Ok My name is Vicky and I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in October 2011. I had known since 2009 that there was a serious problem I just didn't know what that problem was. Back in 2009 I was living in Israel (I am American, just lived in Israel and Ireland) In fact i came home to America in January 2011. I had looked into my problems in Israel, but my GP thought I was nuts. I would go and complain of sore throats and stomach pains and fluid i my ears that I could hear... but she could not see. She would examine me and pet me on my head and push me out the door. (Social medicine has it's ups and downs.)
I later found out the sore throat was from acid reflux. That's why it cleared up before I got to my appointment, that was the fluid that I could hear but she couldn't see. Long story short, I kept going to the gynocologist because I was using the restroom as normal but my period changed, and my crohn's flared with every period and my period started to come every 18 days. I will say that while I was in Israel and Ireland my stomach was highly acidic, but my bowels were "normal" for me. My whole life I was constipated. The minute I stepped foot in America I had diarrhea (which apparently I can't spell.) After pooping blood a few times I bit the bullet and realized the muscle spasms, by now excrutiating stomach pain, and back and forth constipation and diarrhea meant that I should see a gastroenterologist.
My gastro listened and heard nothing, but luckily he is gung ho and practically begged me to do a colonoscopy and endoscopy. Which I did. Litrally as I was becoming conscience after the scoping he smiled big and said he was certain it was Crohn's but that we had to wait for the biopsies. He gave me the pictures of inside my throat and intestines, and there were ulcers EVERYWHERE. Did I forget to mention that I involuntarily vomitted daily and that when I took the laxatives for the colonoscopy that I even vomitted blood? Here's the point. For as grateful as I am that my doctor finally found something (I prayed 3 years not to be crazy as my whole family suggested). Then came the problem of dealing with it. My doctor first put me asacol, which did nothing for me that I could tell. Then he put me on pentasa. About one month into taking pentasa, the constant and frequent diarrhea started. My obsession with what I was going to eat had just begun. My doctor advised me that protein (because of my loss of protein from diarrhea) shopuld be eaten frequently. That vegetables would probably make me explode, and to eat pasta and "highly refind foods" since they are "easier to break down" -- It made sense, and was even good news because highly refined foods and proteins are my favorite foods. (Mac and cheese, yummy!) i rarely ate a vegetable in my life. SOOOOO the diarrhea that came on, never stopped. I changed jobs, and was asked to go from AZ to SC. Just before I left to SC I took a course of antibiotics. I thought I was going to die. The distension, the gas, the green diarrhea, the dizzyness and the pain all while I was on a business trip and sharing a room with a perfect stranger. (If you have never had green diarrhea, you are missing out!) I then had a four week stint in California to complete my manager's training. My body slowly relaxing, the inflamation slowly going down. When I got back to Arizona, I set an appointment with my doctor, and I was PISSED. Why wasn't the pentasa doing anything ever???? Does it work for anyone out there or is it just me that seems to feel no better for it? I asked my doctor, what I was supposed to do to kill the inflammation on the next business trip should one occur? He then suggested short stints of prednisone. I said what should I eat? What can i do to FIX this? He pretty much laughed. I advised him that I wanted nutritional information, he said that is not his line of work. He perscribes medicine. I then accused him of being a pill pusher for major drug companies and not really caring and advised him that I was boldly going to a nutritionist / naturopath -- he said go for it and accused then of being quack doctors.
So then I did just that, I went to a naturopath. AND SHE SUCKED. I am not new age. If my "chakras" are out of alignment then I will leave them that way, as I am sure it was not the first time. I paid her $200 out of pocket to talk to me in a quiet voice. She even advised that her IBS patients all get better but that her Crohn's patients are a harder case. (That might be because crohn's is a real disease, and irritable bowel is a syndrome) and she was just a charletan -- Sorry for those of you who love herbalists, but i want a real cure not some fancy talk and water that a dead ayervedic indian blessed with herbs. (I googled it, and refused to drink her devil water.) She told me to be sure to come back, and to get my schenar (schenar was a machine that "heals" you by small electrical impulses to all your boo-boos) I went back to my REAL doctor with my tail between my legs.
