Most Recent Test Results

Well....I wish I had good news, but I don't. Last Tuesday, I had some blood work done, and my sediment rate was 107. Hemoglobin was 10.2. So ultimately, inflammation has not reduced in the past month and I'm anemic again. Arrgh. But my appointment with Dr. Sigmon gave me more focus on holistic healing than I have ever had.

This nasty disease has 50-80% ending in surgury:( Treatment starts with aminosalicylates. This is basically one of the meds I was given when I was first diagnosed, mesalamine, and may help reduce inflammation. According to Dr. Sigmon, it only works in 25% of Crohn's patients.

The next level of treatment is oral steroids. This also is one of the medications I was given when I was first diagnosed. Budesonide is the one I was prescribed. It's an immune suppressant. Without going into a huge amount of explanation, the pyramid of treatment is shown below. A Crohn's sufferer will usually start at the bottom of the pyramid, and as the body develops a tolerance for the medication they have to go to the next level of treatment.

Hopefully you live a full life before you reach the top level:-(

When I arrived at my doctor's office, I really thought that Dr. Sigmon would be mad because he recommended that I start taking Asacol the last visit approximately five weeks ago. And now here I arrive after not taking his advise. When I explained to him that I didn't start taking the medication, and that I was trying to control the symptoms by diet, I really expected him to get mad at me. But he didn't.

I explained a little bit about the diet I was on, and mentioned candidly, that it was very boring. His response was, "but you're likely the healthy person I've met today."

Ultimately, I decided to stay on the holistic approach because that visit convinced me that if I go with the medical route, it likely will end in surgery. If I stay on the holistic route, I will likely become healthier and add year to my life. As your body battles this disease for years on the medical route, you take years off of your life. But on the holistic approach, the diet itself is so healthy, you add years to your life, and once the ulcers are healed, my life will be back to being close to normal.

I don't wish this disease upon any one. It is nasty, and it sucks that I have to deal with it, but my visit with Dr. Sigmon that day just reinforced how I need to stay focused and committed to my diet and holistic healing.

Get More Rest!

My symptoms are getting a little better. I am definitely not normal yet, however. I need about 9 hours sleep if I don't do anything during the day that overly exerts my energy. I'm still having about 5 bowel movements a day, but the discomfort in my gut has subsided. So I have improved quite a bit, but I'm not back to normal yet.

Saturday, I instructed up at Beech mountain. By lunch time I was beat. Walking up and down the mountain while instructing just wore me out that quickly. So you can imagine how tired I was at 3:30 when my lessons were over. I had to go back to the apartment to take a nap in order to have enough energy to learn some acrobalance, which I had planed for the evening.

Acrobalance is very cool, by the way. One of the ski instructors, Jeff Anderson, does this and is exceptional at it. It's a cross between yoga and acrobatics, and a little like what you'd see at a cirque du soleil. You can check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIMx0zVqvDM.

In any regard, I've been wanting to do this with him all season, and he finally was off work so that we could Saturday night. It's a bit of a work out. I worked up a sweat for sure, even though we only performed for about 30 minutes.

Dr. Azar keeps talking to me getting more rest. She says the body only heals when resting, and using my energy for other things will just prolong my healing. Her words were in my thoughts when I decided to take Sunday off from instrucing. I did absolutely nothing that day, even after sleeping ten hours Saturday night, and even after vegging all day on Sunday, I still slept ten hours Sunday night as well. For those of you that know me, that certainly is not normal, but my body needed every second of it.

Today, my legs are soooo sore from all day of lessons on Saturday, so clearly I burned a lot of energy Saturday, but still, needing an entire day to recover for this certainly means that my body has not recovered very well from my Crohn's flare up yet. I need to take Dr. Azar's advise it appears, and rest is my objective until I'm feeling 100%.

A Flare Up :-(

I’m quite certain I got that stomach flu that’s going around. Here are the symptoms: fever, upset gut, diarrhea and/or vomiting, and fatigue. Well….that sounds a lot like a Crohn’s flare up too. So how do I know I had the stomach flu? Because my boyfriend got all of the same symptoms a few days following when I got mine and he clearly doesn’t have Crohn’s:) So I’m pretty certain what I had was the stomach flu.

That’s actually good news, so I thought. I had a gastrointestinal problem that was not related to my disease. Yay!

But that wishful thinking was very short lived, however. As you may recall, I had a sediment rate of 100 recently, which means my body has inflammation, and based upon the fact I have Crohn’s, it is likely some of the high rate was related to inflammation in my colon.

Now add to the fact that no matter what I do with my diet, the stomach flu creates an acid environment in the GI tract. Current inflammation and an acidic environment leads to a Crohn’s flare up for sure, and that is exactly what happened.

Immediately following my stomach flu, I rolled right into a flare up. Dr. Azar had warned me that this could happen, and she also told me that it would likely be shorter in duration and not as intense. Fortunately, she appears right.

So I have been having this flare up since right after my stomach flu cleared up which as far as I can tell was somewhere around Wednesday last week. Right after my fever broke, I assumed the stomach flu had passed, but my bowel movements were still about eight daily, and they are not controllable like before when I was doing so well. My gut cramps up with each one, and there is blood in my stool, which means the ulcers in my colon are active.

However, I am only mildly fatigued and I don’t have a fever. This is much more mild so far than when I was the walking zombie in September. I was needing 14-18 hours sleep and even with that amount of sleep, I didn’t have the energy to even walk my dog.

Now, with about 10 hours sleep, I have enough energy for a full work day. The bowel movements are certainly inconvenient, but in the past 5 days, they have reduced a little bit, as I’m down to about 5 daily, and the consistency has improved. Even the amount of blood has reduced. I believe I am on my way to remission again.

