Off Humira - Looks like PALEO is working for me

Hey All,

Wanted to share my experience with the PALEO lifestyle (don't want to call it a diet). I was on Humira since earlier this year and on Remicade for about a year prior to that. My symptoms were mostly under control, but never really went away. I would still have some bleeding, light to heavy D. Had to take psyllium husks every night in order to have formed BM, and that would give me urgency. about 3 months back I started on paleo. Eliminated all processed food, grains, vegetable oils, sugar. Added coconut, coconut oil, free range chicken (deep fried or baked chicken wings about once a week). I also get goat meat here (CA) which is free range, so I eat that, organs - liver, kidneys, hearts, and the fish. My butcher also gives me beef and goat fat which I render and use for cooking along with clarified butter (ghee). Plenty of vegetables broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus with plenty of pasture fed butter on it. Changed from regular eggs to free range eggs. Started making mayonnaise at home (so easy and soooo good). I even make bacon at home. I didn't eliminate diary completely but started using pasture raised half and half for my tea, and I drink a 3/4th cup of raw milk everyday (started with a quarter cup and gradually increased). I also make about 1/2 a cup of kefir made with raw milk every day.

My breakfast now look something like this: I drink a glass of warm water first thing in the morning. Then I have the raw milk kefir. Then I take my masalemine, fish oil, vitamin D, and garlic tablet. Then a spoonful of an aurvedic supplement called Chyawanprash, a spoonful of coconut oil, a spoonful of ghee with a spoon of turmeric. One boiled egg, and a cup of tea with a teaspoon of sugar (this is the only refined sugar I eat in a day) and pasture raised half & half. With this breakfast, I generally have light lunch. Sometimes a 2 egg omelet with some cheese or wild salmon burger patty without the bun, sometimes just some roasted almonds with a spoonful of ghee and some shredded dried coconut. Dinner is generally some chicken or meat (goat curry) with some steamed vegetables. Every now and then, I eat very small amount of rice, at home or if I go out to eat sushi. I have also made ice cream at home using cream and coconut milk (I don;t eat much but the wife loves it).

Now the results: I started noticing the difference shortly after I started on paleo. My eczema (which started with Humira) went away, so did my allergies. I was taking benedryl at night and zyrtec in the morning. I stopped that. The bleeding stopped completely in a few weeks. So did the D. I stopped taking the psyllium husks completely. Last month I took the Humira shot with a 3 week interval instead of 2 weeks. Then I saw my GI and she said it's ok to stop it completely and see how it goes. So I stopped. It's been 4 weeks now and I am doing just fine. Basically all my colitis symptoms are gone. The GI has asked me to wait till the new year and then start tapering the masalemine.

I know that this could be just a remission because of the Humira and I could flare up at at time. But I have never felt this good since I got this nasty disease 8 years back. It's not just that my symptoms are gone, but I feel my gut is healing. I love spicy food (Indian, Korrean...) but I would always get some (or a lot) bleeding the next day. That has stopped. I can eat spicy food and be just fine the next morning. Well, may be some burning in the morning if it's too spicy, but no bleeding or diarrhea. (Oh, I also stopped using the stored bought spice mixes for cooking and started making fresh spices at home). I can't say for sure if it's the kefir, the raw milk, the Chyawanprash, ghee with turmeric or elimination of processed food, chemical preservatives, and refined sugar, that is doing the trick. It's probably "All of the above". And I get to eat all the meat I want

This is my experience on paleo so far. I am not saying that this will work for everyone. Nor that I have found a "cure". What I have found is that a lot of things that are discussed in paleo lifestyle make sense and they have given me great results so far. I would love to hear other success stories with paleo.

is goat milk considered "dairy" ?

sounds awesome - don't know how well this would work for the vegan crowd tho

what part of the goat does the fish come from ?

this sounds like a lot of work - how do you find the time ?

@soystud. lol!! I added the fish later when I remembered it. I guess I should have read it over once more...
Doesn't take that much of extra time really. I keep the eggs boiling on the stove for 8 min (for myself and the wife), start the tea and by the time the eggs are ready, I am done with everything else. I do save a LOT of time sitting on the throne these days, so it works out fine.

