I have had UC for approx 10 years (although it has only been diagnosed for about 5).
Previous to the time detailed in the next paragraph I was experiencing painful BM's and fresh blood BM's that would occur multiple times daily along with significant periods of lethargy. Amazingly, at this point I was not loosing any weight.
About 71 days ago I started taking Master Detox (Humic/Fulvic acid). I came across a posting when I Googled for "UC Thai cure". I did this search because I have heard of people attending medical institutions in Thailand for various other ailments with good results. My search revealed scant information about a doctor in Thailand that supposedly uses it to help abate the symptoms of UC. Having nothing to loose but a few dollars and the fact that I could buy it locally from a natural health food store convinced me.
As I mentioned it is called Master Detox. It is a light brown liquid and I buy it in 16oz bottles for $32 cdn. I tried buying Humic acid in a dry form in caps but found that it had very little affect (if any). However, after 2 days of taking 2 ozs 3 times per day I was feeling more energetic. After 4 days I no longer had to get up in the middle of the night to have a BM. After 8 days much less gas rolling around in my intestines. No blood in my BM's on the 11th day. After 39 days I had two fairly solid poops. Although maybe premature, I decided to go on an SCD Diet (provided by SCDLifestyle) as I wasn't sure that the Humic/Fulvic acid was going to resolve all my symptoms. The SCD Diet I purchased online for roughly $30. The SCD Diet is a Specific Carbohydate diet meaning that you start out with a very narrow and limited set of carbohydrate containing foods.
The first 5 days on this diet were not pleasant. They do say that during this period be prepared to experience bacterial "die-off". The premise is that there is an imbalance in the bacterial populations and that this is what is causing the UC. The Diet is meant to re-establish the balance.
21 days into the diet I had lost 14 lbs of weight which I really couldn't afford to loose. In any case, that took me down to 140 lbs (for a person of 5'11"). In my opinion, this diet is not necessarily for everyone. I have since started to put back on weight because I am cheating somewhat: For the last 5 days I have consumed milk + corn flakes for breakfast and sometimes at night. I also am consuming potatoes and am no longer pureeing any vegetables. All of which go against the diet. However, I am putting weight back on and I feel better.
The Diet also increased my Diarrhea as I now have to get up in the middle of the night to have a BM. So, the gain I had made with the Master Detox has been lost. Coincidence or not I don't know. Incidentally, I have been taking Master Detox all the time I was on the SCD Diet although I was only taking 1oz - 2 times per day (which is less than before I started the SCD Diet). For the last 2 days I am back to 2ozs - 3 times per day. I was hoping to reduce the amount of Master Detox I was taking because at the rate I take it it ends up being quite expensive. But, it makes me feel better when I take more of it so that's what I do.
I am also taking 1 gel cap of enzymes before each meal (which is highly recommended). As well, I take 1 gel cap of a high end probiotic each day. Some say that they did not improve that much on the Diet until they included the home-made yogurt. I haven't included yogurt yet and was hoping the probiotics would do the trick instead. However, maybe there is more to it than what I am aware of. I sometimes take a gel cap of Betaine HCL to relieve gas (i.e., belching). Although the belching seems to have dropped off recently especially since I no longer eat any (or very little beef - i.e., there is some in the soups that I eat).
I am now at day 24 and am still having Diarrhea. I have read that the SCD Diet sometimes has taken people 6 months and sometimes longer to completely resolve all symptoms.
In any case, I am not taking any meds and there has been improvement mostly from the Master Detox. But all the reports I have read of people completely ridding themselves of UC & Chron's symptoms by using the SCD Diet are considerably appealing. So despite the negatives I have experienced so far on the SCD Diet I will continue it with an albeit slight modification and hope for the best.
Humic/Fulvic Acid and UC
Moderators: Rosie, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
The main problem with the SCD is that it allows casein, (the protein in yogurt, and in all dairy products), and most of us here produce IgA antibodies to casein, so we have to avoid it 100%, if we want to attain remission, or maintain remission. For those who prefer to follow a prefab diet, the paleo diet is much more effective than the SCD, because of the casein issue.
