123 replies to this topic

[Patman75]

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Hello all, I’m new to the forum and have been lurking. I wanted to share my experience. I have made some great progress lately and hope that this could help someone or I could get more information to help myself. I understand that everyone is different but this helped me a ton. Knowledge is power.

Long story made short, diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis 3.5 years ago. Pill doctor (GI doctor) put me on prednisone, and then when things got better I was put on colizol and cenasa. On these two I was up and down, sometimes had to stop 3-4 times on the way to work to use the bathroom. After 3 years I realized that taking just a handful of pills was not going to do it. I located a local CCFA support group and heard how a homeopathic/Nutritionist doctor had helped out a few members. At this time I cut out all Soda pop from my diet and started to feel better. I then got sick over the holidays with some flu bug, doctor gave me an antibiotic and my Colitis got considerably worse. I know understand about bacteria balance in the intestinal track and antibiotics are the last thing I should take.

I located a homeopathic/Nutritionist doctor close to me that I had heard helped a woman out whom had Colitis and she was doing great now. What do I have to lose, right? To her it seemed like a no-brainer, my diet was awful and all clues pointed to Candida yeast overgrowth. She recommended a low-carb Candida elimination diet. No grains, no dairy, no processed foods, no pop, and no fruits, with an all natural anti-fungal supplements, HCL pill and fish oil pills. IN LESS THAN 2 WEEKS I WAS ONLY HAVING 1 BM A DAY AND IT WAS SOLID!!! I that had not have that happen in over 3 years. I have more energy, sleep better, lost 20 lbs (of fat), my fear of leaving the house is gone and my hope is restored. I even noticed my toe tails changing from yellowish to white.

I even went to an allergist to see what if any allergies I had. Surprisingly I had ZERO food allergies but was allergic to dust, animals, pollen and mold.

NOT ONCE did my Pill doctor recommend diet changes and when I saw him 4 weeks ago I had to wait over an hour, he blew off the possibility of Candida overgrowth and tried to shove me out the door as quick as possible. That will be the last time I set foot in his office, I can find another GI to write prescriptions.

I have read Breaking the Vicious Cycle, Good Eating for a Bad Gut, 2 other Candida books and have been searching the WEB for anything I can read. That where I found this forum. There is a lot of info here. I plan to add certain foods back into my diet slowly and see how they affect me.

I’ll stop now before this becomes a book. For me Diet changes have made a huge change.

Pat

[Rachel(Madleofan)]

God if I did this "No grains, no dairy, no processed foods, no pop, and no fruits" I think I'd stop eating. My diet is far from the most healthy. It's something I'll look into though.

[Patman75]

It sounds strict but I can agrue with the results so far. My first elimination was pop, then dairy, added more water every day, and then grains. This was over 3 months, so I did not just stop all cold turkey.

Veggies & herbs taste much different after you have cut back on sugars. I guess it is like when a smoker quits, everything tastes different. I sneaked a strawberry the other day and I thought i died and gone to heaven. Cooking new things has been fun.

In about another month and a half I plan to start adding things back in slowly and see what agrees and disagrees with me. First will be fruits then diary. The more and more I read I'm not sure the grains will be added back in, maybe after my gut has had a long time to heal.

[IBD/IBS Author]

Pat,

Glad to hear this helped you, making radical diet changes helped me as well - I have IBD & IBS. Careful as you add back foods, do only one item at a time and give it a couple of days. I'll play around with adding foods back here and there and I have to say I usually 'pay a price' for it and go right back to my strict diet.

What Rachel is saying is true - eliminating so many types of foods from my diet was not easy, at first. But it got a lot easier when I realized that I felt immenselfy better if I cut out dairy products, processed foods, certain fruits and veggies and grains, sugar, and alochol. I even found on my elimination diet that red food coloring set off my gut.

When you find that 'thing' that works for you it's so worth it and you will figure out how to stick to it.

Bravo!
Elizabeth

[Patman75]

Thanks Elizabeth

It is not easy at first. I was actually very pissed off at the begining. I was thinking just great more pills, I cant eat anything. After I cooled down I reminded myself that my condition and way of living life was unacceptable so I gave it a whirl.