Dr. Azar has warned me that this could happen a few times even while on the strict healing diet during the first year or so. The body goes through cleansing in layers, and until it is clear of all toxic waste, it cannot focus solely on healing the Crohn’s ulcers. But each time, they are likely to be easier to handle.

I water fasted for a day, and now am only eating sweet fruits and juicing. May daily food journal is very bland with a banana smoothie for breakfast. Cantaloupe for lunch, and mango and banana snacks when needed. Dinner is vegetable juice and maybe another banana smoothie as a evening snack

Cross your fingers for me, because this flareup being so mild is giving me great hope to get into remission quickly, and that my ulcers are truly healing. I can’t possibly have this mild of symptoms during a flare up if the ulcers are still as bad as my walking zombie days. I’ll keep you posted.

C-reactive Protein Test (CRP) vs Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR or sed rate)

Wow, so I feel like I'm doing all the research here. Although I haven't yet fully discussed the results of my CRP test with my holistic gastroenteroligist who says, "don't start up on meds," I have discussed it with my medical doctor who says, "start taking 1600 mg of Asacol, twice a day." I have an appointment with my holistic doctor to discuss this in more detail on Tuesday. Until then I am not taking my medical doctor's recommendation to start back on medication, and instead I've been doing research.

Before I took the CRP test, I was lead to believe by Tanya, the PA, that it was a more accurate test for Crohn's. So I was thrilled to hear that my CRP was normal!! Yay!!! Yes, that's right. It came back normal. Yet still my medical doctor is recommending that I go back on medication even though all other tests are normal. His reasoning is because some people cannot raise their CRP, and because mine was normal it must mean that I am one with this problem. Therefore, he wants to use the prior ESR test as the primary indicator of my Crohn's activity.

The problem I have with that, is that with my online research, the ESR can be elevated because of things like smoking, salts, temperature of the testing environment, and even being exposed to high altitudes. Additionally, the ESR rate doesn't respond quickly. and may not return to normal for weeks after there is an improvement in the condition.


Another thing that can raise the ESR is an elevation in red blood cells. Well, because I was anemic, I had been worked on raising my red blood cells, and my hemoglobin went from 10.9 to 11.9 so clearly my red blood cells increased.


Hmmmm.....


Now a little about the CRP rate. It elevates between 4-6 hours of a stimulus and returns within 3-7 days following the removal of the stimulus. Meaning, if I ate onions, and that is what caused inflammation, or if the high altitude of Vail was the cause, then once I stop, the CRP would be back to normal within one week. 


I was in Vail January 5 through 9, and I ate onions on January 8. My ESR was taken on 1-10. Whether the elevated rate was caused by the increase in elevation, the onions, or something else, it can take several weeks for the ESR to go back to normal.


My CRP test was taken January 16, eight days after I ate onions. This was ample time after these events for the results not to be affected by them.  


Study after study that I read about online indicates that the CRP is a better test of Crohn's than the ESR. It will be very interesting to hear what my holistic doctor has to say about all of this in detail. I'll update you.

Test Results

I went for my 3 month follow up to take some test to get a status on my progress. I was looking for three specific results to be positive. Good news....bad news...

1. My hemoglobin was 10.9. I needed it to raise to 12. 12 Is considered normal and not anemic; below 12 is anemic.Great news is that my hemoglobin was 11.9. I'm so close that I'm not concerned. This change occurred without taking iron supplements and by making dietary changes only. This is very good news!!
2. Due to the difficulty in getting B-12 through a plant based diet, I am taking B-12, and tested this to ensure that what I was doing was sufficient, and it is as this test result was fine.
3. My sediment rate when checked 3 months ago was 36. Normal is between 0-20. The sediment rate is a judge of the amount of inflammation in the body, and since Crohn's is an inflammatory disease, it is a good indicator of active Crohn's. This is the test that my results did not come back good. In fact it came back very bad, at 100. Now, the sediment rate is an indicator of inflammation in the body, not just Crohn's and many things can cause an elevated sediment rate. 

On a positive note, there are several things that can cause an elevated sediment rate. One thing, for example, is eating foods that are inflammatory. I send my holistic doctor, Dr. Azar, my food log weekly on Mondays. On the evening of the 8th, two days prior to my test, I ate onions. When responding to my food log, she inquired about what type of onions I ate and how much. She informed me that onions are inflammatory and that I shouldn't be eating them at this stage of my healing.

Secondly, I have a little sinus congestion. Nothing significant, but it's definitely there which also has some inflammation. So ultimately, I am hopeful that these are the reasons why my sediment rate was so elevated, and not my Crohn's.

The last time my sediment rate was checked, I was still on medication. I've been off medication now for 2 months. One of the medications I was taking was an anti-inflammatory, so it is possible that I have more inflammation today than when I was taking an anti-inflammatory, but severe inflammation would definitely be a problem and a 100 sediment rate, if it's related solely to my Crohn's, is an issue. Therefore, we need to find out for certain if the high sediment rate is directly related to my Crohn's and not the other issues. 

I return on Tuesday to have two follow up tests completed. These tests are more time consuming to get the results, but they will be a better indicator if there is an issue brewing with my disease.

The two tests that will occur on Monday the 16th is a Stool Hemoccult and C-reactive Protein test. The Stool Hemoccult determines if there is blood in the stool. If there is, than likely it is due to active inflamed Crohn's ulcers. There doesn't appear to be, but sometimes it's such a small amount it cannot be observed.

The C Reactive Protein test determines the amount of C-reactive protein in the body. C-reactive protein is a plasma protein that rises in the blood with the inflammation from certain conditions. It's not normally found in the blood of healthy people. It appears when there is inflammation from certain conditions and disappears when the inflammation goes away. Conditions that commonly lead to increases in C-reactive protein include infection, trauma, surgery, burns, inflammatory conditions such as Crohn's and colitis, and advanced cancer. So as you can see, it simply is a better indicator of inflammation than the sediment rate. 

