Introduction:
28 year old grad student, diagnosed in 2008 with very mild symptoms. Just blood on the paper, no pain, no cramping, no irregular movements. Had a flex-sigmoid to confirm. Was put on Lialda in 2009 at increasing dosages to control blood, but still no pain or other symptoms. In Nov of 2011 had a NASTY bout of food poisoning that had me laid up for a week with diarrhea. 2 months later, had my first legitimate flare. Thought I was dying. Was put on prednisone, tapered off. Was in remission for two months after finishing taper, but had another even worse flare in July that kept me out of work for 2 weeks. Higher dose of prednisone and methotrexate, tapered after symptoms subsided. Flash forward to this November, 2012. Have been off prednisone for 1 month, continuing on methotrexate. Middle of a mini-flare, messing around with SCD, back on 40 mg Prednisone.
Some More About Me:
Huge geek. Enjoy tabletop role-playing games, board games, and fantasy novels.
My Colitis Symptoms:
Cramping, diarrhea, blood in stool, increased frequency of movements.
How Do You Start SCD While on Prednisone?
My question is how to start the SCD diet while on a high dose of prednisone: I was starting the SCD diet earlier this week, but was having difficulty controlling the diarrhea and was worried that things wouldn’t subside in time for a big experiment I have on Tuesday (must be in tip-top shape). Decided to give myself a week on the Prednisone to make sure I’m in the clear. Really didn’t wanna be back on this stuff, but work comes first.
Since methotrexate isn’t working, I know they’re going to want to put my on biologics. As a student of the life sciences, I am not down with something that will blunt my TNF-alpha. The side effects from the biologics sound worse than UC. The only other option besides that would be removal of my colon, which just seems barbaric. My problem is UC, not “acute having of a colon”.
So I want to continue weaning myself onto the SCD diet. My problem is, if the prednisone clears up my symptoms temporarily, how do I know which foods to add or not? Most of the SCD lit on the internet suggests adding 1 1egal food at a time, in stages, and gauging your reaction. Before I started the prednisone I was on the intro diet for 3 days with a severe drop in cramping and blood, but active diarrhea. I added ripe bananas and today was nothing but cramps and blood. Thus, I went on the prednisone.
So how do I continue my journey into SCD if my main gauge for food safety is blunted by the prednisone? Anyone else start SCD while they were already on prednisone and possibly asymptomatic? I would hate to be headlong into SCD, thinking I’m tolerating certain foods well, only to come off the prednisone and be shot into a relapse.
Current Colitis Medications:
Lialda: 4 per day, Methotrexate: 3 per week, Folic Acid: 1 per day, (New): Prednisone: 40mg per day.
written by: A D
submitted in the colitis venting area
I’m a 28 year old grad student, and I was diagnosed in 2008 with very mild ulcerative colitis symptoms. Just blood on the paper, no pain, no cramping, no irregular movements.
I have. And it’s not easy. It’s a lot of trial and error. I’ve been on specific carbohydrate diet for a year and I’m still trying to figure it out. I have been off of prednisone for roughly 6 months. So I think scd is a good idea and certainly worth a shot. You may need to make some adjustments when you get off the roids but at least you will already have some scd practice and there is really no down side to it. Use a little common sense when it comes to nuts and cheese and whatever else you gut may give you little clues about. Try whatever you need to and keep looking for your answers. Good luck !
Yeah, I totally second what Alex is saying with regards to nuts and cheeses. Everyone’s a bit different with how they hold that stuff, and probably best to take it really really easy on those types of foods when you dip your foot in those waters the first few times(or first few months). You can always eat more if you seem to respond well, but harder to backtrack..
Good luck again,
-Adam
Hey A D,
I hope your big experiment goes well today (if its this Tuesday that you referred to:)
And also, in addition to the email I sent you, there’s a story that was written by Steph about a year ago here: https://ihaveuc.com/starting-the-scd-diet-on-meds/
She brought up some similar questions about starting the SCD on meds, and I left a pretty detailed comment there regarding my introduction while on Prednisone.
Man I wish you the very best, and again hope your project went/goes well for you today. Thanks for sharing, and rap with you soon,
Adam
I never used to eat bananas they’re not really my thing but thought I would start eating one a day to replace potassium lost through diahorrea. Everything was going well for a while then I bought a batch recently that were still tinged green at the top but had turned yellow by the next day but were still quite hard. I thought it would be ok and ate one at lunch. Well I was on the toilet all night with cramping and loose stools. Iam 100 percent sure it was the banana as Iam not eating much else at the moment. Ive learned the hard way that bananas have to be really ripe otherwise the body just cant digest them. Everyone probably has a different tolerance level. I still cant face a banana now even though I was doing fine with them for a while! Make sure they are really soft before you eat them, I bet everyone knows this but I seriously never knew that about bananas!
I find that I HAVE to eat a banana every day! They sem to keep things firm for me. If I miss a day…things are less firm.
It’s so strange how bananas are so good for some of us and not so good for others.
Just for anyone’s info…I had to chime in on the banana discussion. I swear by them…
Bev
Hey Bev,
I have only really started eating Banana religiously since starting the SCDiet. Though I have them as pancakes. If you fancy trying – mix 1x banana and 1x egg and cook like a normal pancake. I recently found if you mix honey with massed up rassberry this makes an amazing source for the pancakes. I have mastered to make all this within 15mins.lol.
There use to be a cartoon when I was a kid – Banana Man. I just wish I took the message more seriously and ate more banana’s.lol. I vounch for them…
I have been on two tapered Pred programs this year and feel like Pred and me are like jealous enermies that need one another!!! I am jealous I need him, and than he is jeolous when I don’t need him – its a love hate relationship!!!lol
On my second round of Pred I started the SCDiet when I was put on 40mg after flaring again within 2 weeks of coming off the intial taper. So I had a whole 11 weeks of the taper whilst on the diet. I have been off Pred for 4 days now. HOw I have gauged how well I am doing is based on my BM. When I reflect on the first taper of Pred and not on the diet my BM looked sooo different to now. SO I would suggest to access by stomach reaction, BM and generally how your body feels. I think its called the picanbread site which has stages of which foods to introduce – very helpful. Even early on, when on Pred, I got to see from my BM if things where ok or not so I don’t think the Pred would hinder the diet or mask it, it will control the inflammation allowing your body to process the scd foods – only what comes out the other end will show whether your body agrees with it or not i guess.