Re: Frustrated... How long before you see improvement

[Guest guest]

I'm 17 months into the diet, and still working on my first 5 pound bag of almond

flour. I do eat my share of almond butter, but figure why push things with

almond flour? I want to make sure I'm good and healed before dabbling much in

advanced foods :-)

Holly

Crohn's

SCD 12/01/08

>

> Maybe I tried to speed up use of the baked goods too much. (Ate baked goods

with Almond Flour over the weekend.)

>

[Guest guest]

Couliflower is very gassy to most people, even ones without bowel problems. I would stick with the following (it's what i'm eating because of a flare going on 3 months now) I've been on the diet for about a year so far.Here's some ideas depending on what you can tolerate.Chicken soup made for the INTRO - skim the fat, and only carrots and salt. Nothing else.Cheesecakeyogurt and banana in a blender for a banana milkshake (great breakfast)dinner casserole (thanks Marilyn!!) - I brown 3 pounds of ground turkey (scd legal no natural flavorings) in a pan, then put it into a large glass square casserole baking dish. Next, in the same pan you cooked the meat in, add 2 big bags of baby spinach and add some water to make steam. Once the spinach is well wilted and "cooked" you can add it to the meat in the casserole dish. In a blender I blend about 8 or 9 jumbo eggs, and add some egg whites just because I want to :)add 2x 7.5 ounce packs of farmer's cheese to the eggs in the blender and blend. This will make a creamy white base for your meat to hold together. Pour this mixtur onto the meat/spinach and mix wellShred 1.5-2 pounds of MILD cheddar cheese and fold into the egg/meat/spinachMix all this together and form it into the casserole dish.I add some shredded cheese to the top at the end and don't mix it in to give the top a sort of crust, but it's whatever you like.Bake at 325-350 for about an hour or until it's brown and bubbly.I can eat this for breakfast/lunch/dinner EVERYDAY and I haven't gotten tired of it yet. Activated charcoal caused problems for me, but the epsom salt baths have always been a HUGE help for me.Good luck!-UC - 1+ yearsSCD - 8 months 100% strict and 4 months restricted diet.Asacol - 12 pills a day Prednisone 40mg entocort With vit E mixed inBack to intro/stage 1 for now.To: BTVC-SCD From: scd.lady@...Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:09:07 +0000Subject: Re: Frustrated... How long before you see improvement

I haven't been eating tons of bone broth (unfortunately). I have started eating cheese again, (which may be part of the problem.)

Besides the cheese, I had been eating chicken, lamb, red meat, zucchini (with the skins off -- which I seemed to do well on), green beans and spinach.

This week, I also introduced the pureed cauliflower (but I notice I have a reaction to the cauliflower too (it contains a little bit of pressed garlic in it.)

I'm restarting the intro diet this weekend, and plan to stick with it as long as feasible (last time, I got really weak and hungry on it.) I discontinued eating yogurt because of the bad reaction, but plan to purchase some goats' milk from a local producer to see if that helps.

I have activated charcoal, but I would like advice about how to take it (and when), and bought some epsom salts (but haven't done but one.)

>

> > I'm still suffering from flare ups (even though this is the first three weeks of the diet). This is graphic: but lots of gas (although the 14-16 trips a day is cut in half.

> >

> > But it's embarrassing, and frustrating. I haven't cheated on the diet yet (no sugar, starches, dairy with lactose, chocolate, gluten, etc;) but it seems like my stomach is still upset.

> >

> > I'm whining, I know but I feel extremely frustrated. Instead of throwing in the towel (like I've done in the past and head straight to cheer myself up with a fast food meal) -- turned to making a fritata instead and checking in here for some answers.

> >

> > How long does it take to see some significant progress on the diet? What should I do until then?

>

>

> SCD is is natural healing - not the kind of healing practiced in western medicine where

> everything magically happens immediately after you take the pill. It can take weeks and

> months and years to heal properly and the trajectory is usually not linear. Patience is a necessity.

>

> So, in order to heal well on this diet, you have to change your expectations that full

> healing will take place on some accelerated schedule. True, that happens for some

> people, but for most people it doesn't.

