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Whole30 with inflammatory bowel disease


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Anyone got any experience doing Whole30 with Crohns/colitis or any other digestive disorder?

I've had some success already going grain and legume free and giving up alcohol. But I'm still on quite a few medications, although I am no longer on steroids and am tapering off 2 of my meds. I have a colon stricture and I take miralax every day at the moment, otherwise I get blocked up and it's very painful. It's got much worse over xmas when I haven't eaten as well and had some foods that don't agree with me, so I'm hoping that the Whole30 will get me going on clean eating again. I'm interested to see what stopping dairy and sugar will do as well.

Any other Crohnies out there with Whole30 success to report?

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pandagirl - I just posted a little on the unsupportive docs thread, but, "Me! Me!" I have a stricture at my terminal ileum, as well as significant scar tissue around that area. Here's a little more of my story (from my terribly stagnant, I'm afraid) blog:

In 2005, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease (through an exploratory surgery that left me that beautiful scar you see in my photos). All my life I had struggled with "phantom" stomach pains and unexplained illness. I had taken antacids, iron supplements, vitamin B... The doctors called it acid reflux, anemia and even imagination. I called it miserable. The pain would come and go, often with months between flare ups.

But then in the fall of 2004 things started going downhill. By May of 2005, I could not eat any solid foods without vomiting. I could not consume anything but water without intense pain. I spent most of my days asleep in bed, which was not ideal for a college sophomore. I stopped going to any class before noon and was home in bed again by 2. I had lost close to 10 lbs (which is a lot on a 5 foot frame), but looked like I was 6 months pregnant.

On Mother's Day in 2005, my mom saved my life. After an unsuccessful attempt at lunch, she insisted that I go to the ER and find out what was causing all my pain. Unwilling to settle for another brush-off diagnosis, she pushed until we got some answers. That answer was emergency surgery and the largest small intestine my surgeon had ever seen. It was completely blocked and swollen with methane gas. The doctor said it was a miracle it hadn't exploded.

While the diagnosis and surgery were difficult, I rejoiced in finally having an answer to my life-long struggle. There was a name for my problem; there was a solution. As strange as it seemed at the time, I celebrated my sickness.

The road to recovery was long, but once I got back to status quo maintenance was easy. The drugs worked well and my life returned to normal. I got married, finished school, had babies.

Once I had my kids, I found I didn't need my medication anymore. But it wasn't until my gym held a paleo challenge,that I learned just how much BETTER I could feel cutting out the grains and dairy. It's been 2 and a half years since then and we've never looked back. I am asymptomatic, happy, and healthy. I hope your story turns out just as well as mine and I'm happy to answer any questions you have along the way.

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I have Crohns as well. I just started my second Whole30 yesterday. I'm actually going to get an xray today, hoping that it's just my holiday eating and not really an obstruction (but it feels like a pretty bad one). We'll see how things go. My plan is scrambled eggs and soup and maybe squash for a few days.

I can't tell you how much better I felt after my Whole30, which ended sometime in October. And I kept feeling awesome through December when I started eating more junk. I've been on immune suppression non-stop for about 8 years (frequent bouts of steroids, some Remicade and too many hospital stays for bowel rest). And October and November were the best I've felt in about 9 years. I totally and completely credit the Whole30 for that. I really believe this is the way to go, I'm even giving my GI specialist a copy of the book at my next appointment. Good luck!

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I just want to say that all three of you top posters are incredibly courageous. Robin, your Mom is a hero. That was so inspiring!

It's so empowering to know your situation and to work with it, not in spite of it. These are the only bodies we'll ever have! I have irritable bowl syndrome and lifelong dysthymia (low level depression) which I believe are linked. Since doing my W30 in August, I found complete remission in my depression and a vast improvement in my digestion. This time around, I'm part of the Whole100 group, and I'm looking forward to completing it with a diet low in FODMAPS. I'm hoping to see my gut heal like never before, and get rid of that terrible pain and bloating I experienced on a daily basis.

