Saved from Surgery by TCM (15 months in remission)

Hi all,

Before I start brief history. I have suffered from Colitis for 21 years mostly in remission. Have a flare every 4 to 5 years on average. Before my last flare every one before that was only every stopped by pred follow by 3 x 2 of balsalazide for maintenance for longish remissions. I was one of the lucky ones I guess.

In March 2012 my last flare started, i was on and off pred till August 2015. Bear in mind in the UK at that time biologics were not offered unless you were an emergency as in admitted to hospital with an acute episode. (all changed January 2015)

Before choosing surgery I made up my mind to fight until I ran out of other options. Tried LDN, chinese herbs in capsule form, resistant starch, evoo the list was endless. Must have spent hundreds if not thousands. I even tried a long distance healer for god sakes. As you would have guessed nothing worked.

I did have limited success with chinese herbs so I decided to research the best way to do it properly. Finally located a TCM practitioner 3 hours drive away from where I live who has an outstanding reputation specifically treating IBD with chinese herbs. His clinic imports herbs direct and he has a lab on site which prepares the vacuum packed herbs in the form of a ready to drink portions specifically tailored to your symptoms. What gave me more of a push to try was that I found random references online through search engines of people who had relief from TCM specifically mentioning this particular practitioner and clinic. I ignored their own testimonials at first for obvious reasons.

I am naturally a sceptic. I was doing this more because i knew now if something worked it would not be a fluke as my meds were good flare only not for maintenance.

I'm going to summarise to keep this short but through TCM i was getting better but it was slow. The reason I found out a lot later was my gastro had me believe my symptoms were also IBS until I put my foot down and insisted on all other tests that explain my remaining symptoms. Finally found out i was lactose intolerant. Could this alone explain why my flares would not go into maintained remission?

Whilst on no pred and not realising I was lactose intolerant i would eat heavy calories in dairy foods could this be why i kept flaring again and again?

Anyway in August 2014 I had built enough courage to refuse pred after seeing blood again. I needed to see if TCM was up to the task on its own. I started the clinics herbal enemas to treat bleeding flares and within 2 to 3 days the bleeding stopped!!!

I then continued with the treatment till February 2015 because they work on the principle of no maintenance but instead to heal the damage left behind after the point of remission is achieved. Almost a year and 3 months has passed and with being careful to veer away from lactose in my diet I have had no flare recurrence!

I went to see my gastro who thinks the 100 mg aza is doing the trick (was very negative about TCM so prefer not to discuss it with him). I know aza did not work because I gave it 9 months to be sure by the way. So i digress, he insistedin insisted i have a flex sig to make sure I am healed and there in no underlying inflammation. I was reluctant, a part of me did not want to know!

The result was an amazing relief. No inflammation right to the top of the descending colon. Bear in mind my last scope during flare was heavily in the sigmoid area.

Im not here to boast of my results neither to push this clinic. This is why i have been careful not to mention them directly. Im only here because I gave up hope many times. I also got scammed into trying treatments that apart from the financial cost hurt my ability to carry on,.

I am here to tell people that TCM can work. Maybe not for every case but it did for me. My remission this time is so much better as a whole. I eat everything apart from dairy, I no longer have urgency in the morning unless i have over eaten. Only once a week I may go twice in a day and when i do i can wait for HOURS. Not that i do because i believe you shouldn't. But have had to when i prefer to wait and go to my own bathroom.

The only thing that is not perfect is my bowel movements are a bit lazy and formed but normal (as in pieces). For the first few months after I got better i worried about this. But now a year and 5 months since I last flared i realised this is my new norm and is still better then all my previous remissions Because I have more control.

If any one has any questions and if those from the UK would like information regarding this clinic and practitioner I am happy to provide them. The treatment is not cheap but is comparable to our meds if we were paying for them privately I guess. My treatment took a year but if i had found out about my lactose problem I think it would have been around 6 months max.

Traditional Chinese Medicine. I would love to try it myself but as the OP says it is very slow and incredibly expensive.

So glad you found a way to remission. I gave TCM a short try because the acupuncture doctor did good work on my knee so felt she was competent. But my herbs were pre-packaged and I didn't feel she was very knowledgeable about UC or perhaps she was a better acupuncturist than herbalist. She also did UC acupuncture with cupping and smoke which did zero. Not terribly expensive but not effective for me UC-wise.

I am a believer in herbs being helpful, or in my case more helpful than RX medicine has been for me in 15 years.

Hi All,

Might sound silly but want to keep a presence here because I often wandered how people get on when there is no updates after earlier posts.

Still in remission but a better one. My remaining problems of feeling slightly constipated and not feeling empty after BM finally resolved, as well as having the odd wobble resolved.

The constipated feeling i tried to deal with all types of fibre with limited success, even when i started low and crept up on dosages. Then tried prunes which helped but too well.I just could not put on weight cos they cleared a little too much out. Finally the answer was chewing gum lol. Accidentally found that while chewing gum i was having an easier time emptying and stools looked normal. Then when my pack of gums ran out I found it reverse over a few days. The connection is that mint gums that you chew, on the packet advise that they may cause a mild laxative type reaction. For me its the just right amount of laxative side effect i needed so the urgency is just right and now embarrassing side effects i was getting with excessive gas and bloating etc from fibre are no longer an issue.

Secondly the odd wobble was resolved by being strict in cutting out all dairy as I found I am highly lactose intolerant. Its not always easy so I always carry Lactase tabs to have 5 or 10 mins before a meal when i eat out just incase there is some dairy in the ingredients.

I am not updating to boast etc. I just hope people who are experiencing a tough time in what i call unusual lingering issues may be able to benefit from my experiences.

Finally I did have a small flare up in July because I ate dates which I had forgotten can cause me to flare. Rang my TCM pracitioner ordered the herbal enemas and liquid oral course for 2 weeks and within 48 hours my symptoms vanished (phew!).

Hope this helps someone in the future even if it is to a small degree. I am happy that although i am not cured (who is right>) at least I have a herbal natural solution that work as fast if not faster then pred.

I think that is great news! People find remission in different ways and it is fab that you found a good way that works for you! Please keep checking in periodically as it is great to have good news and maybe someone would be willing to try it and have success as well!

My only question is, what were the actual herbs? That's the problem I've found with people who take TCM, they never seem to know what they're taking which is dangerous to me, herbs are still drugs and can cause ill effects.

worriedUCer

I agree the idenitification of TCM herbs and their potential bad effect are hard to find out.

I could not fully negate the risk this is why I went for someone who was reputable and well known with an established clinic and teaching circuit.

I even worry that if he retired or closed his practice I could not go to just the next practitioner. I would have to go through the due diligence of trying to find someone with an outstanding reputation and history.

Imran123, do you know what the actual herbs are called that you're taking? That's my concern I guess, say I want to go to a practitioner and try what exactly has worked for you, .I won't be able to, reputable or not.