After that though I started researching EVERYTHING. They did a study in Austria with (yes, i know) only 20 people. 10 they gave the "western diet" the other 10 an all organic diet -- the 10 crohn's patients they gave the organic food had All OF THEIR ULCERS HEAL. I determined to give it a shot because even if it was WRONG it was still only food and cheaper than surgery, or even medication. I have read many posts here but only joined tonight because for 3 months I have been on a (mostly 90%) organic diet, and I haven't had diarrhea in 3 months. For me its a triumph.
I read the study and did it because it makes perfect sense that Crohn's and ulcerative colitis are diet related. I don't know how, but somehow. I will also point out that genetically modified foods require labeling in europe. As soon as i stopped eating, antibiotics, pesticides and GMO foods i started to feel better. i would say that I am 80% better. I say only 80% because i can still feel bad even if it is breif.
Here is what I did to a T in case it helps ANYONE.
ONLY ORGANIC MEAT, DAIRY, VEGETABLES -- in fact now i eat a ton of vegetables, and I have not exploded.
I REFUSE to take supplements. I refuse. i have done much personal research on vitamins and minerals. in order to have blood that clots, and a colony of good bacteria in your gut you NEED vitamin K which all dies with antibiotics. Vitamin K is in parsley, collard greens, swiss chard, and all leafy greens. You would think that is instant diarrhea (but not for me) so i eat lots of leafies.
I also researched food that are anti-inflamitory -- there are tons and every time i eat curry i use extra TURMERIC as it is completely safe and as anti-inflamitory as 2 aspirin. So is ginger. The reason I chose not to take supplements is because most supplements can cause toxic levels, get dumped by your liver before they do any good, and because you can't overdose on the vitamin A in a butternut squash.
So to sum up;
organic + anti-inflamitory has helped me immensely.
My last medical update;
My sed rate (inflamation marker) was normal, while my c-reactive was high.
I read that was because of smoking. so I just quit.
last week I got a barrium x-ray to check if my stricture was still there AND IT WAS GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My swollen small intestine was smiling agian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lastly, i'm not an organic food salesperson, and I am still on pentasa. pardon all my spelling mistakes!
I later found out the sore throat was from acid reflux. That's why it cleared up before I got to my appointment, that was the fluid that I could hear but she couldn't see. Long story short, I kept going to the gynocologist because I was using the restroom as normal but my period changed, and my crohn's flared with every period and my period started to come every 18 days. I will say that while I was in Israel and Ireland my stomach was highly acidic, but my bowels were "normal" for me. My whole life I was constipated. The minute I stepped foot in America I had diarrhea (which apparently I can't spell.) After pooping blood a few times I bit the bullet and realized the muscle spasms, by now excrutiating stomach pain, and back and forth constipation and diarrhea meant that I should see a gastroenterologist.
My gastro listened and heard nothing, but luckily he is gung ho and practically begged me to do a colonoscopy and endoscopy. Which I did. Litrally as I was becoming conscience after the scoping he smiled big and said he was certain it was Crohn's but that we had to wait for the biopsies. He gave me the pictures of inside my throat and intestines, and there were ulcers EVERYWHERE. Did I forget to mention that I involuntarily vomitted daily and that when I took the laxatives for the colonoscopy that I even vomitted blood? Here's the point. For as grateful as I am that my doctor finally found something (I prayed 3 years not to be crazy as my whole family suggested). Then came the problem of dealing with it. My doctor first put me asacol, which did nothing for me that I could tell. Then he put me on pentasa. About one month into taking pentasa, the constant and frequent diarrhea started. My obsession with what I was going to eat had just begun. My doctor advised me that protein (because of my loss of protein from diarrhea) shopuld be eaten frequently. That vegetables would probably make me explode, and to eat pasta and "highly refind foods" since they are "easier to break down" -- It made sense, and was even good news because highly refined foods and proteins are my favorite foods. (Mac and cheese, yummy!) i rarely ate a vegetable in my life. SOOOOO the diarrhea that came on, never stopped. I changed jobs, and was asked to go from AZ to SC. Just before I left to SC I took a course of antibiotics. I thought I was going to die. The distension, the gas, the green diarrhea, the dizzyness and the pain all while I was on a business trip and sharing a room with a perfect stranger. (If you have never had green diarrhea, you are missing out!) I then had a four week stint in California to complete my manager's training. My body slowly relaxing, the inflamation slowly going down. When I got back to Arizona, I set an appointment with my doctor, and I was PISSED. Why wasn't the pentasa doing anything ever???? Does it work for anyone out there or is it just me that seems to feel no better for it? I asked my doctor, what I was supposed to do to kill the inflammation on the next business trip should one occur? He then suggested short stints of prednisone. I said what should I eat? What can i do to FIX this? He pretty much laughed. I advised him that I wanted nutritional information, he said that is not his line of work. He perscribes medicine. I then accused him of being a pill pusher for major drug companies and not really caring and advised him that I was boldly going to a nutritionist / naturopath -- he said go for it and accused then of being quack doctors.
