Continued blood loss with UC on diet - how long is normal?

[Guest guest]

Hello,

This is my first post here, so sorry if this is too much detail, but I feel a

little lost about what is happening and I dont' know how much information is

helpful for anwering my questions. Thank to everyone who reads this!!

Here is a brief paragraph about my history. I had painful bloating/distention

from 6 rounds of antibiotics in 8 months, then started bleeding after the last

round in June 09, at which time I was diagnosed with UC. I tried various dietary

changes and avoided medicine until December 09 when I had a blood transfusion

and started prednazone and mesalamine. The prednazone didnt' seem to help that

much and has caused lots of painful side effects, but mesalamine stopped the

bleeding (at that point it was 8-12/day most with blood) and I was very anemic.

Turns out I am allergic to mesalamine, so I went off of that in mid-January

right after starting to eat only SCD legal foods. I was on allegra for the drug

rash, but when I stopped that the bleeding returned in much smaller quantities.

I continued to only go 3ish times/day, less urgency, minimal pain by comparison,

and less bloating/gas.

(I had also been experiencing schizophrenic symptoms that increased gradually

since the first round of antibiotics, which I had to mentally turn off, and

which have subsided since the transfusion and introduction of the diet.)

I just restarted with the actual beginner's diet last week and did that for 5

days (turns out the DCCC I bought for it was not legal and contained sugar). I

ate a bunch of bananas for a day, because I was getting really fatigued and

headachy from almost no carbs for so long. Then I ate only legal cheese/chicken

soup for most of the day to restart the diet and then added in squash and

spinach, which seemed to settle with me okay.

I realized bananas are not so good for me in large quantities - they cause

burning. And cheese might not be good at all (gassy, bloating), so I stopped

both, and seem to be doing better today. Mostly formed stools! But still

bleeding since mid-January.

I was wondering how long it takes people to get better from the bleeding? My

gastroenterologist had not heard of the diet - but said I could give her info

about it! - and wanted me start another drug, which would take a long time to

work and has many side effects. I would like to avoid medications if possible. I

am just now finishing my taper with prednazone, and it is literally hell coming

off of it.

I guess another question I have for people is, what do you experience when

starting the diet and/or coming down from prednisone? I have had aches, joint

pain, headaches, anger, fits of crying that last up to half-an-hour, inability

to concentrate, fatigue (hard to walk up stairs), difficulty sleeping, violent

thoughts, feeling feverish, and my planterfaciitis has come back after a couple

years without it (thanks to yoga!). If all this is normal, then that's great. I

just feel at a loss about what is happening to me. (I read that detoxing by

starving out bacteria can cause some of this....but it feels very extreme!)

I guess one more question is, in your experience, is eating a lot of red meat

(particularly beef) okay for a while in the beginning? That seems to settle best

with me, and the fat in it satisfies really really bad fat cravings I've been

having. Tried peanut butter once but I think that is too harsh.

Thanks to anyone who has any input on one (or all!) of my questions. I have a

great naturopathic doctor, but I feel feedback from people going through this

would be really helpful.

Kat

27 years old

Diagnosed UC June '09

Meds: end of taper with prednazone

SCD foods only: Jan '10

Restart at beginning of diet Feb. '10