Visit the Microscopic Colitis Foundation Website
Someone from the celiac.com message board suggested I come over here. I'm active on that one. My 14 year old son was just diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis on Friday and I hope that it's okay I'm here.
A little background - I was diagnosed with Colitis back in college, then told I had IBS and when I was 32 had a total health breakdown - arthritis as well as digestive issues and other things. To make a long story short, I went on a gluten, dairy, soy and egg free diet and also eliminated meat, except for fish, nightshades, legumes and several other things. It didn't take long for my health to turn around and today I teach PE, coach basketball and have done several small triathlons. My health is great. I have 4 kids - 3 teenagers and a 12 year old. I'm very familiar with nutrition and diet.
My son is already gluten free (for the past 3 years) and spent most of the first 11 years of his life "mostly" dairy free. When he went gluten free we thought that we had found the real problem and started letting him have dairy again.
At the end of June he told me that he'd been having bloody diarrhea for about 4 months, so I got him into the doctor right away and he just had all his testing done on Friday.
He's back to strictly dairy free now, without much complaint because he knows this is serious, but I'm not sure what else to do. For the past couple of days he's just been eating some homemade chicken soup with a bit of rice, bananas and a couple of popsicles. I got some aloe vera juice, L-Glutamine, digestive enzymes and probiotics and got him started on those this morning. The doctor prescribed Asacol and Rowasa enemas which he started on Friday night.
So, my questions are - Does anyone have experience with a teenager with this problem? Am I on the right track with the dairy free? Any suggestions on what else he should/shouldn't eat? Any suggestions for other supplements?
Son just diagnosed with ulcerative colitis
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Son just diagnosed with ulcerative colitis
I'm here for my son - diagnosed with ulcerative colitis July 31, 2009.
Hi,
Sure, you're very welcome here - we have quite a few members who have joined on behalf of their kids, and we have several members who have UC. Unfortunately, I don't believe that any of them are currently posting, but maybe they check in, from time to time. At any rate, welcome to our internet family.
The treatment program sounds as though it should bring results, hopefully sooner, rather than later.
In general if someone with MC is gluten-sensitive, (and most of us are), then she or he will also be casein-sensitive, so that may well be the case with UC, also. About half of us are sensitive to soy, and a few are sensitive to other items, such as egg whites, corn, dietary yeast, etc. (You might possibly have MC yourself, just making a guess based on the description of your diet.)
You know, I have been really hoping that the GF diet might preempt the development of IBDs. Evidently, that's not the case, if your son has already been on the diet for 3 years, and UC developed anyway.
As far as diet suggestions go, with MC, fiber tends to prolong a flare, and I believe that is the case with UC, also, (this is just the opposite of the situation with IBS). IOW, minimizing fiber seems to help. Avoiding raw fruit and vegetables may be necessary. Many of us can only tolerate certain, well-cooked vegetables. Avoiding artificial sweeteners is necessary for many/most of us, especially aspertame and sorbitol. Many fruits contain sorbital, and many fruits are high in fiber, (especially the peel - always peel any fruits and veggies, and overcook them). Rice and potatoes seem to be safe for almost all of us. Check all meat labels for "injected phosphate solutions", some of them contain gluten - we avoid all injected meats. Incidentally, you can peel bananas, and freeze them individually, in ziploc bags, (sandwich bags), and they make a healthy, frozen treat, that tastes a lot like a banana popsicle.
Malabsorption may not be a problem with UC, the way it is with MC, but it probably wouldn't hurt to be sure that he's getting plenty of B-12, and enough folate, to allow the B-12 to be properly absorbed and utilized. Sublingual B-12, (designed to be dissolved under the tongue), will work, even if the small intestine is malabsorbing. Many people these days, (especially those with IBDs), are deficient in vitamin D3, so a supplement of D3 may be helpful.
Please feel free to ask anything that comes to mind, and again, welcome aboard.
Tex (Wayne)
Sure, you're very welcome here - we have quite a few members who have joined on behalf of their kids, and we have several members who have UC. Unfortunately, I don't believe that any of them are currently posting, but maybe they check in, from time to time. At any rate, welcome to our internet family.
The treatment program sounds as though it should bring results, hopefully sooner, rather than later.
In general if someone with MC is gluten-sensitive, (and most of us are), then she or he will also be casein-sensitive, so that may well be the case with UC, also. About half of us are sensitive to soy, and a few are sensitive to other items, such as egg whites, corn, dietary yeast, etc. (You might possibly have MC yourself, just making a guess based on the description of your diet.)