I can't argue with my results so far. When people ask me if it is hard to follow the diet I say not really. I get tempted every day by all the "Human bait piles of food" at work. That what we call all the chocolate, cookies, candy and junk that people leave out of thier co-workers to eat. I just remind my self of all the bad experiences in my past and that keeps me from eating the garbage.

[rjc]

The sad part is we have to eliminate the good foods too; ie, raw veggies, dark chocolate, high fiber whole grains, most fresh fruit, salads etc etc...

[Patman75]

I have had no problems eating raw veggies or salad. I have and are eating celery, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, radishes, cauliflower, kohlrabies, babies greens, romaine, mixed lettuce/greens, carrots, garlic, pea pods, green beans, egg plant, Chinese cabbage, bell peppers (all colors), tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, avocados, onions (yellow and red), asparagus. I am probably missing some. Some cooked and most raw. I do know that some are considered a fruit.

I try to get a new veggie every week. I got my eye on fennel this week.

And I’m planting a herb garden this weekend.

[IBD/IBS Author]

What we can and can't eat is just so individual for each person.

I can't go near any sort of leafy green veggie or melon - but can eat lots of other fruits and veggies without a problem. Grains like brown rice and legumes are the hardest on my gut and it is too bad 'cause they're supposed to be quite good for you. BUT, I'm just happy to know those things that I can eat that don't make me sick.

Cheers!
Elizabeth

[Mary:::)))]

I have been able to add some veggies to my diet........raw and cooked.......I can also eat salad..........not too much though........I still have a hard time with raw tomatoes and corn............I have even been eating hot peppers again.............in small amounts............I used to love everything spicy..........now that the fissure is repaired I can eat these things again..............I have a problem with whole grains though.......

Mary::))

[rjc]

I heard today that there is a complex carb elimination diet that works well for IBD...you can eat carbs just not the complex ones

[ajay]

The SCD makes even the elimination diet seem simple. It's pretty easy to screw it up on accident, too. You have to really have your stuff together With anything it seems, there are a few who attest to it and others that don't. The SCD is like the gluten free diet on sterioids.

[Patman75]

Part of this post survived the crash. I will attempt a quick summary to get this up to current events. I’m sorry if I missed anything. Everyone’s input was great.

I did the Candida diet and had to SCD legal+ supplements for 3 months. Every thing was going good. Blood test from doctor all came back normal.

Followed SCD (added 2 serving of fruit) no yogurt with a little brown rice and started reducing my med. Got down from 9 colazal to 5 per day.

Had some discussion about Candida and how immune comprised people can have problems with it.

Had some fun discussions about fresh sweet corn. One cob fresh from the veggie stand seemed good for me. Everyone is different.

Talk about Cigars actually give temporary relief from UC symptoms. I had noticed this because every time a smoke a cigar I do not have a BM the next day. There is research out there about it...who knew.

Noticed certain nuts where starting to bother me. Overall things are still going good.

In June I take my first business trips and flew to Colorado for sisters wedding. Everything went great. I was really dreading the trip 6 months back but now I really enjoyed it.

Learned about resistant starch. Those tend to be my enemies. Potatoes, cold rice, bananas, beans.

Started experimenting with homemade yogurt like SCD, but used the wrong bacteria. A few weeks later things went down hill fast, cramping, loose stools and eczema on my arm came back. Stop eating yogurt. Things got a little better. Was down to 3 colazal per day. Picked it back up to 6.

We tried to help Mary with here ergonomics issue while washing hair.

TODAY….
Cramping, loose stools and eczema are back again. With help from Nutritionist it seems that fructose & honey is giving me problems now. **Sigh** I’ve cut out all the high fructose fruits or eat very small portions of them. Increase meds back to 9. Started taking a new supplement.

It has only been a week on the changes but it seems to helping. Cramping is mostly gone, I didn’t have to use lotion on my eczema for the last 2 days, and stools….it is hard to tell I’m on vacation until Monday. I will know where my stools sit after a week at work. Well that is pretty much it.

I really appreciated everyone’s input before. Thanks everyone!

Pat

[Mary:::)))]

You are so funny Patman.............Loved the re-cap............LOL...........

There was a lot of useful information in this thread that was lost.............

I think my shoulder is more than ergonomics at this point........waiting in line it dislocates itself........I am waiting for January to see an Ortho.........it has been misery............