Tex
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
I didn't realize you could buy pre-made SCD meals. It might be worth checking Elaine Gottschall's book(s) out of your library - and she has a website online, which lists allowed/excluded foods. That would be much more cost-effective, and fresher, than buying online.
I'm not sure how MC compares to UC - but with MC, what we remove from the diet has greater power to promote healing and remission than what we add, in terms of supplements. That's not to say that certain vitamins, minerals, etc., do not play a useful role. But if we continue to consume the foods that trigger inflammation, no supplement can stop that inflammation - not even if it helps with symptoms - because the symptoms are continually re-generated by the triggering food.
As Tex says, there are quite a few things in common between SCD and Paleo - and there are some folks out in the Paleo community who do use some dairy, such as butter. For me, and for most of us here, *zero* dairy turns out to be the perfect amount; those who can use/tolerate it are the exception, not the norm. I eat a very simple diet, in some ways more Paleo than many officially "paleo" web sites.
Also, for most of us, high-fiber foods are extremely irritating to the already-irritated guts. So even foods that don't cause trouble by 'chemical' means (meaning allergic or antigenic reactions) can be physically very difficult to digest, prolonging uncomfortable symptoms. I am now eating more fruits and vegetables, and can tolerate them more lightly cooked. But it made a big difference in my recovery when I finally took the advice to avoid huge salads and lightly cooked veg. I'm hoping I can now, very slowly, begin to increase those foods.
Hope you find some help and healing here, and please keep us posted,
Sara
I'm not sure how MC compares to UC - but with MC, what we remove from the diet has greater power to promote healing and remission than what we add, in terms of supplements. That's not to say that certain vitamins, minerals, etc., do not play a useful role. But if we continue to consume the foods that trigger inflammation, no supplement can stop that inflammation - not even if it helps with symptoms - because the symptoms are continually re-generated by the triggering food.
As Tex says, there are quite a few things in common between SCD and Paleo - and there are some folks out in the Paleo community who do use some dairy, such as butter. For me, and for most of us here, *zero* dairy turns out to be the perfect amount; those who can use/tolerate it are the exception, not the norm. I eat a very simple diet, in some ways more Paleo than many officially "paleo" web sites.
Also, for most of us, high-fiber foods are extremely irritating to the already-irritated guts. So even foods that don't cause trouble by 'chemical' means (meaning allergic or antigenic reactions) can be physically very difficult to digest, prolonging uncomfortable symptoms. I am now eating more fruits and vegetables, and can tolerate them more lightly cooked. But it made a big difference in my recovery when I finally took the advice to avoid huge salads and lightly cooked veg. I'm hoping I can now, very slowly, begin to increase those foods.
Hope you find some help and healing here, and please keep us posted,
Sara
I guess there was room for interpretation in what I said, but I don't buy meals online. I bought the online book which includes a bunch of menus to help a person get started on the diet. It walks you through several phases that slowly add new foods.sarkin wrote:I didn't realize you could buy pre-made SCD meals. It might be worth checking Elaine Gottschall's book(s) out of your library - and she has a website online, which lists allowed/excluded foods. That would be much more cost-effective, and fresher, than buying online.
Sara
The strange thing about the SCD Diet is that it increased my Diarrhea even though it reduced a considerable amount of carbohydrates.
For example, I used to eat cookies every day before the diet. I used to eat bread several times a week. I have never been big on fruit other than bananas so that hasn't changed between being on the Diet and before. I have eaten more fruit on the Diet than I have in years. I used to eat cereal + milk, any kind of cheese, cream with coffee, tea or Ovaltine. I must admit the coffee would bother me from time-to-time. I don't think I have a gluten problem as the cookies, etc never bothered me.