For the vegan folks, it would be a bit different, but I am sure they can figure out what works for them (or they can make some adjustment...) The key is to eliminate the processed food first. Take out the grains and replace them with vegetables and healthy fats (coconut oil works wonder)

Goat's milk is technically dairy, but it works a lot better with the human guts than cow's milk. So it's worth a try.

Post Edited (SMfromCA) : 12/12/2012 7:33:16 PM (GMT-7)

I would be scared to taper the mesalamine completely down to zero. I would recommend staying on some amount forever, no matter how well you think your diet is doing.

Great news SMfromCA! Hope you continue healing and in your case, since you have found how to help yourself through diet, hopefully the healing can continue and be able to get off mesalamines. :)

Hey, SMfromCA, congratulations. That's a lot of discipline there. I like the response you got from your anti-inflammatory diet. I'm experiencing the same (ecxema, allergies, gone) I've got a little discomfort when I go, but the changes have really been dramatic.

Don't drop the mesalamine (IMO). I don't know any doc that would really recommend going off meds like Asacol, which is really safe.

SMfromCA: Congrats on your successful diet regime, and thanks for sharing it with us.

SMfromCA said...
I do occasionally eat small amounts of rice. I found this variety of rice that they leave one outer skin on so the grains look just little brownish. I love the texture of it. Tests great too, and it has just a bit extra fiber.

Do you mean brown rice?

- Ray Of Hope

Well, knida. Mostly the brown rice I have seen is some local variety of rice that they leave the outer shell on (all the layers). This one (Laxmi brand basmati rice), they only leave the last layer on so it is not as dark brown as the traditional brown rice, but not completely white like the most basmati rice brands. May be it's not as uncommon as I thought. I just had not seen basmati rice of this type.

Thanks for the note RayOfHope

@Joanna, Local fresh raw milk would absolutely be the best. Start with small quantity (I started with one shot glassful). You said you can't have eggs on the the autoimmune protocol? I wonder why. I have always eaten eggs every day for as long back as I remember. I still eat one soft cooked egg every day. Now I have switched from the regular eggs to eggs from cage free chicken. I have read somewhere that the less cooked the yoke is, the easier it is for the body to absorb the nutrients.

Bacon fat is my favorite fat too. We make bacon wrapped roasted asparagus at least once a week and I generally drink up the fat from the tray when the wife is not looking. I made bacon at home last month so I know all the fat is clean and I don't have to worry about the nitrites and any other chemicals. I have been saving chicken bones for the past few weeks in the freezer. Haven't gotten around to do the bone broth yet. Hopefully this weekend I will find some time.

@kim123, Elimination of wheat for sure has helped. Funny thing is, I didn't think I was gluten sensitive. I still think it's not the worst thing for me, but it must be adding up. I think eliminating all the processed food had a bigger impact. I didn't realize how many chemicals are added to the food items we consume till I started paying attention to the labels. It is so great to hear about your success healing yourself. Hope I can say the same 7 years from now.

A quick update on my progress. I am still mostly symptom free. I have gotten some bleeding a few times (after eating very spicy food multiple meals in a row) but it stops in a day or two and I don't feel "colitis sick" at any point. I am down to 1 Asacol 2ce a day now and could go down to 1 a day any time. I had my annual colonoscopy last month and talked with the doctor yesterday. She told me that my colon is almost completely healed (except some mild inflammation at the very end). Last year I had mild - mid inflammation on the right side and mid - severe on the left side.
I have also eaten some non-paleo food occasionally (Indian bread and rice on occasions. In small quantity) and looks like I can handle it just fine now. Overall I am very encouraged with the results.

Glad paleo is helping you. Did you start seeing major differences after trying raw milk?

Are nuts/seeds part of your diet and how much do you eat?

awesome !

I haven't tried the autoimmune protocol, just the regular paleo seems to work for me. Even with that, I can't say I follow it 100%. I think being aware of what you eat goes a long way. Hope you get good results with your autoimmune issues.