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gin- sending you all the best! Bone broth is another great option if you're having trouble getting solid food in there. Here's hoping that there's nothing really wrong in there! Keep up posted, for sure!

Suzy - my mom has always, always gone to bat for me - from coaching my teachers through educating me (I'm classically something called an Active Alert), to insisting to my doctors that my pain wasn't psychosomatic. She's the reason I've come so far, and I can only hope to be that kind of advocate for my girls. Interestingly enough, my mom also has dysthymia (and seasonal affective disorder) and she's getting ready to launch her first W30 (well, 90) on the 15th. She has a host of other health problems, as well, and I can't wait to be the reason for change in her life that she was in mine. :wub:

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gin - best of luck, let us know how it turned out.

Robin - I hope you continue to stay symptom free. Thanks for sharing your story.

The Whole30 has definitely shown me a few triggers that I didn't know I had - dried fruit, for example - I always thought that was fine, but it definitely isn't. I've seen some improvements, but I think this is a process that will take a lot of tweaking to get my diet right long term. I am definitely looking at adopting a mostly paleo diet after this - dairy isn't coming back, and I was mostly off grains anyway before.

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Interestingly enough, my mom also has dysthymia (and seasonal affective disorder) and she's getting ready to launch her first W30 (well, 90) on the 15th. She has a host of other health problems, as well, and I can't wait to be the reason for change in her life that she was in mine. :wub:

What an honor to be able to be in her corner for this. I hope she experiences the W30 like I did, totally ambushed by good feelings around week 3! :D

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I'm on Day 8 and I thought I'd update. I was worried last week that I wouldn't be able to complete a Whole30 limiting myself to soft foods for the partial obstruction. But I've been able to and I thought I'd share :)

I've eaten a lot of squash and sweet potatos, cooked til soft. I've eaten a lot of eggs. I've had some meat, but in fairly small quantities. I've had chicken soup, cooked until everything nice and soft (some leeks, celery, carrots, onion). I've eaten a lot of avocado/guacamole and coconut butter for my fats.

I haven't had much in the way of greens. No raw fruit or veggies.

I've been able to stay full and satisfied by having 3-4 meals each day, 4 because the meals have often been smaller due to the GI issues.

And this week, today Monday Day 8, I can feel the Whole30 working it's magic. I've still got the bowel issues from my Crohns, but my mood and energy are way better after 1 week of clean healthy eating. So I'm really glad I've stuck with it.

Psychologically, this is a big deal too. Because in years past, a Crohns flare or partial obstruction included being advised to eat easily digestable foods like white bread. For a lot of years when I was initially diagnosed, I lived on the worst of the SAD (think pop tarts, bagels, bread, etc) when I wasn't on a liquid diet (of jello, canned/pureed soups, pudding). So my initial mental response was to want those things when I started feeling awful.

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Psychologically, this is a big deal too. Because in years past, a Crohns flare or partial obstruction included being advised to eat easily digestable foods like white bread. For a lot of years when I was initially diagnosed, I lived on the worst of the SAD (think pop tarts, bagels, bread, etc) when I wasn't on a liquid diet (of jello, canned/pureed soups, pudding). So my initial mental response was to want those things when I started feeling awful.

I think this is really important for those of us with digestive disorders! I spent 10 months living on oreos, milk and spaghetti-o's because they required little to no digestion. Then, we wonder why it's so hard for us to break that illness cycle! Everything we were eating when we were sick was making us sicker!

So glad to hear you're feeling better Gin!!

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gin, thats good you're managing and getting good results.

I used to live on rice if I had a flare, but I'm pretty sure that was contributing to the problems. I've now been diagnosed with small intestine bacterial overgrowth as well, so I will be re-starting Whole30 again to try and address that, along with probiotics and vitamins/supplements. I can't take antibiotics for it (the conventional treatment option), because of the azathioprine which messes with the immune system, and the last time I took antibiotics I ended up with recurring thrush and a nasty rash, which I think was probably a systemic candida infection. Oh the joys.