I'll update you all on the test results once I get them. Stay tuned...

Pizza...My favorite!

I used to order a small veggie pizza from Papa Johns often on weekends. Extra sauce, cheese, jalapenos, onions, green peppers, baby portabello and parmesan. The delivery guy even got to know me. Well evidently Papa Johns is having random drawings for free pizzas. And guess what? You guessed it! I won a free pizza.  My name was randomly selected as one of this week's 60,000 Papa Rewards members to receive a free large one-topping pizza. Haha. Well maybe one day I will be able to eat it again, without the cheese:)

Perspective and Adaptation

I'm in Vail, CO at the moment snowboarding. It's really a good get away. I have come here on my own, and I'm getting much rest, exercise, alone time, and plenty of time connecting with nature. It's everything my Crohn's needs to heal.

When I travel, I now bring my small steamer and blender so I can prepare most of my meals. I arrived on Thursday, and other than lunch with a friend, I have prepared all my own meals. It not only is good for healing, but it saves a lot of money. I just stopped at a Whole Foods on my way from the Denver airport to Vail. It really is the only way to ensure I get the nutrition needed while traveling. I'm beginning to get used to it.

I'm very blessed to be healthy enough to be here but I feel like such a light weight.

In July 2011, I weighed 155 lbs, and between then and now I lost 30 lbs, and much of it was very suddenly when I had my first Crohn's flare up. The two weeks that I was my worse, in bed, only drinking liquids and detoxing, I lost about 20 lbs. I'm certain that I lost a lot of muscle during that time because I have never been this sore from snowboarding ever. My quads are so sore today after two days of boarding that I only made it about 3 hours on the slopes and I had to return to my room to rest and get in my whirlpool tub in hopes to help them feel better so that I can make it longer tomorrow.

My calves are sore, too. I've never had my abs sore from boarding that I can recall until now. Even my arms are sore. Haha.

Now it doesn't help that yesterday the conditions were a bit icy and you have to dig deep to cut an edge so it takes more muscle than if there was freshly packed powder. Today, we had 6-8 inches of snow so far. Yay. Conditions are soooo much better. I could handle a black run today:) Yesterday it was too icy to ride a black. It was great today, but again, it simply takes more effort to ride choppy powder than packed powder, so my body again had one hell of a workout.

 In the past I would have been disappointed because of the icy conditions over the past two days, and the fact that I'm so sore I cannot ride 7 hour days like last year.Ultimately, however, I recognize that I'm blessed to be here. My health is greatly cooperating. How many people with Crohn's or ulcerative colitis ever feel good enough to take a ski or snowboard trip, and even if they do, they're gut is always bothering them, and a bathroom needs to be close by. It certainly puts a damper on the trip. None of this am I experiencing right now. Cross your fingers that I stay feeling this well for a very long time!

I read that exercising at high altitudes prompts your body to increase production of red blood cells because the body needs to be able to carry as much oxygen as possible due to the lack of oxygen in the air. I seem to have adjusted to the higher altitude, so I am hoping that this occurred with me.

If you have been reading my blogs, you might remember that I have been anemic. Well, I return back to Charlotte on Monday and on Tuesday I get have a doctor's appointment. I will get my hemoglobin, sediment rate, and b-12 tested. I'm hoping that the increase in red blood cells actually occured because this will result in an improvement in  my hemoglobin and hopefully be enough so that I'm no longer considered anemic.

The view from my room right at the Vista Bahn Lift :)

I sincerely hope and pray that the many of you that read this blog that are suffering from an IBD one day are as fortunate as I am this day!

How to Expedite Your Healing - For any disease!

Diet isn’t the only thing that needs to change in order to heal Crohn’s or colitis ulcers, but living your life stress free and in harmony with your objectives are also an essential part of healing. You have always heard that stress causes illness, right? Stress, as well as every other negative emotion, starves the body of the much needed nerve energy which is essential to any type of healing or good health. 

Therefore, managing the stresses of your life is absolutely a requirement if you want to be able to live a healthy life. This not only is the case with Crohn’s and colitis, but with any illness or disease. The less mental stress you have the more nerve energy that can be directed to your health.

Think of a computer running multiple programs and processes.  It gets locked up because there’s so much going on that its memory can’t handle it, this can sometimes cause permanent damage to your computer if you leave it this way without fixing the stress on your computer’s memory. So you re-boot your computer, and then the programs you want to work when opened begins to work again the way it was mean to work.

Your body is much the same. When your mind has multiple processes working all at once; if you are mentally or physically stressed, have anxiety, or have negative feelings of any sort, these are like software programs that use a lot of your computer’s memory. When all of these processes are working at once, the solar plexus, which is considered the brain of the subconscious mind, contracts giving less nerve energy to all of the cells in your body. If you are suffering from Crohn’s, colitis, or any other illness, what your body needs more than ever is nerve energy.

You need your computer re-booted:)

Mediationis similar to re-booting a computer. It shuts down all of the processes except for the vitals, allowing your solar plexus to expand and radiate nerve energy to every part of the body. You develop clarity of thought and your body receives the nerve energy it desperately needs. Additionally, the positive thoughts you intend during meditation has a clear impression upon your subconscious mind, so these thoughts can more easily become a reality.

Meditation, to be effective, will require practice. If you haven’t meditated before, each step below should be repeated a minimum of three to four days or preferably every day for a week, or until you’ve mastered each step. Master each step prior to progressing to the next.  Commit 15 to 30 minutes per day every day.

1.              The first step to meditation is to learn how to control your physical body.  

Select a room where you can be alone and undisturbed, and that is available daily.  This is the location you should meditate whenever possible. The method I use is more contemporary and may not follow other traditional methods of meditation, but I find to be more accepted and comfortable that the traditional position of sitting erect with your legs crossed and your hands extended palms up.