>

> In light of the above, congratulations - your major symptom has already reduced by half

> during the rocky initial period when your entire gut ecology is being changed around.

>

> But the mental adjustment to this method of healing can take quite a while. But after a

> while it will make lots of sense to you.

>

> If you are having that much gas, it means that you have a lot of pathogenic bacteria

> stirring things up - and part of the reason you are experiencing cravings, if you are,

> is because they are tinging your brain really hard to feed them before they croak.

>

> Have you tried epsom baths and activated charcoal? Are you eating tons of bone broth?

> what else are you doing?

>

> Also, if you cheat, while it may taste good while the food is in your mouth for 30 seconds,

> not to mention the brief afterglow, you'll probably get noticeably increased symptoms for

> hours, days or even weeks afterwards. Kind of an incentive not to cheat, because

> you will experience first hand that they only harm you.

>

>

> Mara

>

The New Busy is not the too busy. Combine all your e-mail accounts with Hotmail. Get busy.

[Guest guest]

I've ben on SCD for about a year and I can't say that it's helped me at all physically. Emotionally, it's helped alot. It's something to "fight back" with. aside form just taking more meds. -UC - 1+ yearsSCD - 8 months 100% strict and 4 months restricted diet.Asacol - 12 pills a day Prednisone 40mg entocort With vit E mixed inBack to intro/stage 1 for now.To: BTVC-SCD From: LouisianaSCDLagniappe@...Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:41:54 -0500Subject: Re: Frustrated... How long before you see improvement

At 06:34 PM 4/27/2010, you wrote:

How long does it take to see

some significant progress on the diet? What should I do until then?

You said, "This is graphic: but lots of gas (although the 14-16

trips a day is cut in half)."

If that isn't "significant progress," what is?

How long have you been ill?

As for what you do: stick religiously and fanatically to SCD.

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from your inbox. See how.

[Guest guest]

At 10:10 PM 4/28/2010, you wrote:

I can eat this for

breakfast/lunch/dinner EVERYDAY and I haven't gotten tired of it yet.

I make this with broccoli, also, if it's tolerated. You can swap around

your ground meats, your vegetables, and the kinds of cheeses to make a

variation.

Glad you like it!

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

[Guest guest]

Have you tried the basic recipes in the BTVC book?  Also the stages on pecanbread.com may help. 

 

Did you add the garlic to the cauliflower?  Cauliflower may be considered advanced to some.  Garlic also depending on the amount.  Almond flour is also advanced. 

 

All vegetables and fruits should be cooked, peeled and deseeded until you see improvements in symptoms.

 

Make intro foods you tolerate like gelatin, chicken soup with carrots, hamburger patties, broiled fish, cheesecake, yogurt, DCCC if you can find it, add steamed or baked zucchini--see how it goes, add pumpkin pie filling and see how it goes--go a day or two (maybe four) in between adding each new food.  Lemon curd is easy--no crust on the cheesecake or lemon curd for now.  Meringues.  Try small amounts of legal medium cheddar cheese off the bar--not pre-grated.  Bone broth with a cap of apple cider vinegar to leach the minerals out is great also to alternate with chicken soup.  Winter squash, french cut green beans, etc.  Check out the book and the stages.  Wait to try anything other than very basic foods.  You can roast whole chickens with lemon and salt.  Chicken livers, lamb, steak, shrimp, broiled fish.  There's no reason to go hungry even on the intro.  There's no limit on foods, just types of food.  Don't try any raw salads. salsas, etc. right now.  Dilute all juices by at least 50% with filtered water.  No seltzer for now.

 

Some of the recipes you are seeing are tempting right now.  Just look at it like medicine.  We all have emotional value in food.  For now, it's here to make you healthy.  Avoid even legal junk food like pork rinds. 

 

Nut butters soon but probably not yet. 

 

Just make sure it's all cooked, peeled and deseeded.  Cuts of meat are better than ground meat because they add a lot of fat to the ground meat.  Avoid OJ for now until you are better.  The book says avoid eggs until 'd' has really improved. 

 

As for the yogurt, you could try acidolpholus caps for now then check later with like 1/8t. to see how you react.  At least you'll know if it's the dairy or die-off.