You know, I have been really hoping that the GF diet might preempt the development of IBDs. Evidently, that's not the case, if your son has already been on the diet for 3 years, and UC developed anyway.
As far as diet suggestions go, with MC, fiber tends to prolong a flare, and I believe that is the case with UC, also, (this is just the opposite of the situation with IBS). IOW, minimizing fiber seems to help. Avoiding raw fruit and vegetables may be necessary. Many of us can only tolerate certain, well-cooked vegetables. Avoiding artificial sweeteners is necessary for many/most of us, especially aspertame and sorbitol. Many fruits contain sorbital, and many fruits are high in fiber, (especially the peel - always peel any fruits and veggies, and overcook them). Rice and potatoes seem to be safe for almost all of us. Check all meat labels for "injected phosphate solutions", some of them contain gluten - we avoid all injected meats. Incidentally, you can peel bananas, and freeze them individually, in ziploc bags, (sandwich bags), and they make a healthy, frozen treat, that tastes a lot like a banana popsicle.
Malabsorption may not be a problem with UC, the way it is with MC, but it probably wouldn't hurt to be sure that he's getting plenty of B-12, and enough folate, to allow the B-12 to be properly absorbed and utilized. Sublingual B-12, (designed to be dissolved under the tongue), will work, even if the small intestine is malabsorbing. Many people these days, (especially those with IBDs), are deficient in vitamin D3, so a supplement of D3 may be helpful.
Please feel free to ask anything that comes to mind, and again, welcome aboard.
Tex (Wayne)
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.
Thanks for your welcome! And thanks for some of the tips. This is going to be a bit of a change in his diet. We normally eat tons of fresh fruit and vegetables.
I was shocked also to find out that he had UC. I thought for sure that the gluten free diet would help prevent this type of thing. He had digestive issues when he was little (nothing diagnosed) and he was taken off dairy, which seemed to make it all go away. When he was in 5th grade, his teacher wanted him tested for ADD, but I decided to try gluten free first, since I was already GF and he was open to it. It made a huge difference in his behavior. He started on dairy again a few months later and he never noticed any problems until a few months ago. I'm hoping that it's a major culprit and that eliminating it will make a big difference. He's lost 18 pounds since April and doesn't have much energy.
My goal is to get him off meds as soon as possible. I hope that others have had good luck with diet rather than medications to control this.
As for me, I'm still gluten, dairy and soy free and have no problems. I think I probably have Celiac Disease, but by the time I figured that out I had already been GF for a long time and I wasn't about to start eating gluten to figure it out. MC is a possibility too - I was tested for UC in college and told that it was "just colitis" and never did any follow up. I just suffered with an upset stomach, gas and all the other fun stuff for several years until my health totally broke down. Somewhere in there a doctor told me that I had IBS and that there wasn't any good treatment for it.
Thanks again for your response!
I was shocked also to find out that he had UC. I thought for sure that the gluten free diet would help prevent this type of thing. He had digestive issues when he was little (nothing diagnosed) and he was taken off dairy, which seemed to make it all go away. When he was in 5th grade, his teacher wanted him tested for ADD, but I decided to try gluten free first, since I was already GF and he was open to it. It made a huge difference in his behavior. He started on dairy again a few months later and he never noticed any problems until a few months ago. I'm hoping that it's a major culprit and that eliminating it will make a big difference. He's lost 18 pounds since April and doesn't have much energy.
My goal is to get him off meds as soon as possible. I hope that others have had good luck with diet rather than medications to control this.
As for me, I'm still gluten, dairy and soy free and have no problems. I think I probably have Celiac Disease, but by the time I figured that out I had already been GF for a long time and I wasn't about to start eating gluten to figure it out. MC is a possibility too - I was tested for UC in college and told that it was "just colitis" and never did any follow up. I just suffered with an upset stomach, gas and all the other fun stuff for several years until my health totally broke down. Somewhere in there a doctor told me that I had IBS and that there wasn't any good treatment for it.
Thanks again for your response!
I'm here for my son - diagnosed with ulcerative colitis July 31, 2009.
Hi Lonewolf,
Perhaps back when you were diagnosed with colitis, they weren't biopsying the colon routinely if they didn't see anything, and back then, they may not have known to look for the reddened areas which signal where to take the biopsy samples. At any rate, whatever you had, you've apparently fixed it.
