Newly diagnosed

Sure! Is it likely? No! As you said, you were already a health nut and not only got Celiacs but UC too. Some supplements can help some people but I'd compare it to winning the lottery. If you get too cocky you wind up having to take the worst meds.

Thank you for the replies. The delzicol is oral. The damage is mostly in my left large intestine. I see the GI next week so I will ask him about the supositories and the probiotic. I am taking PB8 for a probiotic as of now and eating fermented foods like pickles, kefir and kombucha.

subduedjoy you should be careful when stating your opinion as fact. Someone might actually listen to you

I found out that the pharmaceutical industry hires writers to write on social media when I was looking into switching careers into possibly technical writing. After I uploaded my resume onto a popular job site, I got a ton of responses from pharmaceutical companies looking for social media writers. Right there in the job details it says posting on forums. Not only that, but if you do a little research, you will find out that many health-related forums are owned, managed, and sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry.

It's not a conspiracy theory. It's called low-cost marketing.

And many people are able to manage their Ulcerative Colitis symptoms through alternative means. I'm one of them. And it's not because I have a mild case or I got lucky. It's because I took my health into my own hands. There are many people like me. We leave the forums because we don't need them. I came back because I bumped into an interesting article I wanted to share. The forum has changed. Too many naysayers. It's a shame.

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't manage your symptoms through diet, probiotics, vitamins, minerals, anti-inflammatory herbs, ... Remember Roger Bannister and the Four-Minute mile. He was the first one to break the four-minute mile when everyone thought it was impossible. Well, the four-minute mile was broken 37 times in the two years following Bannister's accomplishment. Why? Because people realized it was possible. Well there are many people who are able to successfully manage their symptoms through natural means. There hasn't been only one person who has been able to do it. There have been many. Do not listen to the naysayers.

As for mesalamines, I forgot to tell you that the reason my GI prescribed the oral form initially was that he assumed I would rather take something orally than stick something up my butt. At least, that's what he said when I asked him about the suppository because the oral form wasn't working for me. Later, I told him that I was taking mesalamines only if I started to flare to prevent a flareup (which is probably a once for a few days every two years). He was fine with that too.

Post Edited (subduedjoy) : 7/3/2015 11:14:21 PM (GMT-6)

It's not the short-term effects of mesalamines that concern me. It's the long-term effects. They are bad for the kidneys and liver. And I want my kidneys and liver to last a long time.

I was only on Prednisone once, some 9-10 years ago. And guess what, I'm now suffering from adrenal fatigue. It's a known fact that Prednisone isn't good for the adrenals.

If you can manage your uc through only natural means, then awesome, more power to you, congrats. However, I think very few can successfully follow you, and many have gotten significantly worse when trying to follow, so, I wouldn't suggest everyone can. Rather, use diets and supplements in combination with your uc medications, as they can reduce uc symptoms or help some. It's not one or the other, use both.

I tend to think only a very small minority of uc patients can manage their symptoms successfully without medications. It's limited to those with very, very mild cases of uc. It's not a lack of us not trying hard enough, not being dedicated enough, or us being duped by the false propaganda of big pharma posters lol. All of us would rather avoid medications if it were possible, myself included. However, I've got some sorts darn evil case of uc that only responds to the strongest uc medications available. I've tried diets and supplements and got zero response from them.

Garylouisville,

Where's my "Like" button?

LOL i believe the U.S. Government was behind 9/11 and that the U.S. did land on the moon! The poor original poster is getting a good taste of this forum. I hope she comes back. I incorporate a healthy whole food plant-based diet and take a number of anti-inflammatory herbs along with daily mesalamine, vitamins and a probiotic. Currently in remission!

I remember you subdued/Joy, long time no see!

subduedjoy:

I find it odd and interesting that in this particular thread you continue giving advice on natural treatment options, implying that they are guaranteed to work for everyone, and yet you don't mention one word about the fecal transplants you did that you say are what helped you the most (this from a different thread).

There are several natural treatment options that do work in SOME people and several of them even have scientific studies behind them that show their effectiveness against UC. If you have ever looked at my signature I use several natural treatment options myself in addition to long term oral mesalamine use. This has greatly helped me avoid the more serious drugs (so far). I certainly think that everyone at some point should at least try some of these options you mentioned to see if it helps their condition to the point of being able to reduce or, in some cases, eliminate their meds. I agree with you that there is no harm in trying these things.

But, there are many variables, with the biggest one being the patient's condition. If you are in bad shape then you are probably very foolish to go med free and hope you can go the natural route. Many times the natural way does not work and then this particular patient would have lost valuable time in fighting the disease. These people should be on meds and then try natural treatments in addition to the meds if this is a route they want to try. If they're lucky then they might be able to drop or reduce the meds at a later date if the natural treatments are actually working.

As you say, inflammation is a precursor to cancer so it is very important to get that inflammation under control as quickly as possible and meds are much better and quicker at this than the natural things you suggest. That's what UC "western" meds ARE made to do. They target the inflammatory process.

As a bit of a critique, you read the posts you want to read and ignore the rest or chose to ignore what you have read. I read almost all of the posts, whether from those who are taking biologics or from those that have had success going the natural route, and there ARE those who have had success going the natural route. Yes, there are some people who have had success with the SCD diet but there are also MANY posts from those that have tried the SCD diet and it did not work for them. Ditto all of the other diets, including the spinach and sunflower seed diet. I remember posts from those claiming success with the Spinach and sunflower seed diet who later posted saying it no longer worked for them anymore. You seem to ignore or not see those who have tried these things and they did not work, and there are many.