 

Good luck, the book really does have good beginner (and advanced) recipes to get you started.  I ate the same thing basically rotating for four days for months and months--and months adding or trying one thing at a time.  I couldn't eat garlic for a long time.  Tomatoes, winter squash (still iffy on that one but it doesn't kill me now).

 

The above is imho.  If it seems familiar, Kim M. and Marilyn were very patient and helpful with me the entire time (no idea why!).  It was hard finding anything vegetable or fruit I could eat.  It's doable.

 

Debbie 41 cd houston

[Guest guest]

> I have activated charcoal, but I would like advice about how to take it (and

when), and bought some epsom salts (but haven't done but one.)

I've been taking charcoal (I buy it by the pound) for years. I mix a heaping

teaspoon into water, stir and drink. I do this whenever I'm feeling toxic due

to die-off from lyme; it's a very distinct feeling for me and I automatically

reach for the charcoal. Makes me feel better right away.

[Guest guest]

Today is my diet-day. I've been SCD strict for exactly one year. The healing

process may take a long long time...

I feel much better than one year ago

:-)

> >

> > Maybe I tried to speed up use of the baked goods too much. (Ate baked goods

with Almond Flour over the weekend.)

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Congratulations!

 

Today is my diet-day. I've been SCD strict for exactly one year. The healing process may take a long long time... I feel much better than one year ago:-)

> >> > Maybe I tried to speed up use of the baked goods too much. (Ate baked goods with Almond Flour over the weekend.)> >>

[Guest guest]

Congratulations on the one year mark!! Yes, it is slow but worth it.

PJ

> > >

> > > Maybe I tried to speed up use of the baked goods too much. (Ate baked

goods with Almond Flour over the weekend.)

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I wish you have not had such a hard time. You have really been a trooper

learning to cook SCD and stick to the diet. I know for a young single guy this

is hard. I am hoping for you to turn the corner.

PJ

>

>

> How long does it take to see

> some significant progress on the diet? What should I do until then?

>

>

> You said, " This is graphic: but lots of gas (although the 14-16

> trips a day is cut in half). "

>

>

> If that isn't " significant progress, " what is?

>

>

> How long have you been ill?

>

>

> As for what you do: stick religiously and fanatically to SCD.

>

>

>

> —

> Marilyn

>

> New

> Orleans, Louisiana, USA

>

> Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

>

> Darn Good SCD Cook

>

> No Human Children

>

> Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

>

> Babette the Foundling Beagle

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> _________________________________________________________________

> Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from your

inbox.

>

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>

[Guest guest]

Thank you so much Marilyn,

It really helps to know that someone has been there. Part of me hurt when

reading your message, because I've been in a lot of those situations. Especially

when you were talking about work and accidents. I've had far too many to count

(although mine were " gas " related and of course the need to find a restroom

immediately (14 - 15 times a day).

One thing I wanted to ask is have you gone into remission with your cancer? I

hope you have.

The toughest part for me now is living with an unsupportive family. I have

issues with food too. I was 198 lbs before starting this diet. I've had tummy

issues for years...and there were times I starved myself to KEEP from eating.

After starting this new job, I began eating, eating, eating to make myself feel

better.

Of course, you know how that went! Hah! I gained weight AND my stomach issues

got worse. So bad, in fact, I ended up with ulcers, GERD and a hernia, on top of

the other symptoms.

With me, the diarrhea isn't persistent. (Graphic again). They're formed

stools..it's just the constant gassiness (uncontrollable) and the constant need

for a bathroom. Since my cycle began (it always gets terrible around this time)

it's like I never even started the diet. I've been eating soup intermittently

though.

This weekend, I'm going to cut out the cheese (no pun intended) and start from

scratch.

> >IBS has nearly ruined my life.

> >

> >I think I know part of the reason I'm having a

> >severe flare up (it's hormonoal-related). But, it still sucks, though.

> >

> >I'm going to stick with it, but I'm probably

> >going to redo the basic diet for now, and skip out on the cheese for a while.

>

> Trust me, I understand. Take a look at my

> signature: " Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001. "

>

> Mine started about two months after I went on

> birth control pills. No doctors listened to me.