I wish the same for your son. For some conditions, it looks as though dairy may be almost as much of a problem as gluten. There are some conditions known to respond to a dairy free diet. Remember how a subset of people with autism will respond to both food eliminations as an example?
Yours, Luce
Perhaps back when you were diagnosed with colitis, they weren't biopsying the colon routinely if they didn't see anything, and back then, they may not have known to look for the reddened areas which signal where to take the biopsy samples. At any rate, whatever you had, you've apparently fixed it.
I wish the same for your son. For some conditions, it looks as though dairy may be almost as much of a problem as gluten. There are some conditions known to respond to a dairy free diet. Remember how a subset of people with autism will respond to both food eliminations as an example?
Yours, Luce
Hi Lonewolf,
I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (Pan-Colitis) at the age of 19. I was immediately put on Prednisone and Asacol, but was given no advice as far as diet and what to eat/not eat. The only thing I was told was, "There's no connection between diet and the symptoms of UC. If you experience symptoms after eating a certain food, then don't eat it." Let's just say the advice I received from the medical community regarding diet and nutrition wasn't exactly earth shattering. I even met w/ a nutritionist after begging my doctor for a referral and he only gave me five minutes of his time--enough to again say that diet has no impact on UC. Well, now 6 years later, I beg to differ.
While on the medications, I saw some improvement in my symptoms but I was still very sick. However, after doing a great deal of research on the Internet and through my local library, I soon began to make the association between what I was eating and the symptoms I was experiencing. For me, I immediately noticed that consuming gluten of any kind flared my colitis and made me bleed heavily. Other foods causing me problems were harder to pinpoint, but eventually I did notice that dairy, eggs, and difficult to digest grains also caused me to suffer. I had a full IgG allergy panel done that tested my blood for a reaction to over 100 foods and the results showed I was intolerant to gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, bananas, pineapple, garlic, and a few lesser foods. With these results and with prior experience, I really changed my diet to include only what my body seemed able to tolerate and the results were dramatic. I stopped bleeding, stopped having pain and cramping, started to slowly gain weight, and slowly but surely went into complete remission. I quickly gave up taking my medications because I no longer needed them and was better for it. Today, I've been in remission for 5 1/2 years and it's due to changing my diet and taking charge of my health. I have nothing against doctors, but I feel they are harming their patients by denying the importance of diet in IBD and relying strictly on prescription drugs.
Given my experience, what do I recommend? Well, first of all, let me say you're on the right track and your son is lucky to have you. Cutting out gluten and dairy is the best decision you can make initially to try to get the symptoms under control and your son into remission. These are the biggest offenders in my experience and it seems like a lot of people on these boards have difficulties w/ gluten and dairy so it's not a coincidence. Beyond these foods, you might want to pay attention to eggs and soy and the foods that contain them because they can also present problems. I'd echo the point someone made about limiting or avoiding raw vegetables and fruits at least for the time being. I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits, but I do have to limit the amount I eat raw simply because the fiber is difficult to digest and can cause problems. Steaming and cooking vegetables and fruit until they're soft is a great way to keep them in your diet and it's something I've started to do more of these past few months. The very best way to monitor what foods bother your son is by keeping a food diary and writing down everything he eats, when he eats it, and what his reactions are to the foods if they are immediate enough to notice. Even if he doesn't react to a food immediately, the food diary should allow you to start to see patterns over time in terms of what foods produce what symptoms. I neglected to keep a diary until very recently and I wish I had started one sooner.
In terms of supplements, I take a hypo-allergenic multivitamin, a hypo-allergenic probiotic, and a hypo-allergenic fish oil supplement. It's important that whatever supplements your son takes be 'hypo-allergenic' because you don't want to spend all the time and energy eliminating foods that he's intolerant to only to have him continue to inadvertently consume these foods through his supplements. I can't emphasize this enough because for the longest time, in spite of a very rigid diet and neurotic focus on what I ate, I continued to experience symptoms because I was being glutened by a supplement I was taking. I consider all three of the above supplements to be important, but oftentimes it seems as though fish oil is overlooked and for me it's seemed to help a lot. So if I cold suggest adding one supplement to those you're already giving him it would be fish oil and also a lot of high-quality fish in his diet.