I am so pleased you are doing much better...........it took a whole year for me and now I am able to eat some veggies........which I love.........I still get issues...........when I don't have time to eat and then eat things I shouldn't.........like the beef jerky............

I wonder if I made my own if it would be ok...........my massage therapist makes his own........has a smoker............I am thinking about making my own because I do like it a lot........but it made me really sick........but I ate the whole bag........so not good right?

xxxMary::))

[Patman75]

Making your own jerky would be best. You can just use a dehyrator. The store bought stuff is full of perservatives and a bunch of other junk.

Some of the topics I'm bummed about is Artjunky's diet attempt 359..some thing like that. And the one where he figured out what was making him sick. It was a happy ending story.

[Mary:::)))]

I know..............he put a lot of typing into it too.........

Well perhaps we will get an update..........I hope he is still doing well............

We can only hope the new year brings us all good health...........

xxxMary::))

[Patman75]

It been a while since I have done a UC update. My BMs are getting better, formed, no D and only 1 BM in the morning. I’m sure being off work for the last 2 weeks helped. I get very mild cramping and my eczema flares up a little bit here and there… it seems to be days where I eat a little too much fruit. That would be my bad.

I have been feeling so good lately I actually did a little hunting with my Dad for the first time in years. Please don’t focus on the hunting (it always becomes a debate) what is interesting is that I had to dress up in many layers to stay warm. I did not have the fear of crapping my pants. I was wearing long johns, jeans and carhardt bibs.

It appears that reducing my fructose intake and supplement tweak has made all the difference. I shall see how good things really are when I go back to work on Monday when I have a 50 min drive in the morning.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Pat

[Mary:::)))]

Pleased you are doing well! I am also...........I think because I have made up my mind to only eat what I know isn't going to make things worse!

We went to this health food store near my home...........Geoff is now taking fish oils......and I found a different multi vit to try..........

I also bought some delicious dried cherries...........I LOVE cherries.......they were in the fridge section..........but I have been careful to only eat a small amount at a time.........

I have been craving raspberries and sour fruits too........but limiting them..........must be this time of year..........

Mary::))

[Patman75]

AHHH Blisss.........

Last night I had pizza for the first time in 11 months. It was not your normal pizza. I found a rice based dough mix, natural pepperoni and natural sauce from the health food store. Pilled on the veggies and NO cheese. I t was pretty good, well anything remotely smelling like pizza would be good right now.

No problems this morning. The best part is I had nice cold pizza leftovers for lunch. It is the little things in life that make things so nice.

[overitnow]

I will always remember that first piece of pizza. Bobili crust with the sauce enclosed, real cheese--I had been eating only "can't melt it" soy cheese before that--and veggies. Just being able to eat that, again, was such a promise.

Is that sauce on your tie?

Mark

[Patman75]

A few weeks ago I finished reading the book “The IBD Remission Diet” by Jini Patel Thompson. I had wanted to understand elemental diets and hopefully pick up a few things. The book basically goes into details on an elemental diet. It is another program that is designed to starve out bacteria/yeasts in your gut and then replace them with beneficial bacteria while healing your intestines and inducing IBD remission. One thing that is stated a few times is that an Elemental diet is as affective as inducing remission as steroids. I found a few studies that compare Elemental diet and Steroids.

http://gut.bmj.com/c...ract/31/10/1133

http://www.pubmedcen...i?artid=1374261

One part of the book goes into the maintenance diet after the elemental part. Here is a summary.

Avoid:
• Alcohol, but if you have to have a drink red wine, Guinness or other stoat beers.
• Caffeine
• Carbonated Drinks
• MSG
• Margarine or butter substitutes
• Hot chilies or peppers
• Cigarette, pipe or cigar
• Artificial sweeteners
• Processed foods to a minimum or eliminate them all
• Never use Microwave
• Commercial vegetable oil

Do:
• Extra virgin olive oil or other cold pressed oils,
• Eat Fruit in isolation
• Reduce Milk products
• Don’t drink with meals, only ½ glass with meals and then don’t drink for an hour after. Liquids interfere with digestive juices.
• Eat organic as much as possible.

So on this list I am already do all of these things. Except for the occasional cigar. I guess I should be happy that I’m doing all these things already, but I was hoping maybe for something new.

Well I hope someone finds this info helpful.