New to Forum

Can you tell me kind of an overview of the Specific Carb diet?
I'm a newbie, too.

Thanks for the info! Don't think the diet is for me.

Just wanted to welcome you to the forum. This has been a great source of support for me over the last 11 years.

Always glad to say welcome to a long time lurker.

Just in case you do not know, "pseudo-polyps" in medical jargon means "false-polyps." Pseudo-polyps form as inflammation heals, and those pseudo-polyps will fall off on their own, are non-cancerous, and nothing at all to worry about. I've had some that popped up, doctor said no worries they'll fall off, and next scope confirmed they had

Some redness could be simply irritation from the prep, your biopsies will clarify. I've had that happen before, doctor said either inflammation or from the prep. My biopsies said it was from the prep, just superficial surface irritation. So you might just get the big R word...

SCD is often mentioned, as it does help some.

Always glad to offer the occasional laugh, as god do we need them sometimes with this darn awful illness ;-)

"...said it was basically pointless to use a mesalamine drug, so that is why I'm not on meds currently." Curious on this comment, if you do have mild inflammation then why wouldn't a mild anti-inflammatory medication like mesalamine be appropriate? Treat mild with mild is often the best way...

If you're just against meds, then turmeric/curcumin would be a similar anti-inflammatory. You'd just have to take like 3-grams a day of curcumin for best results.

There's risk in pretty much everything, ultimately depends whatever you feel is best. It's good to have a variety of options to consider though!

If it were me, I'd give the mesalamine a shot. Sulfasalazine is less then $80.00 a month if you had to pay 100% out-of-pocket (balsalazide disodium is perhaps $200 a month at 100% OOP). What you have is pretty minor and it might be enough to regain a remission. Not buying the "meds never do nothing" bit, as they always have an affect (it just may not have been enough of a difference to quell the flare on its onset). Now, is another matter entirely.

Azathioprine is certainly more of a concern then some of the other UC meds, as far as pregnancy risk goes (worse rated then the rest). However, we've had moms give birth to perfectly healthy and happy babies on all of the various meds, from mesalamine, to azathioprine, biologics, and sometimes all of the above simultaneously. So it does not produce a certainty of a bad outcome by anymeans (rather a small risk that must be weighed).

Keeping mom healthy during pregnancy and her UC under control produces the best outcome for the child (even when mom is on meds). As your UC flaring badly during pregnancy has its own risks, predominately early delivery of an underweight infant. Given right now, you're doing well and I hope you continue to do so. I would keep a cautious eye on your symptoms as flares can happen during pregnancy or postpartum (hormonal and all sorts of changes within the body during a pregnancy could have an affect in that outcome). We've had moms have uneventful pregnancies here, and others flare during or right afterwards. No knowing, as UC loves to be totally random and keep us guessing (much to our frustration and to add to our anxiety, unfortunately (o_O).

LDN would be a much bigger unknown is it really isn't studied in pregnancy in UC dosages, you'd be experimenting. LDN isn't without side effects and can impact the liver, as one example.

There's a couple good reads on what are the risks and odds, if you're so inclined.

From conception to delivery: Managing the pregnant inflammatory bowel disease patient
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3974516/

The Second European Evidenced-Based Consensus on Reproduction and Pregnancy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
ecco-jcc.oxfordjournals.org/content/eccojc/9/2/107.full.pdf

Post Edited (iPoop) : 6/19/2018 2:27:38 PM (GMT-6)

Thanks! I will bear what you've said in mind. My doctor told me the mesalamine wasn't working for me and to stop taking it, since it wasn't making any observable difference and I continued to get worse even when adding in budesonide and Canasa suppositories. My GI has not mentioned sulfasalazine; I have an appointment with him next week and I can certainly ask about it. Always interested in finding out if there are other options. : )

I forgot to mention that if I pursued the LDN, it would be after I finished nursing. I don't know much about it, but my naturopath said is not recommended for pregnant or lactating women in the higher doses, but as you said, there isn't enough data for the low dosage.

My doctors have told me DO NOT get pregnant and find some good birth control before I go on Azathioprine, due to the risks, that's why I said I cannot get pregnant if I go on Aza. Both my OB and my GI are very concerned about it in association with pregnancy, hence my search for an alternative.
Thanks for the links!

Post Edited (U.C.Me?) : 6/19/2018 8:22:13 PM (GMT-6)

You will find several studies that contradict some of the "illegal" foods on SCD. Several studies show benefits in eating resistant starch. Psyllium husk is another example (not sure whether this is considered a resistant starch). i think it is a good diet but agree it is very hard to stick to. I was able to stick to it around 2 years with about a 95% compliance over that time. I went off the diet with no ill effects but added VSL3 and psyllium to my regimen. I also avoid lactose, carageenan and certain emulsifiers.

I love your Laura Ingalls Wilder quote.

I think the reason for the contradicting evidence has to do with the gut microbiome. Many foods that fed gut bacteria are good for the body if the gut microbiome is in balance. Some of them even help to coat the intestines. You would think this would benefit an inflamed and ulcerated colon. The problem comes when there is an overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut. These foods that are supposed to benefit the colon feed the bad bacteria even more than the good bacteria due to the overgrowth of bad bacteria, and the overgrowth worsens. Many people with IBD have an overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut, especially when they are flaring. This is why the SCD eliminates these foods.

I adhere to both the Paleo and SCD diets. I find that the SCD is not enough for me. The Paleo diet, which is quite similar to the SCD, eliminates many processed ingredients that increase inflammation. I basically follow the Paleo diet plus I don't consume starchy and mucilaginous plants. That's how much these two diets overlap.

Yes. These diets are very hard to adhere to. But I'd be dead if I didn't. Seriously. I was bedridden for six months with extra-intestinal inflammation of the soft tissues after chewing on cough drops for some two and a half weeks for a slight sore throat. The package showed herbs. The active ingredients were listed first. The inactive ingredients were sugar and starch sugar, but somehow my brain assumed that the quantity for inactive ingredients was less than that for active ingredients because the active ingredients were listed first. It ended up that 99.9% of the cough drops consisted of sugar and starch sugar.

In regard to mesalamine, I used to be concerned about steroids, immunomodulators, and biologics and not mesalamines. Mesalamines were supposed to be the safest of the ulcerative colitis medications. Well, I now have chronic kidney disease. When I saw my renal doctor for the first time, he asked me if I ever heard of mesalamines. Guess what? Mesalamines can cause kidney disease. I was shocked. I don't even think the mesalamines were working, but I took them anyway because I thought they were quite safe compared to all the other drugs.

In regard to azathioprine, I don't know anything about this medication.

I recommend looking into the following herbs: curcumin, ashwagandha, boswelia serrata, gingko biloba, and CBD oil.

Herbs that are often recommended for ulcerative colitis that could feed bad bacteria in the gut, and thus make things worse, include aloe vera, slippery elm, psyllium, ....

It was my rheumatologist who said I have "extra-intestinal, systemic inflammation of the soft tissues associated with ulcerative colitis" after he ruled out everything else. At the time, I was getting inflammation in my muscles, tendons, joints, and eyes.

It was later that I was diagnosed with chronic kidney inflammation. I'm not sure why it took so long to be diagnosed. When I checked my previous urine test results, they show that my kidneys were leaking blood and creatinine when my colon was flaring. Yet it wasn't until I got a routine urine test when I went to urgent care a year later due to the extra-intestinal, systemic inflammation that my doctors took the test results (which were the same) seriously.

BTW, I don't look sick. In fact, I look very fit. But I feel like something is wrong, seriously wrong on the inside. My body can inflame so easily.