When I was first diagnosed, it was very difficult for me to accept that I now had a chronic illness. The adjustment was difficult from living and eating like a typical teenager and college student, to having to change my diet and my priorities so that my health became my #1 concern. It wasn't easy, but over time I began to see that I could control my symptoms and remain in complete remission w/out drugs simply by eating a healthy and balanced diet and avoiding those foods that I reacted to negatively. You'll probably have a hard time initially convincing your son that he needs to avoid certain foods, but if he sees improvements in his health then I'm sure he'll begin to see the wisdom of your ways. I certainly didn't like giving up gluten, dairy, and a lot of my favorite foods, but as soon as I began to feel better and better I was ok with the sacrifice.
Best of luck to you and your son. Feel free to reply to this message or e-mail/pm me with any questions or concerns you have and I'll be happy to help as best I can.
I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (Pan-Colitis) at the age of 19. I was immediately put on Prednisone and Asacol, but was given no advice as far as diet and what to eat/not eat. The only thing I was told was, "There's no connection between diet and the symptoms of UC. If you experience symptoms after eating a certain food, then don't eat it." Let's just say the advice I received from the medical community regarding diet and nutrition wasn't exactly earth shattering. I even met w/ a nutritionist after begging my doctor for a referral and he only gave me five minutes of his time--enough to again say that diet has no impact on UC. Well, now 6 years later, I beg to differ.
While on the medications, I saw some improvement in my symptoms but I was still very sick. However, after doing a great deal of research on the Internet and through my local library, I soon began to make the association between what I was eating and the symptoms I was experiencing. For me, I immediately noticed that consuming gluten of any kind flared my colitis and made me bleed heavily. Other foods causing me problems were harder to pinpoint, but eventually I did notice that dairy, eggs, and difficult to digest grains also caused me to suffer. I had a full IgG allergy panel done that tested my blood for a reaction to over 100 foods and the results showed I was intolerant to gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, bananas, pineapple, garlic, and a few lesser foods. With these results and with prior experience, I really changed my diet to include only what my body seemed able to tolerate and the results were dramatic. I stopped bleeding, stopped having pain and cramping, started to slowly gain weight, and slowly but surely went into complete remission. I quickly gave up taking my medications because I no longer needed them and was better for it. Today, I've been in remission for 5 1/2 years and it's due to changing my diet and taking charge of my health. I have nothing against doctors, but I feel they are harming their patients by denying the importance of diet in IBD and relying strictly on prescription drugs.
Given my experience, what do I recommend? Well, first of all, let me say you're on the right track and your son is lucky to have you. Cutting out gluten and dairy is the best decision you can make initially to try to get the symptoms under control and your son into remission. These are the biggest offenders in my experience and it seems like a lot of people on these boards have difficulties w/ gluten and dairy so it's not a coincidence. Beyond these foods, you might want to pay attention to eggs and soy and the foods that contain them because they can also present problems. I'd echo the point someone made about limiting or avoiding raw vegetables and fruits at least for the time being. I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits, but I do have to limit the amount I eat raw simply because the fiber is difficult to digest and can cause problems. Steaming and cooking vegetables and fruit until they're soft is a great way to keep them in your diet and it's something I've started to do more of these past few months. The very best way to monitor what foods bother your son is by keeping a food diary and writing down everything he eats, when he eats it, and what his reactions are to the foods if they are immediate enough to notice. Even if he doesn't react to a food immediately, the food diary should allow you to start to see patterns over time in terms of what foods produce what symptoms. I neglected to keep a diary until very recently and I wish I had started one sooner.
In terms of supplements, I take a hypo-allergenic multivitamin, a hypo-allergenic probiotic, and a hypo-allergenic fish oil supplement. It's important that whatever supplements your son takes be 'hypo-allergenic' because you don't want to spend all the time and energy eliminating foods that he's intolerant to only to have him continue to inadvertently consume these foods through his supplements. I can't emphasize this enough because for the longest time, in spite of a very rigid diet and neurotic focus on what I ate, I continued to experience symptoms because I was being glutened by a supplement I was taking. I consider all three of the above supplements to be important, but oftentimes it seems as though fish oil is overlooked and for me it's seemed to help a lot. So if I cold suggest adding one supplement to those you're already giving him it would be fish oil and also a lot of high-quality fish in his diet.
When I was first diagnosed, it was very difficult for me to accept that I now had a chronic illness. The adjustment was difficult from living and eating like a typical teenager and college student, to having to change my diet and my priorities so that my health became my #1 concern. It wasn't easy, but over time I began to see that I could control my symptoms and remain in complete remission w/out drugs simply by eating a healthy and balanced diet and avoiding those foods that I reacted to negatively. You'll probably have a hard time initially convincing your son that he needs to avoid certain foods, but if he sees improvements in his health then I'm sure he'll begin to see the wisdom of your ways. I certainly didn't like giving up gluten, dairy, and a lot of my favorite foods, but as soon as I began to feel better and better I was ok with the sacrifice.
