Natural route instead of steroids?

I am a 58 yr old woman, in pretty good shape. A tad overweight, but fit. I work as a personal chef (for 35 yrs)and my life is fairly stressful. I am dealing with a month long moderate flare up of proctitis, possibly UC. This is only the second time this has happened but within 6 mos. I had a sigmoidoscopy yesterday with biopsy's taken ( colonoscopy in Aug proved inconclusive for UC), will have blood work done, but in the meantime my GI doc is prescribing a nightly enema of some steroid concoction (have not picked it up yet) and then a suppository to use.

My brother is a dr. of chemistry and researcher, and when I had the first episode he found VSL#3 probiotic, which I took faithfully, but stopped after the bleeding stopped. I am also using tumeric, omega 3, Bcomplex and a multi vit. My diet is spotty, I know I have to cut sugar and am trying, but I am a baker as well and it is very difficult to eliminate it completely but it is possible... A low residue diet is also extremely difficult for me to wrap my brain around as I am a whole foods organic chef and the idea of white bread/rice,etc is hard to stomach. I would have to cook a completely different diet than I do for my clients. I have been eating 100% organic non GMO everything for the past 6 years, and have enjoyed optimum health until now. The idea of steroids and and chemical suppositories is really anti-everything I have lived by and espoused to clients.
My question is this: Has anyone tried an all natural (no prescription drug)l holistic approach to ease these flare ups? If so how would you gauge the efficacy? Am I just being stubborn in wanting to pursue an alternative modality to treat this?( My GI doc poo-pooed {sorry} the idea of probiotics and herbal remedies)
Than you in advance!

(I added a subject)

Post Edited By Moderator (iPoop) : 1/25/2017 6:20:59 AM (GMT-7)

There's always stories of I beat my flare without use of steroids and there's a few folks here who were successful (others had no choice but use steroids). However, a key takeaway is they didn't all use the same method to avoid steroids, rather they were all hyper individual approaches. So it's not easy to say do x and then you will beat your flare with any level of confidence. Rather it takes lots of experimentation and time. Lots and lots of things to try.

It's not clear if you do have ulcerative colitis yet. A prescription for anti-inflammatory, 90 percent topical Mesalamine can be used in place of steroids with mild cases. Severe inflammation likely needs steroids or at least biologics to beat.

i control my UC symptoms completely with diet - no drugs in the last 4.5 years - the flares i have had are a result of deviating from that diet - all it's takes is returning to what works to get me out of a flare -

"Are you saying you have never used meds? "


no drugs in the last 4.5 years

dx'd with pancolitis 12/21/03

Wrenny said...
VSL#3 probiotic, which I took faithfully, but stopped after the bleeding stopped. I am also using tumeric, omega 3, Bcomplex and a multi vit. My diet is spotty, I know I have to cut sugar and am trying,

Some doctors still don't believe in probiotics even though they are proven to be effective. The key is to find the right strain that is compatible with your body chemistry. VSL#3 is very popular, there is also a prescription VSL#3DS (double strength) that might be paid by your health insurance.

Curcumin is a concentrated extract from turmeric and is also proven to be effective for IBD. There are many threads here discussing it. One vitamin that is especially effective is getting your blood levels of vitamin D checked. Even the most conservative doctors have finally been won over and you shouldn't have a problem getting tested. Many threads here discussing vitamin D.

Diet can vary by individual. It isn't so much sugar as gluten and dairy as a problem for most people. But everyone is different. I recommend keeping a food diary to see which foods trigger your symptoms. Dairy doesn't seem to be a problem for me as it is for many others, but I have a serious problem with all cruciferous vegetables, which don't seem to bother most peoples. Since you are a baker by trade I hope gluten isn't one of your problem foods but a lot of people have trouble with it.

beave said...

imagardener2 said...
Your doctor dismissing probiotics is not a good GI since they have proven to be beneficial. So one mark against him...

Too strong. There have been small studies showing benefit; but when you look at the studies in totality, they do not indicate efficacy from probiotics (with the small exception of certain cases of pouchitis).

There are many studies if you are willing to look:

jn.nutrition.org/content/137/3/819S.full
Malin et al. reported that in pediatric CD, consumption of Lactobacillus GG was associated with increased gut IgA levels, which could promote the gut immunological barrier (46). Gupta et al. reported improved clinical scores and improved intestinal permeability in an open-labeled pilot study with a small number of pediatric CD patients (47). In an open-labeled study patients with pouchitis were treated with Lactobacillus GG and fructooligosaccharide. Patients reported a beneficial effect when the probiotic-prebiotic mix was administered as an adjuvant to antibiotic therapy. Remission was induced as documented by suppression of symptom scores (48).

In a large (327 patients) multicenter, randomized, double-blind, remission maintenance study, E. coli strain Nissle 1917 was shown to be as effective as mesalazine in maintaining remission and therefore offers an alternative to mesalazine in maintenance of remission in UC patients (51).

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 40 patients in clinical and endoscopic remission received VSL#3 or placebo for 9 mo. All patients received 1 mo of antibiotic treatment before the trial. At the end of the study 3 patients (15%) had relapsed in the VSL#3 group compared with 20 (100%) in the placebo group.

