naturopath/holistic practioner

He identified my gluten sensitivity, that's all. The one in our town blames everything on food sensitivites, everyone gets the same story no matter what the ailment. Expensive but worthwhile to try if you can afford it.

I just saw one Saturday, so I can't report on results. I think they have their place (ie, writing scripts your md won't), but most of what they'll tell you is stuff you can do on your own-diet mods, various supplements, etc. I wouldn't fork over the cash unless you're at the end of the line with traditional methods. Have you tried anything besides 6-mp? Obviously flaring again sucks but 9 months of remission sounds lovely. If that's all you're hitting a wall with you have lots of things to try still!

" I've either ended up sicker than I was before because they don't believe in bloodwork "


mine does - so there !

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I'm always leery of those who only prescribe what they sell. I wonder whose health they're worried about - mine or their own financial health.

I am a huge fan of FODMAPS, I know you can definitively figure out what food bothers you by doing it!

And usually you need to to it with dietitian help but I did it alone.

My problem is lactose and fructose, esp honey, fruit and HFCs.

Good luck!

Everyone's situation is unique, especially with this disease. When you look at the signature lines in the forum, everyone is taking different things that work for them.

In my opinion an ND can do a lot to help mild UC. For those with severe UC, the heavy drugs are a must. Recent studies show that being more aggressive in knocking out the flares is better than more cautious.

Basil: I suggest you grill the dietician. From the few who posted here it seemed to me that they were more into recommending things that would improve your health because of IBD instead of actually recommending foods and diets that would make symptoms better or recommend against things that would make your system worse. In other words, if you are having problems with vitamin intake because of your IBD they might recommend juicing certain things to get the nutrition you need while not realizing that certain things (like certain fruits for instance) can aggravate your IBD and make you worse. They are more into making sure you get the nutrition you need than actually knowing what makes you better or worse.

I'm still not sold on this parasite thing. I think just about everyone has some kind of parasites so when you test for them just about everyone is going to test positive. Like bacteria, the question is do you have good parasites or bad parasites? Heck, one of the treatments for UC is giving you parasites (pig worms, etc)!

Mine was sensible enough to tell me what blood work to have done by my regular doc, covered by insurance, and then bring him the results. Anyone could insist on that!

Also I agree with Banana

- I actually did this muscle test thing as well... luckily I didn't have to pay for it because the results were absolutely zero from the whole thing... same with the drops of water stuff I was supposed to take each day. Homeopathic or something like that. Anyway zero result, zero change... biofeedback was another as well. They hook some wires up to your head and the computer reads your energy or something... It said I had a virus I needed to get rid of but could not, and that my cat was angry with me and this was causing me stress leading to the manifestation of this disease in my gut... seriously...

Tried many other things as well...

All free... cause my step mom is a naturopath by the way... Makes for interesting dinner conversations.

Hahaha..

I still try stuff though cause you just never know. But I liken it more to chance if there is any minor improvement. Statistically any improvement might be equal to pure chance I would think. Statistic Deb or others might know if this is the case.

I do have a younger friend (he's 22) that took a bunch of WOO for a bad cold because he was told it would help - except he took like half a bottle at once (no idea how he even managed this). A few days later he developed all the symptoms of Crohn's and landed in the hospital with an official diagnosis a few weeks after that based on Colonoscopy or some type of test. Anyway his GI said no way it was related to all the WOO (which I actually doubt) - so his mom made him go the Naturopath route after being on Immuran and Pred for about 2 months. At this point I also introduced him to SCD and he did it to a "T" right from the intro diet... I even helped him cook and freeze meals and such and learn how etc.

He started to feel much better and was able to get off all meds totally. When his mom asks him (She is a huge NP believer and pusher) he says he thinks it helped and would go back if he ever became sick again instead of going to a GI. BUT when I ask him how he's really doing without his mom there - he tells me that he awesome, but if he cheats on the SCD for more than a day symptoms start to come back. So he tries to be as SCD legal as he can and gives himself one cheat day a week. This works for him..

So really SCD is probably more so the reason he did so well, not the naturopath, and the "good result" from the naturaopath was purely by chance.

Or at least that's the way I would interpret it.

Still though... if there's a chance and you can afford it financially... why not... you never know. But I would think it could all get pretty expensive. Lord knows how much I have spent on "natural" remedies. haha.. We all probably have.

@ gary

EXACTLY