Question for the SCDers Out There

My Bio:
23 year old male living outside of Washington, DC. Diagnosed with UC 7 years ago, started SCD diet two months ago and seeing small improvement.
My Symptoms:
Frequent urge to go, and lots of gas. 2-4 BM a day on SCD, 5-6 BM a day prior to starting UC. Very little bleeding. The main symptom is a constant, nonstop need to use the bathroom.

My SCD Diet and Colitis Story:

I was diagnosed with UC when I was in high school. It wasn’t so bad at first; my symptoms were almost non existent, just a few drops of blood in the toilet, but nothing that impaired my every day activities. When I got to college, I found myself struggling to get my work done, because when my friends would be doing homework, I would be stuck on the john. I was going between most every class and I had almost no social life. Things got really bad when I started graduate school. I was experiencing a lot more pain, a lot more bleeding, and a lot more BM/day than I ever did in college, and I decided to try to the SCD which got some really remarkable reviews online.

I’ve been on the diet for two months now, and I’m not sure what to make of my progress. On the one hand, I went from 5-6 BM a day to 2-3 a day in the a month. However, I still have days where I go 5 or 6 times, in spite of the fact that I have been eating foods which I tolerated before. The biggest problem though, is that I have a constant urge to use the bathroom. This never happened to me before I started the diet. Before SCD, I was able to use the bathroom and feel relieved for at least an hour or two. Now, after I use the bathroom, I can’t go ten minutes without feeling some pressure. In spite of this, the pressure is never enough to cause me to go again, and so I end up going fewer times a day, but the feeling is incredibly annoying and disheartening.

I’m not sure if I should stay on the diet given these circumstances. Yes, I am eating only SCD legal foods, including the homemade yogurt, and introducing them one at a time, but it doesn’t seem to be working the way it should. Has anybody else had similar experiences? Is it normal to be on SCD for two months and not feel any better? My biggest question is: if I struggle along on this diet, eating only SCD legal foods, but not feeling better, is my body still healing? Does there come a point where I suddenly start feeling better?

Thanks for any and all help!

Where I’d Like to be in 1 year:
Ideally, completely healed of the UC. Practically, I would just like to not feel a constant urge to use the bathroom.

Colitis Medications:
I’m not taking any probiotics. Just taking Lialda, which I believe is completely ineffective.

written by KK-SCD’er

submitted in the colitis venting area

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