I have been completely symptom free for last 2.5 years. This is what I do first thing in the morning: I freeze whole lemon and every morning I shred 1 or 2 tablespoons of the frozen lemon (skin and all) and have it with a glass of warm water. Then I take one spoon of Chyawanprash (ayurvedic supplement) and one spoonful of extra virgin coconut oil. I take one vitamin D (1000IU) and one Folic Acid tablet (400mg) morning and night. No processed food, no soda. No other restrictions. I do take one tablet of Lialda at night, but no other Rx.
I just posted a thread a few days back on this.
This works for me. Worth a shot.

Resistant starch diet is helpful for proctitis symptoms . Reason being the foods rich in resistant starches feeds the helpful bacteria towards the lower end thus reducing inflammation. Google for resistant starch foods or diet and UC.

Diet along with suppositories or enema could bring good result.

Fecal transplant is a good choice if you can find a healthy family donor.
Browse this forum for Success/ failure posts also power of poop website if you consider taking this route. Most of the cases this treatment is a quick fix provided the donor is chosen carefully.

Best wishes ...

I truly appreciate all of the replies here. It is heartening to know that I am not alone. and I am sorry if I sound over reactive, being that this is just the beginning of this sojourn for me, but it has been very hard. I have had other major health crisis (breast cancer lumpectomies 3x, malignant melanoma excisions 2x), but after the surgeries I was cancer free, and I know that I am lucky for the early detection in each case. And I can talk to friends about those things. I know my body well. I am by no means a shrinking violet, but wow, there is absolutely no dignity left after the exams and procedures for this disease, I joked with my doc and nurses saying why couldn't I have another stage 0 breast cancer like most women, rather than this, with people poking and inserting where the sun don't shine......and I feel stupid saying even that here, where all of you have gone through way more procedures than I. I know the power of time and that I will eventually get used to this but I am someone who has always been very open about my battles with chronic depressive disorder, anxiety, and borderline bi-polar disease, which are all well managed with medication (in this case I can not live without the chemical intervention). But this? You and my husband are the only ones to know about my enemas ( 1st hydro-cortisone last night) and (I think) eventual suppositories....I guess I have to learn to live with my body being at war with itself. Thank you all. I will sort through your posts and pick what would seem to work for me.

BTW I am deathly allergic to sulfa drugs, so mesalamine is out. Blood work showed adequate levels of vit D

Post Edited (Wrenny) : 1/26/2017 4:43:14 AM (GMT-7)

Just fyi....mesalamine is not a sulpha medication, so you do have many options in that class. Sulfasalazine uses sulpha as a carrier for the mesalamine and very few docs prescribe that one anymore. The enemas do have a metabisulphite as preservative, althoigh Rowasa has a sulphite-free one. It's more research for you, but dont assume mesalamine is in the category of sulpha.

Your medical situation is surely one of experience.....sad to hear you've been through and dealing with so much. UC testing of treatment is certainly intimate...lol.

Hang tough....do the research and ask your doc for further options. Even using an antispasmodic could be of great help if used an hour before bedtime.

q

Hey Wrenny I get where you are coming from. I'm not anti-pharmaceuticals, but I've always been weary. Before UC I was dx'd with Cervical cancer (s1t2) so when my GI doctors put me on Remicade and immuno-suppressants like prednisone, I never planned on staying on them for long and I didn't. When I found myself twice- in a horrible, prolonged flare up where I was on the verge on death, the steroids helped immediately. But I had such a horrible time with side effects/tapering that I promised myself never again. First flare on meds took a long time to reach remission because I didn't change my diet strictly enough. Second flare on meds my recovery was quicker( still months long though) and I attribute it mostly to sticking with a paleo diet, intermittent fasting, liquid dieting and using herbal treatment. Since then whenever I feel a potential flare up I quickly adhere to my "healing protocol" and it's helped me so far.

So I don't think you are stubborn for wanting to pursue an alternative healing paradigm. If I wasn't stubborn about it earlier in my recovery, I'd surely be missing parts of my colon right now and would never have changed my lifestyle for the better. You can get results with pharmaceuticals no doubt, but if you are lucky enough to be able to heal your GI through change of diet/natural meds, then go for it! I warn you though, it's going to take time and patience. In the beginning I was positive I could achieve remission naturally (medical marijuana + supplements+ herbs+ diet), but gave up 4 weeks in because the progress wasn't fast enough. With my last flare up it was summer and I took a medical leave from work- giving me plenty of time to focus on transitioning my lifestyle. It took 4 months! But it has worked so far fingers crossed... It's recommended by some to take meds for maintenance of remission, but I know my diet/protocol is maintenance itself so that's what I'll continue to do until proven otherwise. Do tons of research, seek professional advice and test what works for you. Good luck!

PS. The problem I've found with probiotics is that your gut bacterica is likely to be so unbalanced, introducing countless other strains of bacteria will only have them fighting against one another ( in theory) and seems to cause more stress on your colon. Like others have mentioned, slippery elm/soothing herbs/bone broth/FODMAPS to help soothe the GI tract.

Post Edited (Natof9) : 1/27/2017 11:51:15 PM (GMT-7)