I'm pretty sure the bacterial overgrowth has been caused by the PPI's I took for gastric ulcers, which have now caused an insufficiency of stomach acid so I can't digest certain things well at all.

So, doctor has suggested low carbohydrate diet, no sugar, no alcohol, (so basically whole30 then!!) and high strength probiotics. Have done a bit of research into natural remedies for it and it also suggests glutamine and digestive enzymes may be helpful too so will look into that.

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I have had lots of problems with antibiotics too. Pretty much avoid unless hospital level for a few years now. Azathioprine and I have a hate/love relationship:)

Same with PPIs. I was on for a few years and decided no more. It took a while to get my stomach back on track. But probiotics ( from food and supplements) helped a lot. I've never tried any digestive enzymes.

Looking back, I think the simple carbs I ate while flaring lead to bacterial overgrowth issues that made symptoms worse and flares longer. If I only I knew then what I know now!

I hope that things improve quickly for you. Sounds like you've got a great doctor, to advise dietary changes like that.

As you go forward, I have been finding I really need to alternate my meats for symptom control. Obviously varies person to person but for me too many red meat meals seems to slow down my large intestine way too much while too many pork meals has an opposite but also unpleasant effect.

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Azathioprine sucks, but nowhere near as much as steroids for me. Those things blow me up, make me sick and I have to then take a bunch of medications to sort out the side effects!

The stuff they tell you to eat when flaring - man alive it's a sugar and simple carb fest for those nasty bacteria.

My GP is a gem. It's the GI doctors at the hospital I have the problem with, they are completely closed minded and they HATE patients who do their own research. One of them rolled his eyes at me and said "Oh, we have a Googler" to his colleague. I can't stand their arrogant, superior attitude - like they are members of an exclusive club and nobody else can decipher articles in medical journals or the results of research studies :rolleyes: I would have thought that patients who want to take responsibility for their own health would be a dream, especially for the NHS where our medical care is paid for by the state, but all they seem to want to do is throw drugs at me and tell me off like a little kid if I dare ask questions about what the hell is in it and what it might do to my body.

One of them flat out denied there was any evidence for low carb diets improving Crohns, luckily I had come armed with three different studies showing the opposite! Thankfully, my GP is more supportive, with the caveat that if I begin to flare I need to go back to her quickly so I don't end up in the GI ward again!

Surprised I haven't been kicked out of my GI unit by now really :D

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I count myself lucky that my specialists are all at a major research hospital with a pretty great IBD research unit. They don't love the dietary discussions, but they love patients that are involved in their care and respectful. I'm pretty sure I would throw an IV bag a doctor for rolling their eyes at me :P And the med students are pretty interested in hearing about individual patient experiences/input, I think they aren't jaded yet!

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I am really appreciating this thread right now, since way back in my mind I have that default mode of the BRAT diet when in distress. Even though I know that's an effective way to keep me a patient instead of helping me to actually heal, it's so deeply ingrained that it's almost unconscious. So, I (very consciously) have a pot of bone broth on the stove right now.

I have a question that any of you in this thread can probably answer, but it's especially meant for ginsinnot, since she's made mention of recent obstructions. I'm wondering how they test for obstructions and what you do to treat them. You mentioned eating soft foods for a few days... do they usually resolve on their own? I'm asking in part because I have one doctor who says it won't show up on an x-ray, that I need a CT scan, and another that says the exact opposite. I saw that you mentioned an x-ray, so I'm assuming I know what your answer will be, but I'm wondering why the discrepancy of MD's opinions on this. I'd love some input, since I'm easily confused!

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Disclaimer: I'm not a medical professional. But from my patient experience (any my job reading medical records all day for disability programs), here's my take.

