Introduction:
I am a thirty-six year old mother of three young children. I was diagnosed with UC back in college around the age of twenty-one. I have flared after college when looking for a job, after the stress of getting married (my husband isn’t stressful to me – just the planning!), and then during each of my three pregnancies, and again now this past November.
Symptoms:
November started the worst flare for me to date. I was having bloody diarrhea all throughout the day along with terrible stomach cramping and pain, lots of mucous, and lots of urgency even when I wouldn’t have anything to go. I was afraid to go out anywhere in the morning because I never knew when my “bathroom attack” would come on. Sometimes my son was late to school because we had to wait to leave to bring him. I was concerned I was going to end up in the hospital due to loss of blood. I went on prednisone (along with my usual Colozal) in December, but saw no improvement from the 40mg/day I was taking. My doctor wants me to go on Imuran, but I would like to avoid that if I can. I will go on that if necessary so I don’t end up in the hospital. My symptoms have drastically improved since January when I began the SCD diet.
Colitis Experience:
I am having trouble with the SCD diet. I have been on it now for about one and a half months. I made it through the intro diet and was about ready to give up by week three when I really wasn’t seeing ANY improvement. Then, all of a sudden, one day the bleeding stopped and the diarrhea became more formed. That was the encouragement I needed to keep going. I started taking a supplement that same day that contains only aloe and licorice. Perhaps that’s what made the bleeding stop??? I’m not sure, but I’m definitely taking that every day in my morning smoothie. I have remained mostly symptom-free, with an occasional problem here or there based on introducing something too soon or finding I can’t eat some of the legal foods.
Right now my colon can handle chicken, fish, seafood, turkey, pork, squash, green beans, carrots, bananas, cooked apples, pears, and that’s about it. I can’t do dairy, which eliminates a whole world of the SCD foods, it seems I can’t handle eggs, and it seems I can’t handle the almond flour/butter which pretty much seems like it eliminates the rest of the world of SCD foods.
What in the world can I eat for breakfast and lunch? I have a morning smoothie that contains bananas and maybe some apples or spinach. It tastes good, but I need more food than that to keep me going. I’m sick of eating meat and veggies for lunch as well as dinner, and I feel like I have no other options. Anyone have any brilliant advice on what to try?
My doctor is supportive. He would like me to take Imuran, but he said that he’s willing to work with me if I want to try altering my diet first. He said most people who try that end up turning back to the conventional medicine in a year or two. I’m hoping to buck that statistic and have the SCD diet work for me. Although with the restrictions I’m finding based on what my colon can handle, it seems I’m going to have to determine my own SCD diet and perhaps introduce one of the unallowable grains in order to have some sort of flour that I’ll be able to use. Has anyone done this? I’ve never had trouble with rice/rice flour in the past. Or at least I think I haven’t. :-) I have an appointment with him again next week, so we’ll see what he has to say about the improvements I’ve seen.
Colitis Medications:
Colozal (between 8-12 pills a day)
Prednisone taper (done to 5 mg/day)
Prednisone always worked for me in the past within a couple days of starting to take it. This time it didn’t start working at all. I was on it for about six or seven weeks already when I started to see improvement, and I believe that came from eliminating all the starches/sugars from my diet and cleaning out my colon.
written by “Hungry”
Submitted in the Colitis Venting Area
I am a thirty-six year old mother of three young children. I was diagnosed with UC back in college around the age of twenty-one. I have flared after college when looking for a job, after the stress of getting married (my husband isn’t stressful to me – just the planning!), and then during each of my three pregnancies, and again now this past November.