Instead of sitting, it is becoming more common to lie on your back with your hands flat at your sides.  This is more comfortable for most and allows a deeper physical relaxation for novice meditators.  In either position, keep your head in alignment so that your spine through your neck is level.

Do not have any noise in the background, including music. Let your thoughts roam where they will but be perfectly still for a minimum of fifteen minutes to half an hour; continue this for a minimum of three to four days or until you secure full control of your physical being. You must master securing control of your physical being before progressing to the next step.

2.                Once you have mastered securing control of your physical body, then you’re going to progress to controlling your thoughts.

In your meditation room, in your preferred position, continue to be perfectly still, then begin to stop all thought. When you have a thought pop into your head, clear it immediately.

This is easier said than done.  If you struggle eliminating thought I have a couple options for you.

Begin to focus upon your breathing, so your only thought is on your breathing. When you inhale, feel the oxygen enter your body and instantly give healthy energy to all of your cells in your body.  Upon exhaling, feel the thought leave your mind as the air leaves your body taking with it the thought and any impurities in your body.

Another option is to simply count every time you inhale and every time you exhale. As a new thought enters your mind, refocus on your counting with each inhale and exhale.

You may also try concentrating on feeling the pulse in your big toes one foot at a time. Once you feel it, stay focused on the pulse. If a new thought pops into your mind, move to your heels and again try to find and feel your pulse and stay focused on the pulse.

Again, if a new thought enters your mind, move to your knees and continue this process on multiple parts of your body every time a new thought enters your mind. You will find fewer interruptions of thought as you progress up the body.

Being able to hinder thoughts will ultimately give you control over all thoughts and will enable you to direct your thoughts to only those you desire, which will include your healing. Continue this for three or four days or until you are able to hinder your thoughts.

3.                 Now that you’ve mastered controlling your physical body, and inhibiting thought, we will take it one step further. Remain still and inhibit all thought, and begin to relax every muscle and nerve in your body, release all tension. 

Physical relaxation is a learned behavior and enables the blood to circulate freely through out your body to and from the brain. If you find this difficult, use the method of feeling your pulse and as you move your concentration from your toes up your body to one body part at a time, relax the muscles around the pulse that you’re focusing upon.

Continue this until you feel still, quite, relaxed, restful and at peace with yourself and the world.

4.                 Next, it’s time to mentally relax and let go of all stress and all negative feelings and thoughts. As always, don’t progress unless you have mastered control of your thoughts and body, and are able to physically relax every muscle and nerve in your body.

You mentally relax by letting go of all adverse conditions including hatred, anger, worry, jealousy, envy, sorrow, trouble, disappointment or fear of any kind. If you have Crohn’s or colitis, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Let all those negative feelings go.

Don’t let your emotions control you. Instead, allow your intellect to take over and control your emotions. Release all negativity. You can let go. And once you do you will experience mental freedom, and the subconscious mind will begin to operate from a fresh new day.  The solar plexus will begin to operate instinctively and it will begin to radiate energy throughout your body.

5.                The final step to meditation is to feel and show your gratitude for your current health and healing. Also, you are to create in your mind’s eye the perfect image of your health and to feel how it feels to be healthy. For those of faith, this is the time within meditation to pray and to do so with positive expectations that God will answer your prayers.

First, spend some time talking to your colon or whatever part of your gastrointestinal tract is diseased. Thank your colon for how it has served you. Be grateful that you still have a colon. Place your hands on your gut and talk with gratitude. Say things in your mind such as, “thank you for managing this disease to the best of your ability. I know you are healing every day, and you are fighting your best to bring yourself to perfect health. You know you will achieve it for me and for that I am grateful.”

Say these types of words while you visualize your colon healing. This type of thinking with gratitude, plants seeds in your subconscious that will germinate and work to help you heal. Not only does this help radiate nerve energy by expanding your solar plexus, but it radiates needed nerve energy for healing directly to your colon.

I know this sounds hokey, but your subconscious doesn’t know the difference between fiction and reality. When a seed is planted, it begins to germinate in your subconscious and when that seed grows, your subconscious will support your visions created. Visualize your colon inflammation going away, your ulcers healing, and your colon becoming healthy again. I actually visualize my colon dancing in joy. Lol.

Next, make a complete mental picture of you living a healthy life; see the trees, friends, associations, everything complete. See yourself living a life of health and physical prosperity. Be thankful for your progress. Concentrate your focus upon your ideal, limitless, fantasy of what you are to become and enjoy the pleasures of living this way again.

It’s likely at first, that you will find yourself thinking of everything under the sun, except your perfect ideal healthy situation. That’s okay if you do, but eliminate any unwanted thought immediately.  Ultimately, you want your imagination to be consciously creating the perfect result of your desired health. Focus upon the end result desired, not how you get there.  See yourself as vibrant and cured. 

Do this for fifteen to thirty minutes daily. The increased nerve energy focused upon your health, and specifically on the area of your disease, will soon result in you having more energy each day and you beginning to feel better each day. Meditation alone, will not cure Crohn’s or colitis, but it will support your other healing steps and make your healing easier.

Now this will not work if after meditation, your self talk tells you that you’re wasting your time and that meditation will never work. That type of impression upon your subconscious mind will sabotage everything that you accomplish during meditation. In other words, not only during meditation, but even throughout the day, eliminate the negative thoughts that pop into your head. Not only will you begin to feel better, but each day will be a happier one!! This type of thinking and meditation will also help you stay committed to your diet and other healthy habits because your subconscious will support actions consistent with the outcome you have created in your mind’s eye.

The most important words you will ever hear are the ones you say to yourself. Make sure that yours are good ones!