A really bad, as in full obstruction (which generally means inpatient care and likely surgery) will show up on an abdominal xray as it will show an abnormal bowel gas pattern and/or distended bowel. It's often the first thing ordered as it's the cheapest and when the situation is truly emergent, gets things going for the doctors.

A CT is often ordered when they want a good look at the cause of obstruction or if a partial obstruction is suspected.

I have had multiple obstructions due to Crohns Disease. There have been times I was treated with inpatient hospital care including complete bowel rest (nothing in through the mouth, IV "nutrition" for around 5 days) and IV steroids to calm the Crohns-related inflammation causing the obstruction.

I've also been managed by my long-time GI provider on an outpatient basis when only partial obstruction is suspected. This usually involves a soft or fluid only diet for a few weeks. The most recent episode was a soft diet that I've slowly advanced after 2 weeks, with daily Miralax for a week as advised by my doctor. Not all the way better, but vastly improved since it first showed up. I'm still limiting my bulky fiber veg, even cooked amounts. Hardly any raw fruit, though a banana is cool because it's so soft and managed a half apple the other day. Don't want to plug anything back up. If all looks good in another week, I'll start eating some more raw veggies.

As an aside, I've been nauseous but no vomiting. Vomiting to me generally means an ED visit. I do not vomit. I will do just about anything to avoid vomiting. So if I'm worried about an obstruction, and it's bad enough to involve vomiting, then it's the hospital for me.

You don't say how long this has been a problem for you. I've had Crohns 8 years now I think and the first 5 were lots of hospital admits and all the big guns as far as treatment. I'd note that I don't get CTs anymore because I've had so many, just the nice expensive MRI. So if my doctor thinks we're looking at an obstruction, we rule out the "needs surgery right now" kind with the xray and try to manage the symptoms.

Hope this helps and good luck :)

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I am a long term's Crohn's patient, already had a hemi-colectomy removing about 30cm of small intestines and part of my colon.

I am doing Whole 30 atm and I am blogging about it if you are interested you can find the blog in my signature.

Looks like there's a few of us all doing it at the same time, which makes this a lot easier.

:D

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I am enjoying your blog Rory!

Joey - in terms of obstructions I am living with a stricture caused by scar tissue - it is managed with daily Miralax (which I optimistically stopped when eating strict Paleo, as I had symptom improvement but had to go back on it again though at a lower dose).

I have had x-rays and CT's in the past to check for obstructions.

Mine is not considered bad enough for surgery, so diet and medication are the way forward, my GP supervises my care primarily and I see the GI unit every 6 months.

I can vouch for keeping up fluid intake, avoiding very bulky fibrous veg, and lots and lots of bone broth! I am having some success also with high strength fish oil, glutamine and ensuring that I have plenty of fat in my diet like coconut oil. Seems to somehow make things run smoother. I think though I will have to accept that the Miralax is probably here to stay - ugh.

The Whole30 unearthed a lactose intolerance for me which was really useful to know as well. This can really help discover trigger foods and allergens.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi, everyone. It's great to see this corner of the forum; thank you all for sharing!

I was diagnosed with Crohn's in late 2009 and have been in remission since then for the most part with only a few flares… I'm taking Pentasa (a mesalamine). My husband and I are on Day 17 of our first Whole30 and things are going pretty well, save for me being pretty backed up since about Day 4... I saw my GI yesterday for my 6-month review and he scheduled me for a colonoscopy for next Thursday to monitor a few sections of narrowing and inflammation. My concern is that this will be on Day 25 and I'm worried about doing the prep and having it totally strip my system of the good stuff I've been building up in there on the Whole30. Also, I'm sure that the prep (Moviprep) isn't compliant, and I don't want it to damage my system! Does anyone have experience with/advice for a colonoscopy on the Whole30? Thanks!!

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I admit, I haven't had a colonoscopy while on the Whole30. And maybe Robin will have something to add...