Best of luck to you and your son. Feel free to reply to this message or e-mail/pm me with any questions or concerns you have and I'll be happy to help as best I can.
"Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game." ~Voltaire
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RUBYREDDOG
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- Location: Glendale, Ca.
NJ, That is some solid advice you have given lonewolf. ( along with the always articulate advice given by Tex) You mentioned that you take hypo-allergenic fish oil. I have been unable to find any due to the vitamin e usually added, containing soy. Would you post the brand and source for me?
Thanks in advance......Hotrod
Thanks in advance......Hotrod
Hi Hotrod,
I've actually taken two fish oil supplements that are listed as hypo-allergenic:
GNC Salmon Oil 1000mg--The bottle specifically claims that the capsules are free of wheat, gluten, yeast, soy, dairy, corn, etc. This is a widely available brand, it's the store brand of General Nutrition Center, but as far as quality I'm not really sure how good it is. It's much cheaper than other fish oil supplements, but again I'm not entirely sure how pure it is. It seems to work well for me, though, and I'm extremely sensitive to gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, and other foods. Here's a link to check it out: http://www.drugstore.com/qxp41815_33318 ... psules.htm
Finest Pure Fish Oil Capsules by Pharmax: This brand is very effective in my experience and comes highly recommended from someone I trust--Dr. Wangen at the IBS Treatment Center in Seattle. I've been treated by Dr. Wangen as have other members on these boards and I really trust him. He sells this fish oil supplement directly on his Center's website: http://www.ibstreatmentcenter.com/da.htm This supplement isn't as widely available as the GNC product, but it's of a much higher guaranteed quality. I should mention I don't buy directly from Dr. Wangen's website, but rather from other sites on the Internet that charge less for shipping such as this one: http://www.rockwellnutrition.com/Finest ... _p_45.html That being said, the products Dr. Wangen recommends (not only the fish oil) have worked extremely well for me. I'd recommend you take a look at his website through the link I posted above to the IBS Treatment Center. The second link has a good description of the ingredients under the 'ingredients and uses' tab--including a discussion specific to the source of the mixed tocopherols.
Again, these are the supplements I've taken. Others might have differing opinions on these products, but I can only speak to what has worked for me. As far as quality goes, I'd say the fish oil by Pharmax is a reputable brand that claims to be hypo-allergenic and is probably worth your money.
Don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions for me.
I've actually taken two fish oil supplements that are listed as hypo-allergenic:
GNC Salmon Oil 1000mg--The bottle specifically claims that the capsules are free of wheat, gluten, yeast, soy, dairy, corn, etc. This is a widely available brand, it's the store brand of General Nutrition Center, but as far as quality I'm not really sure how good it is. It's much cheaper than other fish oil supplements, but again I'm not entirely sure how pure it is. It seems to work well for me, though, and I'm extremely sensitive to gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, and other foods. Here's a link to check it out: http://www.drugstore.com/qxp41815_33318 ... psules.htm
Finest Pure Fish Oil Capsules by Pharmax: This brand is very effective in my experience and comes highly recommended from someone I trust--Dr. Wangen at the IBS Treatment Center in Seattle. I've been treated by Dr. Wangen as have other members on these boards and I really trust him. He sells this fish oil supplement directly on his Center's website: http://www.ibstreatmentcenter.com/da.htm This supplement isn't as widely available as the GNC product, but it's of a much higher guaranteed quality. I should mention I don't buy directly from Dr. Wangen's website, but rather from other sites on the Internet that charge less for shipping such as this one: http://www.rockwellnutrition.com/Finest ... _p_45.html That being said, the products Dr. Wangen recommends (not only the fish oil) have worked extremely well for me. I'd recommend you take a look at his website through the link I posted above to the IBS Treatment Center. The second link has a good description of the ingredients under the 'ingredients and uses' tab--including a discussion specific to the source of the mixed tocopherols.
Again, these are the supplements I've taken. Others might have differing opinions on these products, but I can only speak to what has worked for me. As far as quality goes, I'd say the fish oil by Pharmax is a reputable brand that claims to be hypo-allergenic and is probably worth your money.
Don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions for me.
"Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game." ~Voltaire
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RUBYREDDOG
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- Location: Glendale, Ca.