The Diet results in a person eating a lot more meat and pureed, well-cooked vegetables. But I don't see how this would increase Diarrhea unless the purred vegetables did it. Thinking about the extremely soft stuff babies put out maybe that is the reason. But in their case they don't have a buildup of the good flora for a while and that could be the reason for their extremely soft stuff.
I can see how it caused me to loose weight.
By the way I have Elaine's book as well as another with various SCD-style recipes.
I'm not aware of the Paleo Diet. Is there a link that you can give me that details that diet?
For example, I used to eat cookies every day before the diet. I used to eat bread several times a week. I have never been big on fruit other than bananas so that hasn't changed between being on the Diet and before. I have eaten more fruit on the Diet than I have in years. I used to eat cereal + milk, any kind of cheese, cream with coffee, tea or Ovaltine. I must admit the coffee would bother me from time-to-time. I don't think I have a gluten problem as the cookies, etc never bothered me.
The Diet results in a person eating a lot more meat and pureed, well-cooked vegetables. But I don't see how this would increase Diarrhea unless the purred vegetables did it. Thinking about the extremely soft stuff babies put out maybe that is the reason. But in their case they don't have a buildup of the good flora for a while and that could be the reason for their extremely soft stuff.
I can see how it caused me to loose weight.
By the way I have Elaine's book as well as another with various SCD-style recipes.
I'm not aware of the Paleo Diet. Is there a link that you can give me that details that diet?
mbluett wrote:I have eaten more fruit on the Diet than I have in years.
Those two items can certainly cause increased D, especially if you're referring to osmotic D, (soft serve), rather than secretory D, (high-volume, watery D). Fiber is not our friend, when we have MC, and that applies to UC as well. Besides a lot of fiber, (most of which is in the peel), fruit, (and some vegetables), have a significant amount of sorbitol, to which most of us react, when the amount is more than small. In addition, most of us can't handle much fructose when we're reacting, and fruit is loaded with fructose.mbluett wrote:But I don't see how this would increase Diarrhea unless the purred vegetables did it.
I never could tell that I was sensitive to it, either, even after I started keeping a food/symptom diary. Everything else seemed to make me sick, instead. Eliminating gluten from my diet, though, (along with a bunch of other things), eventually resolved my problems. After I cut out gluten, then I was able to figure out the other foods that were causing problems.mbluett wrote:I don't think I have a gluten problem as the cookies, etc never bothered me.
This is the gospel for the paleo diet, written by the paleo diet guru, Dr. Loren Cordain:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... CF0Q8wIwAA
Here are some discussions and links to online sources regarding the paleo diet:
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=49
If you are on a SCD that also totally avoids all dairy ingredients, then you are basically already on the paleo diet. Unless the SCD allows legumes - I don't remember whether it does or not, but the paleo diet definitely excludes all legumes, also.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
The SCD Diet I am on doesn't allow any legumes either, at least not for the 1st 5 or 6 months.tex wrote: If you are on a SCD that also totally avoids all dairy ingredients, then you are basically already on the paleo diet. Unless the SCD allows legumes - I don't remember whether it does or not, but the paleo diet definitely excludes all legumes, also.
Tex
However, as mentioned before I am cheating in that I am eating milk + corn flakes, as well as, potatoes and sometimes rice. All of these are not allowed on the strict SCD Diet. I added some of these because I had lost so much weight and I did not think that was healthy.
I just discovered that because corn flakes contains Barley it thus contains gluten. So, I will pick up a gluten-free cereal today and try that for a while. Other than that I have not been having any gluten in 29 days. Although for the 1st 20 days of the diet I was gluten-free, dairy-free and still had diarrhea. Maybe it takes longer than 20 days to see improvements.
In any case, I will try the gluten-free cereal and see what happens.
mbluett,
You can, of course, eat whatever you believe is a good idea. But please don't call it 'cheating' - it sort of demeans your efforts, and it obscures what's going on (besides, there's no such thing as cheating - there's no game, no opponent, and no rules!). I think it's more helpful to say that you chose to continue to use cereal and milk, and now you're choosing to adjust your cereal.
