rough start for first two weeks on scd, should I try adding meds to stablize?

November 8, 2008

I've been on the SCD for two weeks now. Feeling really lethargic,

struggling with energy, still having blood in stool. Having

difficulty functioning at work. I've been on prednisone 4/5 out of 5

years and desperately trying to get off. I was hoping SCD would help

stablize things so I could avoid more meds. I can either double my

prednisone from 20 to 40mg, or my doctor suggested staying on 20mg and

starting humira.

Since starting the diet, my pattern of waking up during the night

through the early morning to have bowel movements remains. Averaging

5-10 times of this, of which the first 3-4 are actual formed bowel

movements, then it's mostly a mix of blood and stool. It is worth

noting I have bowel movements that are mostly soft, not actual

diarreah (meaning liquid, sorry for the graphics, just trying to be

clear). This was the case before starting SCD too.

I did the starter diet for 2 days. I felt very hungry and after the

first week, introduced more SCD recipes out of the BTVC book, and felt

less hungry. I may have needed more time on the starter diet, but I

was barely able to function at work while on it.

On the bright side, I've had several days where I felt better, more

energetic, less nautious/blah, about 3 days out of 14. I went to the

bathroom 3 times or less during the night/early morning on these days.

After the first week on the diet, I noted less bloating and gas. Week

2 introduced more foods and had more bloating again.

I've read some people need to stablize on meds before the scd can

really work for them. So I would like to ask for any insights you can

share around your experience with this - starting the diet, but not

getting much better, and then stablizing on meds, did it help you reap

the benefits from the diet and eventually taper off meds?

appreciate any insights you have on using meds to stabilize IBD so the

SCD can be more effective, as well as anything else that comes to

mind. thanks!

SCD 2 weeks

UC 5 years

20mg prednisone

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