>

> In 1976, I had normal digestive function, and

> weighed 130 pounds. I was to be married in July,

> and Harry and I did not want to start a family

> immediately, so I visited a recommended

> gynecologist who prescribed birth control pills.

> I questioned the fact that " the Pill " would force

> my system to a 28 day cycle instead of my normal

> 35 day cycle. I was told airily that " my system would adjust to the new

cycle. "

>

> By the time I saw the gynecologist six months

> later, I had on-going diarrhea and urgency which

> made it very difficult to work as a special

> education teacher. Days lost to diarrhea were a

> factor in my not continuing as a teacher. I had

> also gained around 50 pounds. The gynecologist's

> comment was that I could lose the weight if I

> wanted to, but clearly, now that I'd snared a

> husband, I didn't see any reason to maintain

> myself. He also threatened that if I couldn't

> stop stuffing my face, I would have to have

> surgery to remove part of my gut. That comment,

> BTW, was why I never saw a gynecologist again

> until 2008, and why the endometrial cancer became

> cancer -- it could have been caught before it was

> cancer if I'd had regular Pap smears, but I

> refused to subject myself to that kind of

> emotional abuse. My questions about the onset of

> the diarrhea and the weight gain being related to

> " the Pill " were dismissed as irrelevant. " Take a

> little lomotil if it bothers you, " I was told.

>

> I never went back to that gynecologist, or any other.

>

> By the time my weight hit 225, I was feeling

> desperate. I paid for an endocrinologist out of

> my own pocket. I had explosive diarrhea as a

> result of the glucose tolerance test (though I

> didn't know at the time that that was what caused

> it), I was told that everything was normal, and

> that I could lose weight if I wanted to, by

> getting a little exercise, like pushing myself

> away from the table. I was accused of cheating

> when I gained weight on his high carbohydrate, low fat diet.

>

> I never went back to that endocrinologist.

>

> The following year, I was introduced to a program

> called Diet Workshop. I bought cook books, and

> prepared my own food. Using a stationary bicycle,

> and 4 miles of walking five days a week, I peeled

> 90 pounds off. I kept it off for three years. The

> diet was remarkably similar to SCD, except that

> it did allow processed foods and grain products.

>

> In May 1982, I fell and injured my back and

> knees. Between May and October, I regained 68

> pounds, thanks to a complete inability to

> exercise. Over the next seven years, my weight

> steadily crept up, back to 225 and beyond. No

> matter how little I ate of real food, I couldn't

> lose weight. I was also in a fair way to becoming

> a prescription addict because the only thing

> which gave me relief from my back and knee pain

> was codeine. I was told, of course, that my back

> issues would clear up, if I'd just lose weight.

> All I had to do was discipline myself and stop stuffing my face.

>

> In 1988, I found a partial solution to the back

> pain issues with an alternative product

> containing GLA, gamma linolenic acid. At least I

> no longer needed the codeine, but I still had to

> limit activity or I would end up throwing up from pain.

>

> In 1989, I learned of the Optifast program (one

> of Oprah's many attempts to lose weight and keep

> it off), and embarked on a diet which features

> five 80 calorie " shakes " a day that were so

> sickeningly sweet with artificial sweeteners that

> I was ready to kill for something savory. I lost

> 50 pounds. Seventeen of it in the first week

> thanks to diarrhea. By program standards, I

> should have lost 100. If, of course, I wasn't

> cheating. I wasn't, but, hey, everyone knows that

> the real reason fatties are fat is because they

> just won't stop stuffing their faces and are too

> lazy to get a little exercise. As always, when I

> asked what exercises I could do when walking

> hurt, and so did everything else, I was told,

> " You'll think of something... if you want to. "

>

> I managed to keep my weight mostly stable for

> around seven years, but I was never able to loose

> any more weight, and I couldn't afford to redo

> the Optifast program. Insurance, of course,

> wouldn't pay for it because weight loss is merely

> a cosmetic issue. Besides, everyone knows that

> fatties are fat because they just won't stop stuffing their faces.

>

> In 1999, around the time I began to hit

> menopause, my weight went completely out of

> control. The less I ate, the more weight I

> gained. I was depressed and miserable. But hey, I

> had the solution for that – if I could discipline

> myself – all I had to do was get a little

> exercise – like pushing myself away from the table.