Christmas

 I was born and raised in Michigan. My parents, sister and her family still live there. Every year, with the exception of very few since I've left home over twenty years ago, I visit at Christmas time. This visit was by far the most difficult ever. I loved seeing my family, but this felt like torture:(  

This was the most difficult test of my will power since I have been diagnosed and I failed on Christmas Eve. Right now I'm on a healing diet which only includes alkaline forming fruits and vegetables, mostly raw or juiced, and sometimes steamed. No alcohol is allowed either.

On Christmas evening, we visited one of our family members home's, exchanged gifts, played a little pool and socialized. Of course, everyone ate dinner, had some drinks and enjoyed some fabulous desserts. I drank water, and due to my lack of will power, I cheated a little, very little, and felt it the next day.

On Christmas, we visited another family member’s home for dinner and desserts that were left over from the night before. Again, I drank water, but this time I didn’t cheat!

With the exception of some raw red peppers on Christmas, nothing served at either home was within my healing diet restrictions. Now, that really didn’t surprise me because I can’t expect them to cater to my needs especially when they are so restrictive. So I expected it and ate prior to attending. Those of you with Crohn's or colitis know that you can't eat meals until you're stuffed, so within a couple hours I was hungry again observing all of these delicious foods.

By far, this was the greatest test of my will since I've been diagnosed with Crohn's. Lots of chocolate desserts which I love, fried cheese, brie with raspberry, macaroni and cheese clusters, nacho layered dip, plus many more delicious foods, not to mention the wine.

I've recently joined this page on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ItTakesGuts. This disease is nasty folks. It's just sooooo sad to read some of these postings.

Ultimately, I cheated a little on Christmas Eve, and felt a little uncomfortable on Christmas, but by being strict to the healing diet I was fine again within a day. I had the pleasure of being with my family and being healthy on these two days, when others with the disease were far worse!!

I'm blessed to be symptom free when I stick to the healing diet, and have to remember to be grateful for that when faced with such a difficult test of will.

I'm not sure I would chose to put myself in this situation again, and hope by next year my will power has greatly improved and my diet has significantly loosened, because I sincerely don't know if I would choose to do this again. When I’d want to eat something I shouldn’t, I’d go to the Facebook page referenced above and see postings from those in much worse condition and I’d put things in perspective.

An attitude of gratitude: 

• I was there without symptoms instead of in the hospital.
• I was healthy visiting family members I love instead of home in bed.
• I felt pretty good, instead of feeling like the zombie I had been that needed 18 hours sleep a day.

Things can always be worse... 

But I’m also looking forward to the day that things will be better. 

No worries Mom, I love you !!

Getting Off of the Meds!

On September 6, 2011, I recall being taken home from the hospital after having a colonoscopy. I was also scheduled to have an upper endoscopy, but Dr. Sigmon felt it wasn't necessary based upon what he saw in my colon. To me that wasn't really very good news. Meaning, my colon clearly had something very wrong with it and all of my symptoms could be explained based upon whatever it was that he thought he observed with my colon.

If you've ever had a colonoscopy, you might remember that the drugs they put you on pretty much keep you from being able to remember much. So although I had a discussion with Dr. Sigmon, I don't recall anything he might have said in regards to my diagnosis. At this point, I have no clue what he thinks I have, but he did have a discussion with my friends Stephanie and Richard who are the ones that took me home.

They told me that Dr. Sigmon had taken several biopsies of my colon and that he thought he knew the diagnosis but preferred to wait for the biopsy results which he expected in about a week. He gave them two prescriptions for me, which were supposed to help my symptoms if his suspicion was correct. At this point I felt like the walking dead. I was only drinking fruit juice and not eating or drinking anything else but water due to the uncomfortability associated with having a bowel movement, and because I believe it is the best way to cleanse your body of toxins. 

I had already been taking other medications. One was for an infection that was identified from a stool sample, and the other was for my upset stomach, or at least that's what it felt like. Later of course, I learned, that it was my intestines that were upset, not my stomach.

Ultimately, beginning on September 7, I was taking four types of medications:

Flagyl:  It's an antibiotic that eliminates bacteria and other microorganisms that cause infections of the reproductive system, gastrointestinal tract, skin, and other areas of the body. In my case, of course, it was to clear the infection in my gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Signmon had identified an infection from a test of my stool the week prior. This is one of the medications I had already been taking for about a week. It was a ten day prescription that I completed.

Dolasetron: I believe that this is the medication I was given to settle my upset stomach. In addition to the diahrea and painful hemorrhoid, I felt like I was going to vomit all the time, but never did. This was another reason why I felt that drinking fruit juices was better for me, than eating. If I already had an upset stomach, what would eating have done to it. So the juices I'd drink were not as acidic as others. For example, I drank a lot of white grape juice and apple juice, instead of orange and tomato juice.In any regard, I had the worse upset stomach for weeks and had been taking this drug for a couple weeks prior to the colonoscopy. Dolasetron is used to prevent nausea and vomiting. It works by blocking the action of serotonin, which is a natural substance the body makes that may cause nausea and vomiting. This seemed to give a little relief but not much so I stopped taking it immediately upon getting some minor relief from the healing diet.

Mesalamine:  This is one of the prescriptions that Dr. Sigmon gave after observing the inflammation in my colon. Mesalamine is an anti-inflammatory. If you look up this drup on the Internet, you will see that it is an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. It is a bowel specific drug that acts locally in the gut. Therefore, before I was even told the diagnosis, I had a good idea it was either ulcerative colitis or Crohn's.

Mesalamine is thought to work by inhibiting the production of inflammatory chemicals in the lining of the colon. Mesalamine decreases the production of cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase, which are enzymes that produce prostaglandins and leukotrienes. Prostaglandins and leukotrienes are chemicals that lead to inflammation. It is believed that the cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase enzymes are over-active in people with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's and Mesalamine is believed to work by blocking the activity of these enzymes, which then reduces the production of prostaglandins, which reduces inflammation in the colon as well as the symptoms.

