Hi I am new to the board and very ill

Delta · Post by **Delta** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:48 am

Kiwi,
Most if not all the people on the board have suffered some of the same problems you are now, D, abdominal pain, joint pain, embarrassment, the list is long.

I can tell you the GF diet and the advice given here gave me my life back. While I miss some of the foods I wouldn't trade my sense of well being for anything. I lost weight, felt terrible all the time, joint pains, adominal pains and of course 8 months of 10-20x per day trips to the bathroom. There is a lot to read here and I encourage you to do so, it's your health and life and you have to find the time. I'm confident you can regain your life and health by following the same path so many others have taken to regain theirs. I achieved remission without the benefit of Entocort so I am sure you can as well. Adhering to the GF diet, as well as eliminating any other triggers can bring the disease to a tolerable state fairly quickly, you will be surprised at just how quick.
Best wishes-Dan

kimpatt · Post by **kimpatt** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:05 pm

Welcome Kiwi! I hope your encouraged to see the helpful posts from so many great folks here. I was blessed to find them when my symptoms flared 2 years ago. Since then, I check in when I can...often its when I flare again. With their suggestion I went gluten & soy free in 2007, and I haven't looked back since. Enterolab testing revealed sensitivities to those 2 foods for me, as well as dairy. There were times I seemed able to tolerate dairy, but now that I've recently flared dairy is back on my 'no eat' list.... As are many other things. FWIW, I also have another GI problem whose identity is still questionable; I think having the other condition contributes some to my long list of allergens/intolerances (along with a hefty set of 'troubled genes').

All that to say that you'll find tremendous help in coaching you through diet modification, not to mention empathy and emotional support. Hang in there...I think your tools for healing (at least to some degree) are at hand.

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:09 pm

I also owe getting my life back to Tex, Dr. Polly and all the wonderful Potty People.

Your doctor will probably say that diet has nothing to do with MC (LC or CC). I say :BSFlag:

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:14 pm

Besides all the gluten free (GF) information on this site, here is a link to a GF primer.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/slideshow-gluten-free-diet

It isn't easy and I still feel deprived after over a year but it works.

teagirl · Post by **teagirl** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 5:45 pm

Thank you but I just told it as I see it ... if I hadn't heard here about gluten intolerance, I'd still be as sick as a dog, and Lord only knows what weight I'd be. I wanted kiwi to know what a difference removing gluten can make.

With you folks' help and advice, I've made such strides that next week I am venturing out overnight for the first time in a year. I don't count the 1.5 days I had at a cottage in August as I spent the entire time in the bathroom and had to be brought home.

We thought it would be lovely to see the fall colours so we did some web searching, looking for areas that had restaurants that said they could cook celiac. St Catherine's is only a couple of hours from Toronto (near Niagara) and had quite a few restaurants so then we started the search for inexpensive accommodation. We found a B&B where the owner has cooked for celiacs and said she can handle my gf df no problem. And as it's so close, we can take some snacks and things with us.

The family joke is we can afford to stay overnight because of all the money we now save on toilet paper, Imodium, and the reduced water bill now I don't have D all day!

I'm getting my life back.

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:43 pm

I like all your savings. You deserve a vacation for being so frugal. Have a great holiday.