>

> Of course, the fact that the diarrhea and urgency

> I'd suffered with for 23 years was also out of

> control had no relation to my weight issues. The

> fact that I was tempted to wear adult diapers

> when we went out to eat because I could count on

> not making it home without a blowout wasn't a

> real medical issue. If I mentioned the problem to

> a doctor – any doctor – the response was, " Just

> take a little lomotil if it bothers you. "

>

> I will never forget the morning in 2000 when I

> opened the Waldenbooks at Oakwood (Gretna,

> Louisiana, closed in 2001). I was the only

> employee in the store. Around 10:30, I had

> explosive diarrhea – and could not leave the

> sales floor to clean up. I had to call another

> employee and beg them to come in – and they took

> an hour and a half to get there. Meanwhile, I hid

> behind the cash register, feces running down my

> legs, continuing to ring out customers and pray I

> didn't have to leave the register. When the other

> employee arrived, I tied my sweater around my

> hips to hide the brown stains all over my

> trousers. I took paper towels and cleaned up the

> mess on the carpet behind the register. I walked

> out, hoping no one would notice it was me

> dribbling all over the tiles on my way out of the

> mall. The response when I called for medical

> help? " Take a little lomotil if it bothers you! " Bothers me?!

>

> Fortunately, I had on-line access. After

> significant research, I found a book called

> Breaking the Vicious Cycle, by Elaine Gottschall.

> I read it – a diet which was a solution for

> Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis,

> diverticulitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. I

> have followed it for the last nine years. The

> only time I have difficulties if is I eat out and

> my food gets contaminated with " illegals. " We cut

> a full hour from our travel time on a trip to

> Atlanta because we did not have to make bathroom

> stops every two hours for me. There is no way I

> will ever go off it for any reason.

>

> So yes, I do understand. It's one of the reasons

> I dedicate as much time as I do to this list.

> BTW, my issues always got worse around the time

> of my menstrual cycle. SCD does heal -- but it

> also takes time. I was sick for 25 years. <wry

> grin> Be kind of silly of me to have expected I

> would get well in a couple of months.

>

> SCD is a healing diet, and improvement does

> happen. It's like the day I went shopping at a

> mall, and realized I wasn't hunting for every

> restroom, so I could sprint to it when the

> urgency hit. Or the month that I realized I'd had

> " trophies " all month -- and hadn't had to change

> my underwear three times a day.

>

> Keep in mind that this list exists to help. I

> think you knew you'd seen improvement, but all of

> us want to be better instantly. We get frustrated

> when it doesn't happen. But it will. Two steps

> forward and one step back.... over and over and

> over.... and one day, you will know that you've improved, without a doubt.

>

>

>

> — Marilyn

> New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

> Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

> Darn Good SCD Cook

> No Human Children

> Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

> Babette the Foundling Beagle

>

[Guest guest]

*hugs* man, ! I " m so sorry you went through that. Yeah, I have been lucky

to have a safe place.

I don't even know what to say. I have been in those psych places (only on an

outpatient basis) during the three years I was at home. I had a friend in

college who was committed against his will by his parents in a psych ward.

It's a scary situation that no human being should ever face. When I was

receiving treatment (it was a public-run facility), I had a nurse say, (she said

she was joking, but it just scared me) that if she wanted to, she could say I

was crazy, have me committed to a psych ward and there would be nothing I could

do about it.

Just really scary.

I was on several " psych " drugs -- none that helped of course -- before coming to

the SC diet.

> > > >How long does it take to see some significant

> > > >progress on the diet? What should I do until then?

> > >

> > > You said, " This is graphic: but lots of gas

> > > (although the 14-16 trips a day is cut in half). "

> > >

> > > If that isn't " significant progress, " what is?

> > >

> > > How long have you been ill?

> > >

> > > As for what you do: stick religiously and fanatically to SCD.

> > >

> > >

> > > — Marilyn

> > > New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

> > > Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

> > > Darn Good SCD Cook

> > > No Human Children

> > > Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

> > > Babette the Foundling Beagle

> > >

> >

> >

> >

>