A couple questions for SCDers

yay! So happy to hear you are feeling better especially after one week!

I have been on SCD for 32 days today, and the past couple of days I have had some crazy results. Medication wise I have fully switched from the hydrocortisone nightly enema to melamine enema. I also weaned down successfully on the pred from 30mg to 25mg with no problems. This Tuesday -> 20mg! So excited.

Basically what happened, from day 1, up until last Wednesday I was having normal stool (with a lil red) about once a day. After the taper and intro of melamine, I started to feel rather "loose" down there, and I started having some smaller loose BMs a couple times a day. On the contrary, also experiencing less pain in the large intestinal area. Also, I was experiencing some heart burn. I know that if the stomach is too acidic it will prevent probiotics from reaching the colon, so I started drinking cold water before bed.

Then on Friday, oh man, heart burn cleared up, and since for a few days I was eating the same and just having these puny loose BMs, I had my first cramp in about a week followed by 3 huge formed BMs Friday afternoon after some brasco broth w/ carrots. No blood, couldn't believe it. Cramp subsided shortly after the emptying. This is some real healing power here. Yesterday, I went less, same type of stool, and no cramps.

It's been a month on the SCD, I am consuming super vital probiotics from homemade raw goat milk yogurt and a lactobacillus acidophilus culture in the AM, and I believe this is really essential to my healing. Starting to introduce my first vegetable, pureed & steamed carrots, and the fiber I believe is moving things along. Also been sticking peaches in the almond bread I made. Will try bananas in the bread later this week as well as organic pureed squash frozen from the store as a side with my dinners.

Big update, but on topic! Everyone keep healing!

mindoverbutter,

Glad to hear it is working for you. Be careful not to over consume the nut bread though!

Andrina,

Definitely be careful with eggs during the beginning phases of the diet. And start pureeing your fruits and vegetables if you aren't already. You'll be surprised how big of a difference it will make. Also, are you cooking the melon? If not you may want to start out with some boiled pear or apple sauce.

Here's a link to a chart that presents SCD in "stages"

http://pecanbread.com/p/how/stages.html

Basically you start on stage one, and add foods individually to test if you can tolerate them. Of course nothing is set in stone, its just a guide.

Andrina said...
Is it better to bring back and older topic or should I open a new one? Not sure how the rules are here.

In the German forums I don't get any support for SCD whatsoever. I've never seen so many people being against something.

So two days ago my mom in law, who was supportive with this diet so far, told me I should eat normal again, because I need to gain weight. I told her in the past I ate what I wanted and how much I wanted (I was always hungry while in a flare-up) and I would still lose weight. I also told her it takes up to a year to be symptom-free. Also I said that while being in a flare, I never gain. As soon as I get healthy again, I will gain again.

How can I convince her that the diet is helping? So far I stopped my diarrhea. I'm loosing a lot of blood which I seem to compensate with all the meat I eat everyday. Had some blood work done just a few days ago and my iron + ferritin looked fine. And I still have mucus, which causes a lot of urgencies and accidents. Not sure, when this will stop.

I follow the stages of pecanbread.com now and I'm in stage 2.

Have you ever tried a LOW-FIBER/LOW RESIDUE DIET?

Hi Andrina

You might want to start a new thread. I didn't have time to read this whole thread so I'm just responding to say I had to modify the SCD diet mod. several times over the 2 years it took me to get into remission. My colon could not handle fruit juices (legal) most fruit (legal) and yogurt (homemade/legal) for quite some time. It was tough going I can tell you but sloooowly I got better.

Just in the past 1-2 months I found that reducing the amount of insoluble fiber gave me a big improvement (lots of nuts/nut flour baked goods got changed out for almond butter, less fiber more oil). Now I can eat dairy, SCD yogurt and some fruit and fruit juices.

So the suggestion of reducing fiber may be a good one but difficult for you to do if you have a limited food selection right now. Just keep it in mind for the future. To put on weight just keep adding good oils whenever possible: to smoothies, to baked goods. I like coconut oil and olive oil added whenever possible. Best wishes on your continued improvement.

Yes some people don't believe diet modification makes a difference but I and others here know it does. One big supporter was the Viennese doctor that wrote the book "Life Without Bread". Maybe you can get a German copy and give it to your relatives to read, I've found that Germans believe what a doctor says and they might start supporting your diet choices.

Another vote for adding nut butters and avacado to the diet to gain weight. In terms of tolerance on nut products, try nut butters first, then nut flours, then whole nuts. Add healthy fats in the form of fish, flax and Udo's oil. I add a tablespoon of flax or Udo's to a bowl of soup or stew and take fish oil caps. These are healing (Omega-3s) as well as helping get your calorie intake up. If you're brave, just take 'em by the spoonful. Any time carbs are restricted, healthy fat intake should be raised to compensate.

I also advise adding an egg white protein shake (or two, or three) to your daily diet. You can get it in powder or liquid form that's SCD legal. Gentle weight training will help build muscle mass, which is the source of healthy weight gain. Little to no cardio until you gain back the weight you've lost.

Oh yeah mayonnaise--I love it. And what is it but oil and eggs whipped together. Yummm. Chicken salad, tuna salad, shrimp salad. It's hard to find a store-bought mayonnaise with just those two ingredients but I have so-so success with making it at home. One time it turns out great and the next is a failure. So I use ready-made and no complaints from the colon.

cool!!

I also should qualify: It's my belief you can stuff yourself until kingdom come and still have difficulty gaining weight if the colon is really ulcerated and/or your transit time is too fast. I hate to say this, because it seems so obvious: it's not "you are what you eat," but "you are what you're able to digest and assimilate." So, gut healing supplements have to be part of your weight gaining plan. I've found high doses of omega-3s to reduce inflammation and l-glutamine for gut healing to be essential. If you're in a really bad flare, it can also help to have a few days of gut rest where you're only consuming liquid meals to kick start the healing process.