But my thought would be, if your doctor says it's time for the scope, then it's time for the scope. It seems from my reading, medicine isn't "compliant" or "non-compliant". So the prep, really wouldn't be an issue on that front.

That said, I'm thinking there are a few things you could do to make things easier/smoother. So many preps now are short and supposedly "easier" as they don't require diet modifications and you just take the prep that "cleans" you out. I can't stand that, thos preps are way harder on the body.

A few days (at least 2) before the scope, I'd switch to soft foods. On the Whole30, that would look like more sweet potatos/squash and less of the leafy greens or raw veggies/fruit. More avocado. More eggs, less meat. More broth.

Obviously, the prep to empty your bowels for a clear picture, is going to clean things out, including the good bacteria. Following your scope, you could increase your intake of sauerkraut or add a probiotic supplement to encourage healthy flora.

Even before the scope, you could try more of the "soft" foods that are Whole30 and see if that gets things moving again.

Hope you feel better and your scope goes well.

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Gin said it all! That would be my advice, too. Maybe you could discuss your plans with your doctor and ask for a gentler prep in exchange for soft or liquid foods a few days before. I remember once, I had a kind nurse that agreed to give me the oral prep solution, but hold off on the enema and the long-release pill as I hadn't eaten in 3 days (in hospital). My guess is that they'll deal :)

Hope all goes well! Check in with us soon!

Gin - happy to see you!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi All -

Hoping maybe some of you can help me out. I'm 26 years old and have had Crohn's for five years. I have been on several medications, including Prednisone, Asacol, and most recently, Humira, and stopped responding to it after about 2 years. Determined not to go on yet another dangerous medication, I started my first Whole30 at the end of February (my last day is this weekend!) and have followed the plan religiously. Although I have noticed changes in my energy, my Crohn's symptoms unfortunately have not subsided or changed. I am following the plan very strictly-well-cooked vegetables, steak/chicken/fish, mashed sweet potatoes, avocadoes, and have excluded eggs, nightshades, and nuts/seeds this whole time. I also supplement with gelatin cubes and take fermented cod liver oil and a probiotic. I know it's going to take longer than 30 days to heal, and I plan to stay on a plan like this, but it's getting frustrating not seeing any positive results :(

If anybody out there can relate, I would greatly appreciate your input. When you started to change your diet, what type of symptoms were you feeling/how long did it take for you to start noticing changes in them? As I said before, I know it will take awhile for me to start healing, as I had a horrible diet prior to starting this for a very long time. I just wanted to know if maybe there is a better way to approach this diet/lifestyle or if any changes could be made to help? I am looking into the SCD diet to gradually build up and see if I'm possibly eating something that does not agree with me, but will decide after reading some more on the plan...

Thank you!

-Kristin

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Hi Robin!

Typically for breakfast, I have 3-4 slices of uncured ham from Trader Joe's with some guacamole, and a banana. On the weekends, I usually do bacon and some mashed sweet potato. I also have a glass of "Nanogreens" by Biopharma (water w/ scoop of the green powder).

For lunch, it has been leftovers from any previous night's dinner, which has consisted of: baked chicken thighs glazed with Annie's organic mustard, coconut oil, and sea salt/sage, grilled grass-fed steak coated with olive oil and garlic salt/pepper, or baked fish with olive oil/salt/pepper/garlic. I also always have a side of steamed broccoli/cauliflower/asparagus to accompany.

I take two probiotic capsules + Vitamin D (5000 IU) in the morning and then two more probiotic capsules + 1 teaspoon of fermented cod liver oil in the evening. I also take Vitamin B12 daily.

As for my symptoms, I have cramping, urgency, loose stools (can usually notice vegetable fibers/skin), and lethargy (although my energy is better than before, it still takes a lot to walk distances and climb stairs). It also just feels like everything I eat just goes right through me and that I'm not getting the nutrients my body needs.

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