So then I did just that, I went to a naturopath. AND SHE SUCKED. I am not new age. If my "chakras" are out of alignment then I will leave them that way, as I am sure it was not the first time. I paid her $200 out of pocket to talk to me in a quiet voice. She even advised that her IBS patients all get better but that her Crohn's patients are a harder case. (That might be because crohn's is a real disease, and irritable bowel is a syndrome) and she was just a charletan -- Sorry for those of you who love herbalists, but i want a real cure not some fancy talk and water that a dead ayervedic indian blessed with herbs. (I googled it, and refused to drink her devil water.) She told me to be sure to come back, and to get my schenar (schenar was a machine that "heals" you by small electrical impulses to all your boo-boos) I went back to my REAL doctor with my tail between my legs.
After that though I started researching EVERYTHING. They did a study in Austria with (yes, i know) only 20 people. 10 they gave the "western diet" the other 10 an all organic diet -- the 10 crohn's patients they gave the organic food had All OF THEIR ULCERS HEAL. I determined to give it a shot because even if it was WRONG it was still only food and cheaper than surgery, or even medication. I have read many posts here but only joined tonight because for 3 months I have been on a (mostly 90%) organic diet, and I haven't had diarrhea in 3 months. For me its a triumph.
I read the study and did it because it makes perfect sense that Crohn's and ulcerative colitis are diet related. I don't know how, but somehow. I will also point out that genetically modified foods require labeling in europe. As soon as i stopped eating, antibiotics, pesticides and GMO foods i started to feel better. i would say that I am 80% better. I say only 80% because i can still feel bad even if it is breif.
Here is what I did to a T in case it helps ANYONE.
ONLY ORGANIC MEAT, DAIRY, VEGETABLES -- in fact now i eat a ton of vegetables, and I have not exploded.
I REFUSE to take supplements. I refuse. i have done much personal research on vitamins and minerals. in order to have blood that clots, and a colony of good bacteria in your gut you NEED vitamin K which all dies with antibiotics. Vitamin K is in parsley, collard greens, swiss chard, and all leafy greens. You would think that is instant diarrhea (but not for me) so i eat lots of leafies.
I also researched food that are anti-inflamitory -- there are tons and every time i eat curry i use extra TURMERIC as it is completely safe and as anti-inflamitory as 2 aspirin. So is ginger. The reason I chose not to take supplements is because most supplements can cause toxic levels, get dumped by your liver before they do any good, and because you can't overdose on the vitamin A in a butternut squash.
So to sum up;
organic + anti-inflamitory has helped me immensely.
My last medical update;
My sed rate (inflamation marker) was normal, while my c-reactive was high.
I read that was because of smoking. so I just quit.
last week I got a barrium x-ray to check if my stricture was still there AND IT WAS GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My swollen small intestine was smiling agian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lastly, i'm not an organic food salesperson, and I am still on pentasa. pardon all my spelling mistakes!
Your story about the Naturopath made me laugh out loud though I have no doubt it was very frustrating for you