Crohn's Disease
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Crohn's Disease
April 2008
I am looking for advice about how to help someone I know deal
with Crohn's disease. I am particularly interested in finding out
advice from anyone who has a moderate form of the disease, and if
they have been successful augmenting/replacing traditional
medical treatments with more non-traditional methods
(diet/exercise/acupuncture....?) I am interested in hearing about
any positive or negative experiences about their attempts to deal
with this disease. Thanks in advance for the advice.
anon
I have a moderate form of Crohn's Disease (female diagnosed in
early 20s, now i'm 33). The disease tends to follow a pattern
of quiet periods and flares, which have required more medical
interventio. I have taken various medications to treat the
inflammation including Pentasa, 6MP, and Imuran, the latter two
of which have helped tremendously. I compliment the medical
treatment with alternative therapies, e.g., acupuncture and
supplements (fish oil pills, probiotics, raw Manuka honey). I
have found that the alternative therapies alone are not
sufficient for treating the disease, but that they work well in
concert with the medications.
My experience has been that life is generally not too affected
or negatively impacted by the Crohn's disease, but there are
periods when the disease is more active and therefore makes
life more challenging. With a good physician (if in Berkeley, I
recommend Taft Bhuket - 548-6555) and a good acupuncturist
(also in Berkeley, I recommend Carla Dalton - 524-4812), the
disease can be well managed.
Best of luck!
anon
I have was diagnosed with Crohn's 6 years ago and have been
really lucky to have had just a few relatively minor flair-ups
since then.
While I have stayed on my medication, I have supplemented that
with acupuncture, pro-biotics (I take them in capsule form, but
Keffir is also a great source of them), and exercise. There is
also a really interesting book that has helped ''The Mindbody
Prescription'' by John Sarno. I am pretty skeptical of this type
of stuff, but it has been useful.
I would be happy to speak with your friend directly if he/she'd
like. I have emailed my contact information to the moderator and
told her to feel free to pass it along to you if you are interested.
Good luck.
Crohn's Patient
A family member of mine has Crohn's. Not sure if I would describe
hers as "moderate" but aside from medication, she has had good
experience with probiotics. Also, nutrition for Crohn's sufferers
has different issues. While you need to try to eat healthy foods,
some things the rest of us think of as "healthy" can create more
problems than they solve. For example, it can be better eat to eat
white bread than wholegrain, and well-cooked vegetables rather than
raw. There are some excellent books on diet if you look on the
internet. Make sure you choose ones specifically about Crohn's and
not just IBS. Good luck!
Start doing some research on celiac disease, also spelled
coeliac. Crohn's and celiac usually respond quite well to a
gluten-free, wheat-free diet, with the inclusion of probiotics
(especially kefir). It's a huge pain in the neck, but you can
adjust. There are many alternatives, but you have to read
labels, because wheat, or grains similar to wheat (depending on
sensitivity level) are in so many things. Many people have to
give up not only wheat, but oats, rye, barley and spelt (an
ancient wheat) as well. Over time (by this I mean several
months, upwards of a year), some of these other grains can be
added back slowly to see if the body can tolerate them. Some
people can tolerate small quantities, and some have a less
severe sensitivity after the many months it takes to regrow the
dead cilia in the gut.
The healthier diet and regrowth of cilia will, over time, help
tremendously with the IBS as the body normalizes.
To add to this, there is a method out there where you rotate
your grains to have the same grain no more often than every
four days (this tidbit comes from Body Ecology Diet, and has
something to do with IGAs or something like that - it's
something about cumulative buildup causing problems). Luckily
there are many options out there in terms of both grains and
carbohydrates.
There is hope with a lifestyle adjustment
Hi...I didn't see your original post, but I have been living
with Crohn's since I was 10 (I'm now 36), so if you were
looking for advice about kids and Crohn's, I'd be glad to
help. Also, I agree with the other response in regards to
treating Crohn's with diet. I have had almost every medication
there is for Crohn's and they never seemed to work well enough
or for very long. I have successfully used the Specific
Carbohydrate Diet, or SCD, (www.breakingtheviciouscycle.org --
or google it,) to treat my illness. Being on SCD enabled me to
come off all meds and become pregnant with my son, now 18
months old.
I highly recommend using diet in combination with
other ''alternative'' methods to treat Crohn's. Therapies such
as biofeedback, acupuncture, meditation,
homeopathy, ''biomedicine'' (vitamins & minerals, probiotics &
other supplements, food allergy and sensitivity testing, etc.)
have all been a part of my healing journey, and I feel that ALL
of them have played an important role -- like pieces of a
healing puzzle, they all need to be there to make it work.
Changing your diet is more than that, it's really changing your
lifestyle, and it took me a long time to get where I am today
in accepting the fact that I have to be so strict about what I
can and can not eat. I try to think about ''eating to live'' and
not, ''living to eat'' (I am a HUGE foodie,) and I have put my
energy into creating delicious SCD meals and snacks for myself
and my family, and it turns out I'm a really good cook and I
enjoy it, too!
Anyway, if you'd like more advice and or information, I'd be
glad to share my experiences and resources with you...email
anytime.
I know what you're going through,
julie
June 2001
I have recently been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and am having trouble
particularly with my diet. I have noticed that the "Eat Right for Your Type" diet is recommended by some doctors and when I have tried it, it really does help, but is an extremely difficult one to follow. Does anyone know of a support group in the East Bay or have any other connections that may be helpful for me? Any advice would be helpful since I am still very ignorant to the disease.
Kelly
I know a woman who has this disease and she found the Chron's and Colitis
Foundation of America to be a helpful resource. The national headquarters
is in New York. They do research and offer educational programs and support
services to people with these diseases. Their phone number is
1-800-932-2423 and their website is www.ccfa.org Good luck.
To the person needing a Crohn's disease support group. The Crohn's and
Colitis Foundation sponsor support groups. The Berkeley group is currently
on hold, but there are active groups in SF, Walnut Creek, and Pleasanton.
Contact the CCF for details at 800-241-0758.
Christine
I am sorry to hear of your diagnosis, I know that this disease can be debilitating at times.
I do have some information for you and for anyone else out there who may need it.My mother is the Executive Director of the Colitis and Crohn's Disease Foundation (CCFA) of the Greater Bay Area. . On the local web site, there are lists of support groups all over the Bay Area (including Oakland) for both kids and adults. I recommend you take a look at the web site: http://www.ccfa.org/chapters/greaterbay/ and check out the various
pieces of information. You will also find a local phone number for my mother (Carol Gerstein) in San Mateo. She is very knowledgable and has a great network of people whom she can refer you to. Please feel free to call her, she will be happy to talk to you.good luck to you. By the way, CCFA is a national organization (their web site address is: http://www.ccfa.org/ )
Molly
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