(Part 2) Top products from r/CrohnsDisease

I was in a somewhat similar situation a few months ago. My Crohn's was "in remission" but I was still having gut cramps. I did strict paleo for awhile and that helped some but didn't completely get rid of my cramping. I found the FODMAP diet online and figured it was worth a try and I was surprised by how much it helped me. I used this book as my guide and it's pretty thorough but not over-the-top crazy like some diet books can be. I had to cook all my meals for myself the first couple weeks to make sure I didn't accidentally eat something that is "not allowed" but now I can be a little less strict and not have bad symptoms. It did take the full two weeks of the elimination diet before I noticed a change in my symptoms so if you don't notice a change immediately it might still help!

The hardest part was cooking without garlic and onion but chives and green onion are decent replacements. For the most part, I base my meals around a typical "paleo" meal with more cooked veggies/potatoes and less meat and I make substitutions for the non-FODMAP friendly foods. I think corn is the only approved food that I have issues with sometimes...I'm pretty lucky in that respect. Of course, don't eat foods that you know don't work for you just because the diet says they're safe! I'm happy to help more if you have questions...just let me know! Best of luck to you and I hope you can find some safe foods.

If you're really interested in how diet can affect auto-immune disease, I've been reading this great book called The Paleo Approach by Sarah Ballantyne http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paleo-Approach-The-Sarah-Ballantyne/dp/1936608391 She has a great website too, called The Paleo Mom http://www.thepaleomom.com/ and you can get a good flavour of what her book is about from there.

I originally came from SCD to try and manage my symptoms and had good success, but didn't stick to it longterm enough, and reverted back to normal diet, but then flared up again funnily enough. I'm following it again but with the bonus knowledge I've gained from The Paleo Approach so I've learned what foods are particularly vicious towards auto-immune disease and what encourages heeling. Bone broth being particularly great as you've found doing the intro, and boosting vit D3 and Omega3 foods as much as poss through food mainly, with a wee top up of multi -vitamins each day.

When you haven't got bone broth to hand, as its a bit if chore to make continuously, I have a couple of glasses of hot fruit juice with a spoonful of gelatine in. Gelatine has been proven to aid digestion, and is supposedly quite good at helping babies cope with consuming milk, so may help if you are finding issues with dairy related products. I only have hard cheeses myself and cope well with the SCD yogurt anyway, but the bonus effect of it suppisedly helping to heal the mucosal lining jn your intestine makes it worth a punt. This is gelatine made from animals products by the way.

On the idea of Paleo diet, there is also what's called the auto-immune protocol which is a bit like the SCD starter diet in a way, give that a google for more info.

I'm gonna take some downvotes here to make a recommendation here to you that you may not be aware of. There is no cure, but a lot of people find some relief through managing their diet. There are a lot of choices, and every person is different, but in my opinion it's worth exploring. Not just my opinion either, but in the opinion of some very smart Doctors and others who see multiple patients and different cases. If they feel that there is some value in pursuing therapy through diet, I'm game to try. For me, so far, I'm experiencing a profound difference in my condition, and I like to think it's partly due to my diet. I don't know, but, it certainly doesn't hurt to try.

Here's my favorite resource. A brand new book by a practicing GI and GI prof. He practices at Seattle Children's and is a Professor at the University of Washington. I have confidence that it's at least worth a try. Here's the book, the diet is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Good luck friend.

There is no specific test that could be performed. However, you might consider a consult with a pediatric gastroenterologist with respect to a monitoring program. I would suggest that an annual fecal calprotectin test, in conjunction with ensuring vitamin D sufficiency, might go a long way towards early detection, and prevention (respectively).

Note that while the "standard" for vitamin D is 30 ng/mL, we really don't know what is required to prevent autoimmune disease. 30 is enough to stave off most of the bone and dental problems, but we're really not sure where it should be for optimal human health. However, I would opine that, for those at greater risk for Crohn's, something like 40-50 (and maybe even to 60) ng/mL might be better. Consult your pediatrician; however, if they give the standard line of 400 IU/day, beware: again, that's enough to prevent rickets, but we don't know about autoimmune disease.

Note that Crohn's and other autoimmune diseases are very rare in tropical and developing countries; there is a clear north-south gradient that is suggestive of vitamin D deficiency being a problem. Inasmuch as swimsuit-level irradiation from the sun provides about 1000 IU/minute, it seems likely that our equatorial brethren are getting much more than Europeans and Americans. (Also note that showering with soap and water may be removing vitamin D from the skin; dietary supplementation- preferably with liver, eggs, cod liver oil- may help.)

Lastly, eat fermented foods. I would strongly encourage reading Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Dr. Weston Price, as well as the WAP Foundation's Nourishing Traditions. I can't stress this enough: Nourishing Traditions will seem like the most flake-a-zoid thing you've ever read, but they're absolutely, bang-on correct.

Anyway- if I had kids, they'd be eating a lot of fermented foods (not soy), getting lots of sunlight, playing in the mud, and getting all the fat and protein I could stuff into them, without wheat and minimizing other grains.

Good luck.

hm, well short stories are generally my go to for lighter reading so I'll recommend a few of those.