You are probably losing weight because of your symptoms, rather than your diet. If something in your diet is continuing to provoke diarrhea, then adding weight-promoting foods won't help - they're not hanging around long enough to contribute nutritionally. Conversely, if you stop the D, your weight will probably stabilize pretty easily.
Also - you say "other than that" (meaning the cereal), you haven't had any gluten... You would be astounded at how little it takes to perpetuate the autoimmune inflammation. Probably much, much less than what is in your cereal, which sounds like more than enough to make and keep a gluten-sensitive person very sick indeed. So you're not yet able to draw a conclusion about your gluten reactivity, but you will get there.
I don't know enough about the differences between UC and MC, but I believe you can't assess the SCD diet while continuing those starches. Most of us MC types do OK with potatoes, but many of us have trouble with grains in addition to gluten-containing grains. So you could vary your SCD approach (many Paleo eaters include white potatoes, at least sometimes, but grains are excluded). Or, if you prefer to design your own diet, you could include rice or corn, which many of us tolerate, but by no means all. I "can" eat both of those grains, but feel much better when I don't. (And you might try coconut or almond milk, rather than dairy milk, because cow's milk is poorly digested even by 'healthy' people, when they're having any kind of digestive issue.)
What worked for me, to make sure my weight/calories didn't fall too low when I cut starchy grains, was to increase my protein portions, and to eat adequate (but not excessive) fat. I lost a great deal of weight and muscle quite quickly when first sick, and was so relieved when I got my oomph back. Hope you get yours back soon,
Sara
You can, of course, eat whatever you believe is a good idea. But please don't call it 'cheating' - it sort of demeans your efforts, and it obscures what's going on (besides, there's no such thing as cheating - there's no game, no opponent, and no rules!). I think it's more helpful to say that you chose to continue to use cereal and milk, and now you're choosing to adjust your cereal.
You are probably losing weight because of your symptoms, rather than your diet. If something in your diet is continuing to provoke diarrhea, then adding weight-promoting foods won't help - they're not hanging around long enough to contribute nutritionally. Conversely, if you stop the D, your weight will probably stabilize pretty easily.
Also - you say "other than that" (meaning the cereal), you haven't had any gluten... You would be astounded at how little it takes to perpetuate the autoimmune inflammation. Probably much, much less than what is in your cereal, which sounds like more than enough to make and keep a gluten-sensitive person very sick indeed. So you're not yet able to draw a conclusion about your gluten reactivity, but you will get there.
I don't know enough about the differences between UC and MC, but I believe you can't assess the SCD diet while continuing those starches. Most of us MC types do OK with potatoes, but many of us have trouble with grains in addition to gluten-containing grains. So you could vary your SCD approach (many Paleo eaters include white potatoes, at least sometimes, but grains are excluded). Or, if you prefer to design your own diet, you could include rice or corn, which many of us tolerate, but by no means all. I "can" eat both of those grains, but feel much better when I don't. (And you might try coconut or almond milk, rather than dairy milk, because cow's milk is poorly digested even by 'healthy' people, when they're having any kind of digestive issue.)
What worked for me, to make sure my weight/calories didn't fall too low when I cut starchy grains, was to increase my protein portions, and to eat adequate (but not excessive) fat. I lost a great deal of weight and muscle quite quickly when first sick, and was so relieved when I got my oomph back. Hope you get yours back soon,
Sara
I meant to add some additional Paleo resources - that line of thinking is now being pursued by many people, including fitness fanatics (Crossfit types especially), food lovers, and folks with any number of different stories. Some people say 'primal' rather than 'paleo' - the idea is to include foods that we have eaten throughout our evolutionary history, and to avoid foods that were only added relatively recently - with agriculture. (Not to mention chemical-laden food-factory products.)