One issue with stopping the production of prostaglandins is that they are useful for many things other than inducing inflammation, including the construction of muscle cells around blood vessels, aggregation of platelets during blood clotting, and they deliver and strengthen pain signals. 

The side effects of taking mesalamine can be mild or severe. Mild symptoms can include headaches, muscle or joint pain, back pain, nausea and vomiting (as if I needed this right now),  heartburn, gas, constipation, dry mouth, sore throat, coughing, flu-like symptoms, runny nose, stuffy head, ear pain, anxiety, sweating, hemorrhoids (oh no...too late, I already had this), rectum pain (had this too), difficulty sleeping, acne, and hair loss. Now these are only the acceptable side effects. You could also have more serious side effects such as chest pain, shortness of breath, tarry stools, bloody vomit, vomiting material that looks like coffee grounds, increase in your need to urinate, blood in the urine, confusion, and swelling of other body parts. 

Now, according to Dr. Sigmon's P.A, Tanya Williams, mesalamine is safe for long term remission of Crohn's. Candidly, with the little bit of research I have done on mesalamine, I knew I didn't want to have to take this medication for a long time. But if you think this medication sounds bad, just wait for the next...

Budesonide:  Now this is a nasty drug. It's a corticosteroid that works by decreasing inflammation in the digestive tract. When budesonide is taken, it is released in the ileum, which is the area at the end of the small intestine, right before the large intestine. Budasonide is absorbed into the cells of the intestines. Here it works by preventing the release of certain chemicals from the cells. These chemicals are important in the immune system and are normally involved in producing immune responses that result in inflammation. By decreasing the release of these chemicals inflammation is reduced. 

The budesonide that slips away and is absorbed into the blood stream is about 10 to 15%:( This is actually very low for a corticosteroid in relation to the other options for treatment during a flare up, and therefore, budesonide actually has fewer side effects than most. The biggest concern I have with this drug works by weakening the immune system, which may lower your ability to fight infections. This most likely will make you more likely to get a serious infection or make any infection you have worse. 

In regards to the side effects, other than weakening your immune system, well they pretty much are as bad as any other drug:  nausea, heartburn, headache, oral thrush, yeast infection, tiredness, vision problems, easy bruising/bleeding, puffy face, unusual hair growth, mental/mood changes (such as depression, mood swings, agitation), muscle weakness/pain, thinning skin, slow wound healing, rash, itching and swelling, severe dizziness, and trouble breathing.

So Ultimately, the mesalamine and budesonide I began taking on September 7. I began the healing diet on September 14. I stayed on the healing diet for about two full months as I reduced the medication to be off of all medication within two months of my diagnosis. 

Date	Mesalamine	Budesonide
7-Sep	2 Pills 3 times per day	3 Capsules each morning
27-Sep	2 Pills 2 times per day	No Change
4-Oct	1 Pill 2 times per day	No Change
11-Oct	1 Pill each morning	No Change
18-Oct	No Change	2 Capsules each morning
25-Oct	No Change	1 Capsule each morning
1-Nov	Eliminated	1 Capsule each morning
8-Nov	Eliminated	Eliminated

It was quite funny when I had my first follow up with Tanya and Dr. Sigmon on October 25 as I explained I had reduced my medication. Ironically it was Tanya, the P.A., that basically lectured me explaining that I really need to stay on the mesalamine to ensure remission. She explained that it was a safe medication I can take for the rest of my life.

Go re-read the paragraphs above about mesalamine and help me understand how it can possibly be safe???

Dr. Sigmon on the other hand seemed genuinely happy. They both complimented me on how healthy I looked. But remember that the last time I saw them I was the walking dead, so I certainly hope that I was looking good compared to then. Haha.

I really do like Dr. Sigmon. He inquired about what I was doing that allowed me to progress so quickly. He knew it was predominantly diet related and already knew that animal products and sugar were no nos. Mostly, he was just happy for me and said as long as I was feeling good he was happy for me. He hoped it continued, but reminded me that if I ever begin to feel like I did, that he would be there for me. 

Regarding getting off of the medication, it would not have been so easy for me if I had not already been on a cleansing juice diet. For things to go as smoothly as it did for me, I believe that the body must be cleansed of toxins. During this period, I was consulting with Dr. Azar and she guided me as to what to do. 

So far, this will amaze you, I have saved about $800 in medication. And this is only my portion of the costs, not that of my insurance company.  You see these medications are very expensive. The Mesalamine was a prescription of $1,000 and the budesonide was over $700. My co-pay for a 30 day supply was $150 each. I think of this every time I have to bear the cost of buying organic foods. Haha.

Finally, it is very important when taking a corticosteroid that you don't simply just stop taking it. Your body naturally makes steroids. When you take steroid pills, your body may stop making its own steroids especially if you are on steroid pills a long time.So it was very important to me to get off of the budesonide as quickly as possible, because long term use of it could make it impossible to live without some form of steroid treatment in the future. Meaning your body may never be able to produce the amount of steroids it needs in the future if it is long term relying upon oral steroids. 

Therefore, don't stay on any steroid any longer than you must. Secondly, wean off the steroid, instead of stopping it all at once. This gives your body enough time to learn to produce steroids again.  While your body is getting used to making its own steroids, you may feel dizzy, lightheaded, tired, have stomach pain and body aches. All of which I had, but only mildly.  I was only on the full dose of budesonide for a few weeks, so there wasn't too much risk for me, but still, reducing the dose slowly and under a doctor's supervision is the safer way to go.