Always looking to promote Italo Calvino; desert island picks would probably be Invisible Cities and Cosmicomics. The Baron in the Trees, while not resembling the first two in vignette formatting, also bears mentioning as a personal favorite. Calvino does what some derisively refer to as "magical realism" in the most elegant way. The word economy that he can employ in a description to give a character real depth is utterly stunning.

If that's not your jam, Etgar Keret is also fantastic - in addition to being woefully under appreciated in the states. He writes a lot of "sudden fiction," a vaguely campy term for really short short-fiction; it's dark stuff though, sort of like an Israeli Franz Kafka who watched the Simpsons and read Pynchon. Girl on the Fridge and The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God are excellent collections to start with.

I mention him last because he's probably the most famous but Haruki Murakami is a perennial favorite of mine, The Elephant Vanishes being a lovely collection of short stories. Were I not in this subreddit, I'd forgo mentioning that this is one of the books that lives in my washroom on the toilet tank, but I'm sure my fellow crohnies will understand.

Hope there are a couple suggestions there that are new to you, happy reading.

I have UC, and I'm also studying to be a psychologist. ACT is great - out of all the kinds of therapy out there, I think it's one of the best for individuals with chronic illnesses :-) If you're interested in learning more about it, check out the book Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life by Steve Hayes.

There's a lot of variation in the type of support that different patients want, so my advice would be to ask your sister what you could do to best support her. (The fact that you're on this sub, and asking this question, is awesome!) In addition, I'd recommend that you learn as much as you can about Crohn's symptoms, treatments, and side effects - I think that would help, no matter what kind of support she needs.

Every patient is different - but for me, personally, the most supportive people in my life are the ones who acknowledge the fact that living with IBD is hard, but treat it as a normal part of life, and don't don't treat me like an invalid (sometimes that can be a very fine line to walk!). My boyfriend and closest friends all have a basic understanding of IBD, have volunteered to accompany me to doctor's appointments (and kept me company during colonoscopy prep!), give me first dibs on the bathroom when I'm not feeling well, and are understanding if I need to avoid certain foods or cancel plans due to illness.

I got a cookbook, cooking with crohn's and colitis. http://www.amazon.ca/How-Cook-Crohns-Colitis-delicious/dp/1581825927

It was a pretty good base. Basically what I learned is that I just can't eat garbage. Some of the recipes are pretty good but some are kind of over the top and take a lot of time to prep so tweak it to what suits you best

My name is Wes Hazard, I'm a Boston-based standup comic & storyteller. I've been diagnosed w/ Crohn's for 16 years and while I'm fortunate that it doesn't affect me too much day-to-day I've definitely had some serious scrapes, this story is about one of them. Much of my work can be found on my website and on social media (@weshazard) and I just recently had my humor book published. Happy to answer any questions!

Please get this book. It radically changed how I deal with the disease. I hope it helps you too.

https://www.amazon.com/Self-Healing-Colitis-Crohns-3rd/dp/0971752648

What to Eat with IBD is a really good book I got recently after being at a loss with my diet. The author is a Crohnie who became a dietitian to take control of her health, and the book has really solid advice. Tons of ideas, recipes, example meal plans, etc. Her nutritional explanations make sense and aren't medical jargon. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Topol’s book “Deep Medicine” is worth a read if anyone is interested in the realistic possibilities of AI and medicine.

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Go for the diet! I highly recommend. My partner has ulcerative colitis and this was the only thing that worked. You're very lucky you have a doctor open to this; most refuse to investigate non-medical options, strangely. Ignore any weird references toxins or cleanses - this must be some new, lame spin on it - SCD is actually very straight forward and science-based. Yes, strict at first , but once you get your guts stabilized, you can experiment and let some "illegal" foods back in...

Books to get started:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0969276818/ref=pd_aw_sims_2/182-1240542-1141736?pi=SY115&simLd=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/159233282X?pc_redir=1412274841&robot_redir=1

Sounds extremely familiar. Particularly the part about clean eating; I ate "clean" for years prior to my diagnosis. I wanted to scream to all those bloggers, "then why didn't it save me then?!" In a cruel twist of fate, I now can only eat low residue, which is a very "unclean" diet.

These books were helpful to me, they made me realize it wasn't abnormal to feel the way I did.

• Chronic Resilience
  
• Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired

When people know they have something that will likely be passed on to their children is it not selfish to have them?

To put it another way: Q: Is it selfish to condemn an orphan to suffer for the sake of your hormones and vanity?
A: Absolutely, especially when there is a chance that the kid will inherit a disease.

Q: Where would we draw the line?

A: This is the controversial issue. People are divided on their beliefs of when a life begins and what (if anything) constitutes a life that isn't worth living. While in some countries women are punished for having a natural birth loss (miscarriage), in others women have the right to chose to have a birth loss medically induced. The same goes for death with dignity. When a dog or cat is beyond help people can easily see it's humane to end their suffering. Unfortunately that's rarely the case with humans. Eugenics has been used for nefarious reasons in the past, so it has a terrible reputation. Many prefer to err on the side of promoting child abuse and neglect because they think restricting anyone, no matter how unprepared or abusive, from making as many kids as they can is the beginning of a march toward a future like Gattaca or Brave New World.

If you are interested in bioethics you might want to check out this book.