Diet & Supplements Might Not Help Enough

Diet and supplements might not help you; they never helped me get out of a flare nor prevented me from having one, even early on before all the meds I take now.
Diet helps my overall health. I know what foods I can tolerate and what I'm allergic to; this site helped me in many ways.

I like coming in here to see what new research and information is being discussed. There is real scientific evidence behind much discussed in here, verify for yourself and know most here are not physicians.
Before I had to be on steady immunosuppressant’s (IS’s) I tried every healthy regime I could get my hands on. The literature, books and people always stressed giving it time (starting with few known, tolerable foods then slowly adding small amounts of healthy things – trial and error). Made sense but it’s not easy; it was extremely time consuming but I tried and documented most every meal, sleep cycle, symptom and bm for years.

I would eventually give in after becoming extremely ill. The doctors would tell me ‘diet doesn’t matter’; I never fully believed them. I would get healthy (with IS's) and again be years in full remission (stable off IS's) research more and try other angles but back to extremely ill. I'd try again with only mild drugs and again have months of more remission and improvement. I recall being thrilled I found a solution only to get another flare. Flares always after some illness, stress/exhaustion.

Funny how quickly one forgets severe pain and even near death (you just do; almost as though it happened to another person). Who doesn’t want to get better without IS’s and other strong meds?

So I’ve been hospitalized 5 times with UC; 2 home health cares. Much was because I refused to believe I needed to ‘poison’ my body with harsh prescription meds and hung on to strict diets. Advice was it will work, gets worse before getting better or give it time. I almost died once and 3 times almost lost my colon because I really wanted to believe I could prevent a flare or help one through diet/supplements, mild prescriptions at max.

Recognize if you’re not benefiting; don’t stay the course; listen to your GI and don't be afraid of 'meds' as I'm proof that you can be active, raise a family, vacation, work and live a full life with the help of meds AND a healthy diet.

The diets in here are very healthy and should be eaten to extent you can tolerate them. My wife recently brought home a 'healthy choices' plan she received from her breast cancer survivors group. I was impressed to see most of the same food choices and supplements listed here by users. She had similar from a class on healthy skin, hair and nails. The diets have been around for a lot of years and are for many ailments; they are healthy for most. Because my wife is eating these my kids are also eating healthier so it's great.

If the diets aren’t working then recognize it early. The longer you avoid prescriptions if in flare, the sicker you’ll likely become. Consequences can be not only losing your colon but fatal.

I post because I care for any who might follow my path if I were not posting. Most ppl like me aren't in these places; just be aware of that.

garylouisville said...
Everyone needs to imply common sense and not be closed minded. Some people can get better using diet modifications and/or supplements but being hard headed and anti med can lead you down the wrong path, causing much more grief than necessary before finding the right road. It is my belief that those who do best use a combination of both meds and alternative treatments. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Agree. I'll add that with diet modification and/or supplements plus meds one should reduce stress and get the rest you need. No need to over do a work out either (moderate exercise is enough).

Burli what are you taking now?

As has been said many times here, one size does not fit all. The disease is simply not one disease (with possibly many causes). Because these causes are not known, the similar symptoms have all been lumped into one or two groups.

That said, for some diet clearly will not work and for others it is a godsend.

Everyone has to remember that books are written to sound logical so they can sell. It would be stupid to write a book where the viewpoint doesn't make sense. Who would buy it? If I wanted to put the effort in I could write a book declaring that tidal forces from the moon caused autoimmune disease and I would find plenty of facts to back it up. The cure for these tidal forces causing disease would be magnets aligned in the proper order (which only I would know) and I would include many testimonials showing how well my product worked. Anytime you see the word "testimonials" used you know you are being conned. You also have to understand that the people buying these books are half believers already so it's not really very hard to sell them the rest of the way.

thanks for your post Burli, I gained a lot from it. Your story is a reality check for me.

I also believe diet is great for overall health but doesn't have much to do with UC, and it makes me sad. At the same time it is something of a relief.

I believe humans are genetically programmed to forget the pain because otherwise we'd all be suicidal. If women giving birth couldn't forget the pain, the species would die out.

You've been through so much and lived a very fruitful life, I find that inspiring. But I have the same question as DMC: Oxycodone for urgency??? Do tell??! I don't think any medical practitioner on the planet would Rx an opiate for diarrhea, but it would certainly help for pain which you have had plenty of.