I look forward to returning for my follow up appointment with Dr. Sigmon and Tanya, his P.A. Tanya insisted that I stay on the mesalamine until my sediment rate is 20 or lower. Two weeks following that visit, certainly prior to even knowing if there had been any change in my sediment rate, I had eliminated that drug from my daily routine. I'm sure I'll get another lecture from her, but I expect Dr. Sigmon will again be happy for me :)

Stop Cheating

I've been expanding my diet and living life as if my ulcers are already healed. It typically takes about a year or a little longer for the ulcers to heal so clearly since I’ve only been on the healing diet, or a version close to it, for only three months, it is probable that the ulcers have not healed. 

It seems like a long time to heal, I agree. But if you think of having a sore on the outside of your body always exposed to wet, unclean, acidic environment  filled with toxins, then you can get a better understanding as to why the healing takes so long.

After being on the healing diet since mid-September, I’ve been feeling great and it’s been easy to just began eating things like hummus, cooked foods, some acid vegetables, and some irritants like onions and garlic and an occasional sulfide free half glass of wine. Additionally, I’ve increase my activity level with snowboarding every weekend for the past three weekends and have had many business lunches and dinners that make it difficult to follow a strict diet.

I’ve also been experimenting with my dehydrator making zucchini, sweet potato, and butternut squash crisps as well as veggie burgers and banana cookies.

Add all of this to working a few extra hours due to our fiscal year end, and the added stress of not having enough time in the day to complete everything I want to complete. This has lead to reducing the time I spend meditating, and relaxing, which is very essential to healing.

All of this has been cheating my healing process and I have been feeling that something is not quite right again. It’s very hard to explain, but recently I have had some discomfort in my gut. It felt a little like menstrual cramps, but not exactly. But it wasn’t the bloated feeling that I had in Europe when my symptoms began six months ago. Ultimately, it just doesn’t feel right. Additionally, I’ve had some gurgling going on in my gut and my bowel movements changed by becoming looser as well as more frequent.

I’ve not been fatigued and still have a good amount of energy, but I know something has not progressing the way that it should. So I’ve committed to stop cheating for 30 days on all accounts.

I stopped cheating just two days ago, and all of the symptoms I mentioned above are almost gone again. In discussing things with Dr. Azar, my holistic gastroenterologist, we agreed to 30 days of a strict healing diet, meditation, exposure to the sun and outdoors, and as much rest as possible. On January 10, I return to my medical gastroenterologist, Dr. Sigmon, for a follow up in which I will get some blood work done. After the results are in, which will be right around the expiration of the 30 day commitment, depending upon the results, I will begin adding foods slowly to my diet and eventually, I will be able to get to a diet much more relaxed.

Ultimately, these are the things I intend to do over the next 30 days to ensure the healing is expedited and that my blood work comes back with positive results.

1. I’m going to follow the very basic diet as prior described in my blog, including bringing my lunch to work so that I can avoid having to eat out at lunch. I’ll begin making sure to schedule my business meetings during business hours, not during meal times.
2. I’m committing to spend more time in the sun. I already get a good amount of sun on the weekend, but Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays I will sit outside at the Piedmont Town Center (where I live) after work as long as the sun is still remaining, and I will eat my lunch outside instead of in my office. All of this is dependent upon the weather of course. If I begin to do this, my vitamin D will improve, as well as it will reduce the business of my mental state, both of which are essential for healing.
3. I will ensure that I get 8 hours sleep whenever feasible. I have been getting only 6 hours some days.
4. I will meditate at least 30 minutes a day. Clearing the mind and body of the day to day stresses, and focusing upon the things we are thankful for is extremely beneficial to healing. I don’t want to waste energy with any negativity as that energy could be used for healing.

Not only do I need to follow the proper diet, but I also need to make sure that my body has the time and energy to heal.

Stress is very bad on the body. Your body only has so much nerve energy to radiate. Let me explain. Nerve energy is radiated from your Solar Plexus. It is a mass of nerve substance that is often referred to as abdominal brain. It is located just behind the pit of the stomach and it receives and distributes nerve-impulses and energy to all of the respiration, circulation and digestion organs, which is referred to as the Sympathetic Nervous System. The Sympathetic System controls the automatic mechanisms of the body such as the beating of the heart, contraction and dilation of the arteries, the actions of the gastrointestinal tract, the contraction of muscles and the control of the secretion of our glands.

When you are stressed, worried, feel guilty, are sad, or have any other overwhelmingly negative emotion, your Solar Plexus contracts. When you are at peace and happy, it expands. The more your Solar Plexus expands, the more nerve energy that is radiates. This is essential to healing! Therefore, meditation and quite time helps your mental state so that you can keep your Solar Plexus in an expansion mode.

A good analogy would be compared to a computer that has so many programs running that none of them work efficiently, so you have to reboot your computer in order for any of the programs to work properly again. In addition to sleep, this is what meditation and the quite time outdoors is intended to accomplish.

Also, your body heals and recharges nerve energy most efficiently when you sleep. When you get tired and need to go to sleep it is because you have nearly run out of nerve energy. When you sleep, your nerve energy is recharged. Have you noticed when you are ill that you are more tired than normal? It’s because you are using up your nerve energy more quickly on the healing. So a good amount of sleep is essential as well.

It’s 9:42 p.m. at the moment. I’ve already walked my dog, Rusty, for the night and I’m heading to meditate for about 20 minutes and then will be going to sleep for the night. I don’t have to awake until 6:00 p.m. so I’ll be getting my eight hours tonight!!

Good night:)

More on The Healing Diet

At the moment, I am sitting on a couch in Kris’s apartment in Banner Elk with Kris, Byron and Geoff. They are all snowboard instructors, as am I, at Beech Mountain. I enjoy snowboarding too much to let this disease keep me from doing it. But they are all eating pizza at the momentJ I would love to join them, but the cheese, pepperoni, and flour in the bread all will wreak havoc on my colon. So the biggest aspect of healing the ulcers comes from will power and discipline. I likely am going to leave and head up to The Frog and The Monkey (the only healthy restaurant in Banner Elk) to help me with willpowerJ

Ultimately, you MUST do what you have to do to avoid the foods and things that aggravate your digestive tract, even if that means avoiding the situations that tempt you.