In the three years I have been reading here I remember many, including myself, who get better from taking probiotics (I take three different ones) but I don't remember anyone at any time saying they went into remission just taking probiotics only. SOMETIMES they can remain in remission just taking probiotics only. Same with Vitamine E enemas. I don't remember one post from anyone ever saying that those put them into remission all by itself. You seem to equate someone getting better with being in remission and choose to ignore the many posts from people who have tried a variety of many different natural options and saw no benefit whatsoever. This is what bothers some of us the most when you imply that these things will work on everyone and western meds are not really needed and refuse to acknowledge the many people who have tried these things already with no success. These people don't seem to exist in your world.

I want to give you the opportunity to flat out say and admit that these natural treatment options do not work on everyone and that in these cases there are many patients out there that would benefit more from traditional meds, particularly the safer meds. This thread gives me the impression that you are here just to preach about natural treatments and rail against Big Pharma when it isn't even any of the treatments you mention is this thread that did you the most good, as you credit most of your success to fecal transplants. I've already said that I believe natural treatments can put some into a med free remission and keep them there for long periods. Now it's your turn to say that that doesn't always work and that these patients would be better off on traditional meds.

I knew you couldn't bring yourself to say that the natural treatment options don't work on everyone because, as you say, it is your way of life and you believe that they do, despite all of the numerous posts on here over the years by those who have tried natural treatments and have had little to no success with them. I guess these are the posts that "I had and still have no intention of reading". It is an insult to all of those who have tried these and failed to imply that these natural treatment options will help everyone and it is irresponsible to put some down this path by making them think it works for everyone when the evidence clearly shows that it doesn't work for everyone.

I am a little confused over the fecal transplant thing. In this thread you say you came across an interesting article (about FT) and wanted to share it by posting about it in the other thread but in the other thread you say you have actually done it and it put you into remission. I don't doubt your word that it has put you into remission or that it could possibly help others but wonder why your different tone and wording between these two threads. It seems like you would have come out in this thread and said that you have already done it and that it worked for you. Obviously all of the things you mentioned in this particular thread did not put you into remission in the beginning, otherwise, why would you have done the FT at all? This takes away some of your credibility when what you are advising others to do didn't even work for you and yet you imply that they will work for everyone and refuse to acknowledge that there are some (including yourself) where these things don't work. Assuming you hadn't tried any of these before your FT, and you say that these things put you back into remission from "mini flares" now, that doesn't mean that they would put you back into remission from a major flare now, like many posting on here are currently experiencing.

It is also kind of insulting to insinuate that this forum is mostly supported by the pharmaceutical industry. On top of that it doesn't make much sense to say that this forum in the past had much more natural treatment threads and posts and yet now we only represent the worst of the worst cases. If this forum does only represent the worst of the worst cases then it would have in the past as well. There are also many patients who go into remission by taking oral mesalamines long term (without side effects) that don't post here anymore or never have. You seem to conveniently ignore those that fall into that category. There are also many who use the stronger immunemodulators or biologics and go into remission from those with few side effects and don't post here anymore either. Let's not forget about those. Some unsuccessfully tried every option known to man from natural to Big Pharma and they wound up going into "remission" from surgery and don't post here anymore because they got their lives back.

I'm merely trying to offer unprejudiced comments that meds help some people and don't help others and that the very same is true for natural treatment options, some help some people but don't help others. You refuse to acknowledge that and only offer prejudiced advice representing one side only. This is very dangerous advice to those where natural treatments will not work. They should at least know upfront and in the beginning that these natural treatment options might work or they might not, just as any particular med might work or it might not.

@garylouisville

I think you are confused. I did FT some 8-9 years ago when I had a very serious flare up. It put me into immediate remission.

Since then, I have been using diet, vitamins, minerals, herbs, exercise, probiotics, relaxation, meditation, and every once in a while rectal suppositories... to keep in remission.

I will get mini flareups every couple of years, typically when I'm under a lot of stress or if I eat something wrong. In particular, I can't eat anything containing HFCS or artificial sweeteners that end in -itol. I eat organic and avoid GMO foods. I am also very careful to limit lactose, fructose, gluten, glucose ... It's not that I think GMO foods are bad because they are GMO. It's that they are typically genetically modified to be more resilient and thus harder to digest.

Oh, and I'm really big on consuming anti-inflammatory foods and teas.

@Dikid


Everything in moderation. Even water can kill you if you drink too much of it in too short of a time.

I think there must be some misunderstanding. That's what happens when people only have a few paragraphs of writing to go by. They extrapolate. I'm not loading up on vitamins and minerals. If anything, I'm still deficient due to having lost a ton of blood 8-9 years ago and being a vegetarian. Plus, I rarely have dairy due to lactose intolerance. Only recently have I switched to being a pescatarian, mainly due to still being deficient in B12 after all these years.

People who have UC tend to be deficient in certain vitamins and minerals because they aren't absorbing them through their colons like they should be. Yes. It's good to get informed. It's easy to do a Google search to find information about the types of vitamins and minerals you may be lacking due to having UC and for what you should take with what (e.g. iron with C and not calcium). You should also be taking note of your symptoms and comparing it with symptoms of possible vitamin and mineral deficiencies and making sure you aren't taking too much. You can get tested if you're not sure.

In regard to magnesium, I did take magnesium supplements a while ago after that serious flare. Since then, I mostly get my magnesium from spinach and nuts/seeds because I too can get diarrhea from magnesium supplements.

Post Edited (subduedjoy) : 7/5/2015 4:22:37 PM (GMT-6)