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faithberry
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Hi Lonewolf,
My husband also has UC, diagnosed about a year ago when he was in flare. He took Pentasa to calm things down for 3-4 months. He's definitely gluten-free. However, he's a vegetarian and, after the flare he evolved his diet to eat mostly cooked vegetables, raw fruits, some ground seeds (like hemp seeds or chia seeds), about 10 peeled almonds a day, some seaweed, spirulina, rice milk, and he does eat some goat cheese. He also eats small amounts of basmati rice and quinoa. But this is when he's not in flare. He's also taken the Metagenics medical food for inflammation. That's helped many people I know.
I think there's a big difference when you are in flare and not in flare. When he was in flare he was eating meat and eggs and found this easier than the vegetables, etc. he had been eating before probably due to the fiber as others have said. We're all different, but this is what worked for him.
I appreciated the MC and UC diet primers since I'm in the midst of a flare! And the information on the fish oil is very useful. I use to take it, but it began to make me ill. Maybe one of these would be OK.
Thanks so much.
My husband also has UC, diagnosed about a year ago when he was in flare. He took Pentasa to calm things down for 3-4 months. He's definitely gluten-free. However, he's a vegetarian and, after the flare he evolved his diet to eat mostly cooked vegetables, raw fruits, some ground seeds (like hemp seeds or chia seeds), about 10 peeled almonds a day, some seaweed, spirulina, rice milk, and he does eat some goat cheese. He also eats small amounts of basmati rice and quinoa. But this is when he's not in flare. He's also taken the Metagenics medical food for inflammation. That's helped many people I know.
I think there's a big difference when you are in flare and not in flare. When he was in flare he was eating meat and eggs and found this easier than the vegetables, etc. he had been eating before probably due to the fiber as others have said. We're all different, but this is what worked for him.
I appreciated the MC and UC diet primers since I'm in the midst of a flare! And the information on the fish oil is very useful. I use to take it, but it began to make me ill. Maybe one of these would be OK.
Thanks so much.
Faith
LC (in remission)
LC (in remission)
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faithberry
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Thanks for all the replies! I haven't been here for a long time because I've been so busy cooking and getting back into the swing of school. (I'm a teacher.)
My son (and I) have been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet since August 16th. It is going very well, although it's much more limited than gluten, dairy and soy free. I spend a LOT of time in the kitchen, since almost everything has to be made from scratch. But it's worth it, because his bleeding has almost stopped - he says it's only about 15% of what it was 6 weeks ago and he only has BM's (no D) once or twice a day, instead of 7-10 times. He hasn't been good about taking his medication (Asacol), but he finally finished his 28 day supply of Rowasa enemas that he got on July 31st. I think the diet is helping more than the medication.
He's lost 26 pounds since May, but he finally stopped losing weight and I'm just trying to find ways to get him more calories so he can gain weight while playing HS football. This is my biggest challenge.
I'm doing the SCD with him for moral support. It's a healthy way to eat, so I feel good and it's really not that much of a change from my gluten, dairy and soy free diet anyway.
My son (and I) have been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet since August 16th. It is going very well, although it's much more limited than gluten, dairy and soy free. I spend a LOT of time in the kitchen, since almost everything has to be made from scratch. But it's worth it, because his bleeding has almost stopped - he says it's only about 15% of what it was 6 weeks ago and he only has BM's (no D) once or twice a day, instead of 7-10 times. He hasn't been good about taking his medication (Asacol), but he finally finished his 28 day supply of Rowasa enemas that he got on July 31st. I think the diet is helping more than the medication.
He's lost 26 pounds since May, but he finally stopped losing weight and I'm just trying to find ways to get him more calories so he can gain weight while playing HS football. This is my biggest challenge.
I'm doing the SCD with him for moral support. It's a healthy way to eat, so I feel good and it's really not that much of a change from my gluten, dairy and soy free diet anyway.
I'm here for my son - diagnosed with ulcerative colitis July 31, 2009.
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faithberry
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no-more-muffins
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I may have been the one that recommended this site to you Lonewolf. I have posted the link to this site over on the celiac board a few times. There are a lot of people over there that could benefit from the experiences of the posters here. (Plus everyone here is so nice and helpful here).
I was just thinking that your son is so lucky to have such a smart, caring and supportive mother. You have done a lot to help him be healthy and I think that is great.
I was just thinking that your son is so lucky to have such a smart, caring and supportive mother. You have done a lot to help him be healthy and I think that is great.
NMM