When I was going to the hospital to get my Colonoscopy prior to my diagnosis, I remember telling Stephanie and Richard, my friends that took me there, that when I was feeling better I was going to order a small pizza from Papa Johns and eat the entire thing. I have yet to do that, and it’s been three months. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do that again, but I’ll make it my goal to find something that I enjoy just as muchJ

My health is worth more than the temporary pleasure of the palate. This is something I tell myself regularly when I am tempted. I remember how miserable I was walking my dog looking and feeling like a zombie, and I remind myself that I can pleasure my palate at the expense of becoming a zombie again.

Now for the discussing on diet…would it surprise you that raw vegetables digest faster than cooked vegetables? It’s true….read on…

As you know, with Crohn’s or colitis, the colon is obviously not in its optimum condition and due to the inflammation and ulcers, nutrients are not absorbed through the intestinal wall as it would be if the colon was healthy. So it is important to make sure that you eat in a manner that allows for maximum assimilation of nutrients and that is gentle on the digestive tract. This means that food should be raw to start with because when food is cooked at 118 degrees or higher, it loses its enzymes as well as its nutrients.

Raw food, and foods prepared at 118 degrees or lower, not only has all of their nutrients, but they have enzymes that assist in the digestive process so that your digestive enzymes don’t have to do all the work. This basically means that the digestive tract gets help digesting the food from the food itself. But this does not occur with cooked food because the high temperatures kill the enzymes, and therefore, cooked food takes longer to digest than uncooked food.

Ultimately, raw fruits and vegetables are the best to ensure that you get all of your nutrients and that the food enzymes will be in tact so that they can assist in digesting the food.

Also, food digests at different rates. For example, melons digest very fast. Within 20 or 30 minutes they exit the stomach, and therefore the assimilation of nutrients also begins to happen very quickly. But if the melon gets caught up in the stomach with foods that digest slowly, for example, seeds and nuts that take two to three hours to exit the stomach, then it will ferment before it ever gets to the intestines where the nutrients are absorbed. The melon not only becomes empty calories to some extent, but the fermenting of the melon may create discomfort of some sort in your gut due to the gas, acid, and even alcohol it creates.

Therefore, I have learned that eating foods in the proper combination according to the time in which it takes to digest properly is important to proper digestion for the maximum assimilation of nutrients and so that the food enzymes can aide in the digestive process.

Melons, are best eaten alone, because of how fast they travel through the digestive system. Sweet soft fruits digest very fast as well, but not as fast as melons, so sweet fruits are best eaten with other sweet fruits and non-starchy vegetables, but not with starchy vegetables, which digest much slower. Basically, the guidelines below can be used as a guideline for proper food combining:

Melons:  Always eat alone

Sweet Fruits: 

• Eat alone
• Eat with other sweet fruits
• Eat with green non-starchy vegetables

 Non-Starchy Vegetables:

• Eat alone
• Eat with any vegetable

Keep in mind that during the time you are concentrating on healing the ulcers, the foods you eat should predominantly be fruits and vegetables that are alkaline forming and they should have low acid levels themselves. A lemon, for example, is an alkaline forming food, but it contains too much citrus acid that will aggravate your ulcers.

As your ulcers begin to heal, you may add some seeds and nuts in moderation, and only after soaking them in water. More on the reasons behind that later. But seeds and nuts digest very slowly, so never eat them with sweet fruits that digest quickly. Eat them alone or with non-starchy vegetables. At the early stage of healing Crohn’s or colitis, avoid these entirely.

Here is a typical day:

Breakfast:                        2 Bananas in a smoothie with spring water, coconut water, or celery juice

Day Time Snacks:          A pear, grapes, mango or banana are my favorite fruit snacks

Lunch:                              Cantaloupe, honey dew, watermelon or any other type of melon

Dinner:                             Steamed sweet potatoes or squash. Or a salad with either blended/juiced fruits for a dressing, or topped with raisins or chopped dates for additional flavor.

Night Time Snack:          Juiced vegetables including carrots, celery, cucumber, bok choy, romaine and red sweet pepper (this is good for the vitamins needed to combat anemia).

Today I’m up at Beech Mountain, and eating on the road is more difficult. When at a restaurant, a salad of mixed greens topped with raisins seems readily available, mixed vegetables, and sweet potatoes are often available too. Ask for the vegetables steamed instead of cooked. Steaming vegetables is better than baking or frying because it occurs at a significantly lower temperature and therefore the food keeps more of the nutrients. As prior mentioned, cooking fruits and vegetables basically kills the enzymes and losses their nutrients.

Today, this was my menu:

Breakfast:                        2 Banana smoothie with spring water

Lunch:                              Watermelon that I had cut up in advance knowing I wouldn’t no be close to a kitchen or restaurant that could accommodate my diet.

Snacks:                            I made dehydrated sweet potato chips last night and took them with me for snacks.

Dinner:                              I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but I likely will go up to The Frog and The Monkey, which is a restaurant in Banner Elk that has healthy choices. I will likely have a salad and maybe some baked sweet potato fries.

As you will notice, everything today, except the baked sweet potatoes, was uncooked and prepared by me. I have found that is the easiest way to stay true to the diet. I strive to keep 80-90% of my diet uncooked to ensure I get the nutrients I need.

Lastly, I do have some things I cheat with that I really enjoy eating. I’ll share a couple recipes with you in the near future, but zucchini lasagna and chocolate ice cream are two of them. Both have ingredients that are not recommended at this time, but since I am feeling great, I am testing some boundaries in moderation. Stay tuned…