Among the credible and helpful are:
http://robbwolf.com/ (smart, well-researched, well-regarded)
http://whole9life.com/ (they have a 30-day program that's very strict, and well planned - they're Crossfit-ish)
http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/ (especially for recipes)
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ (fun writer, smart, very popular - he does dairy)
http://www.primal-palate.com/ - they have a gorgeous cookbook, and they looove good food
http://everydaypaleo.com/ - I haven't spent a lot of time here - recipes, how-to tips for adapting to a busy life
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/ - also well regarded
There are more - lots and lots more! And I'm not an authoritative source of this info, just a fellow human trying to thrive
I'm not sure whether I'm even an advocate of this kind of eating, but I most certainly do eat very much in this manner, and am pretty sure I'll continue not to eat any grains at all, other than maybe GF/DF cornbread at Thanksgiving, when a dear friend brings it to my table (and not too much, please).
I think this is a useful graphic, for understanding what the general ideas are - even though it's not exactly what may work for each of us.
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?page_id=8
I don't know that all these folks are right about everything, but it is remarkable how little sniping and animosity they practice, though they are all competing for the same readers. There are also a lot of people using words like Primal and Paleo to sell - you name it, someone's selling it. I picked up a "primal bar" in a new food store in my neighborhood, and the FIRST ingredient was - you guessed it - some kind of processed GLUTEN.
Hope this is helpful to someone!
--Sara
Among the credible and helpful are:
http://robbwolf.com/ (smart, well-researched, well-regarded)
http://whole9life.com/ (they have a 30-day program that's very strict, and well planned - they're Crossfit-ish)
http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/ (especially for recipes)
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/ (fun writer, smart, very popular - he does dairy)
http://www.primal-palate.com/ - they have a gorgeous cookbook, and they looove good food
http://everydaypaleo.com/ - I haven't spent a lot of time here - recipes, how-to tips for adapting to a busy life
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/ - also well regarded
There are more - lots and lots more! And I'm not an authoritative source of this info, just a fellow human trying to thrive
I'm not sure whether I'm even an advocate of this kind of eating, but I most certainly do eat very much in this manner, and am pretty sure I'll continue not to eat any grains at all, other than maybe GF/DF cornbread at Thanksgiving, when a dear friend brings it to my table (and not too much, please).I think this is a useful graphic, for understanding what the general ideas are - even though it's not exactly what may work for each of us.
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/?page_id=8
I don't know that all these folks are right about everything, but it is remarkable how little sniping and animosity they practice, though they are all competing for the same readers. There are also a lot of people using words like Primal and Paleo to sell - you name it, someone's selling it. I picked up a "primal bar" in a new food store in my neighborhood, and the FIRST ingredient was - you guessed it - some kind of processed GLUTEN.
Hope this is helpful to someone!
--Sara
Yep, most cereals contain barley malt. General Mills has reformulated at least 5 or 6 of the Chex cereals to be GF, and Kellogs recently introduced gluten-free Rice Crispies, made from brown rice. You have to be careful to read the label, though, because they still make the original Rice Crispies, also, and I believe that there are still one or two original versions of the Chex cereals available that haven't been reformulated, so they still contain gluten, also.
Some people see relatively fast results on the GF diet, but for most of us with MC, it usually takes several months to achieve remission, and some folks take longer - it depends mostly on how long we've been reacting, (IOW, how long we've been accumulating damage to our intestines). Some members take Entocort while they are waiting for the diet to work, so that they don't have to deal with D in the meantime.
We have at least a couple of members with UC who have been able to control their disease by diet alone, but it's been quite a while since they have posted.
Tex
Some people see relatively fast results on the GF diet, but for most of us with MC, it usually takes several months to achieve remission, and some folks take longer - it depends mostly on how long we've been reacting, (IOW, how long we've been accumulating damage to our intestines). Some members take Entocort while they are waiting for the diet to work, so that they don't have to deal with D in the meantime.
We have at least a couple of members with UC who have been able to control their disease by diet alone, but it's been quite a while since they have posted.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.