fast, so I think that it is best if I just put it aside for a few days to juice fast and then return to my normal dose afterwards. Or should I just continue my intake and juice fast at the same time?

This is driving me insane cry so I would truly appreciate your input regarding whether I should or shouldn't continue the Asacol during the mini-fast. By the way, I am very determined to juice fast, I even took time off work so that isn't what is haunting my thoughts.

Much love to you all!
Posted 10/15/2011 9:02 PM (GMT 0)
I think you can skip a couple of days of meds and not worry about it. But I don't think the juice fast is going to stop your flare. There is good evidence that a liquid diet is very effective in inducing remission, but it needs to be a nutritionally balanced complete bowel rest. Nutrtitionally balanced liquid meals are not juice.
Posted 10/15/2011 9:03 PM (GMT 0)
I don't think quitting Asacol would help unless you are having bad side effects from it already and were planning to quit anyway. None of us like taking meds if we have a choice. Some of us add whatever positive alternate treatments possible to the meds to get better.

I'm just worried that you will be hurting your improvement by giving up something that works for many people. (Disclaimer: I took Asacol for years and didn't have improvement but if it had worked I'd still be taking it.) I continue taking Balsalazide even though it wasn't doing anything positive that I could detect for me. I added diet modification almost 2 years ago and that made the difference for my recovery.

Why do you think juice combined with Asacol be a bad idea? Just be careful not to get dehydrated, drink water as well as juice. (I've never done a juice fast but have done intermittent fasting).
Posted 10/15/2011 9:12 PM (GMT 0)
Kazbern, it never hurts to try, and I am going to make it nutritionally balanced since I will powder some multi vitamins in and get some serious rest at that time. Plus my juices will be filled with goodness and it has worked for many people before so trial and error. Thanks for the reassurance about the Asacol though :)

Imagardner2, the issue is not that the juices will mix with the Asacol (that doesn't even make sense to me), it is just that if I am going to truly give my digestive system a break then its digestive ability will be reduced for that mean time and I do not want the Asacol to harm my body or trigger a crazy side effect of some sort.

Plus, if juicing doesn't help then I'll try intermittent fasting, and if that wont work then I'll introduce probiotics and a bunch of other things. We all have a different body and they react differently to certain things, we will never know until we try.

Thanks guys :)
Posted 10/16/2011 5:31 AM (GMT 0)
I take my meds when I'm fasting. For example, I just did a 26 hour fast for Yom Kippur and took all my meds. This was a complete fast - no food no drink (except for the water to swallow my pills) - and I did not consider it risky to take my meds while fasting.

Anyway, what I meant by nutritionally balanced had to do much more with giving your body the fats and proteins it needs, not just the minerals and vitamins. I'm sure juices are full of those healthy things. It's the fat and protein that you will not get by a juice fast, even with multivitamins sprinkled in.
Posted 12/8/2013 12:55 PM (GMT 0)
For the love of god, don't do juice fasts unless you are fit to do so. A 24 hour fast or intermittent fasting shouldn't do much harm, but longer? There's evidence pointing to shrinkage of heart and other bodily organs when these fasts are done on a longer time frame.

Just eat food - cook veggies and fruits for easier digestion, peel off the skin if you are worried about roughage. Throw in some digestive enzymes and it's easier for the body to assimilate.

Best.
Posted 12/8/2013 2:35 PM (GMT 0)
take your drugs, do like sg said and take a break from whatever your regular routine is by juicing a bit, but you gotta eat to heal -
Posted 12/8/2013 3:11 PM (GMT 0)
Do not want to sound rude, at the same time, did you search the forum? This topic has been discussed extensively many a times. Personally, it back fired. So although I do frequent juicing, I am not going to embark on juice fasting adventure again, ever.

And please do not mess around with the medications.
Posted 12/8/2013 4:07 PM (GMT 0)
I really wish I could talk you out of this but I doubt I can. I'm cringing just thinking about the results I expect you to have. I hope I'm wrong. There's probably no sense in taking Asacol while you do this but I would like to say I have seen several like you who really don't want to do meds or increase their Asacol dosage, only to find out that their futures hold Imuran, 6MP, Remicade, or Humira in them after they have done everything else first and failed. It would be much better to do Asacol at the maximum dosage of 4.8 grams per day then to go down these other med routes. By the time all your other stuff fails increasing the Asacol dosage probably won't work anymore and you would have missed your opportunity to treat this with a fairly benign med instead of having to do the hard core stuff.
Posted 12/8/2013 4:44 PM (GMT 0)
Maria

20 days is long enough so you should be adding food back to your diet, not too much fiber at the start but definitely get some protein back in you or you could damage your heart muscle and lose muscle mass in your body. Protein is fairly easy to digest and healthy for you.

The main reason, in my opinion, for juice fasting is to give the gut a rest from the digestion process. I did some juice fasting but liked "intermittent fasting" more (google it on this forum). And I never stopped my Rx meds while doing it (especially mesalamine enemas helped).

If you still have problems with food then eat very well cooked food and blend it up like baby food to make digestion easier.
Posted 12/8/2013 4:48 PM (GMT 0)
oh geez...she's a link to sell a juicing book. alert sent.

q
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