Re: Severe indigestion every afternoon

[Guest guest]

At 12:26 PM 10/31/2008, you wrote:

My boyfriend who has Crohn's

disease has been on this diet for three months. He was feeling great

until a few weeks ago when he started to have a sharp pain in his gut

every afternoon. It's really debilitating and he's worried that the diet

is no longer working for him. Any suggestions on what he should

do?

First, is he keeping a food log? It's possible that he's eating

something, or has added something to his diet which is causing the gut

pain.

I think the fact that he saw improvement in the first weeks on SCD

indicates that he should be one of those whom SCD will help -- but

remember, long-term damage takes time to heal. You didn't say how long

he's had problems, but I'm guessing it's been awhile.

There are a couple of possibilities for why you're seeing regression.

First and foremost, he may have added foods in too quickly, or he might

be doing what I did -- eating too much of a particular variety of food.

(In my case, I had to cut WAY back on fruit and honey, but some people

tolerate fruit and honey just fine, and don't handle things which are my

staples, like cheese, very well at all.)

Let us know what he's eating, and maybe we can spot some problematic

items and give some suggestions.

Secondly, he might be hitting what's sometimes called " the three

month flare. "

As you're aware, the objective of SCD is to starve out the bad bacteria.

Well, it has been observed that right around three months on the diet,

he's done such a good job of starving them that their numbers are

dropping rapidly. He's gotten rid of most of the weak sisters amongst the

bad bacteria and the remaining ones are the stronger ones.

So in effect, right now, he's saying, " Away with you! " and

they're saying " H-ll no, we won't go! " and creating havoc for

him. So it is absolutely critical that he hold fast at this point and not

eat any illegals, because if you feed the bacteria right now, you'll let

those stronger ones multiple, and then they'll be that much harder to

starve out.

The " three month flare " can occur anywhere from 9 weeks to 16

weeks. It can also occur again at 6-7 months, and 10-12 months. Those

bacteria are stubborn. But HE is more stubborn.

—

Marilyn

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund