I am happy to announce that I am feeling much much much much better! Wahooo! 5 years ago today I heard the news of my diagnosis of Crohn's Disease. Today, those words still ring true, yet do not define me. Not at all. Rather they shape me into who I am today. And I like who I am becoming.
I will give you the key to why and how I am feeling so much better.
1) The physical aspect. I am taking soooo many supplements haha! I know what all of them are for and they all seem to help a great deal. I will list them out so that if you have Crohn's, hopefully they can help you too.
- Vitamin A (tissue repair)
- Vitamin E (tissue repair)
- Vitamin C (tissue repair)
- Vitamin B12 (energy)
- saccharomyces boulardii (healthy gut fora)
- VSL 3 (mega super probiotic)
- Neem (SIBO treatment)
- Berberine (SIBO treatment)
- Blue Herron Fiber (need I say more, haha)
- Turmeric (anti-inflammatory)
- Naltrexone and mercaptopurine (I believe meds have a time and place) (but are certainly not the only answer)
Other aspects of physical healing have included
- Get plenty of sleep
- Learn and practice stress management (find what works for you)
- Exercise
- Specific carbohydrate diet
- Find a good naturopathic Dr. (mine is such an answer to my prayers) and a good GI specialist
- Accept where you are and make the most of it, believe that your body literally is capable of healing
2) The spiritual aspect. This just as important, if not more important than all the physical things I am implementing. No matter what you are facing, whatever, whenever it is, please turn to God. You can give it all away to Him. He will hear you and He will help you. My prayers this week have been "God, this is hard, please help me to take care of myself." You can tell God exactly what it is and what you are feeling. He will help you!!!!!
I don't know what more to leave you with other than my favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon. Ether 12: 27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
I leave you with these words, and promise you that they are true. I also promise you that miracles are real. They are so so real. Turn to God and He will take care of you.
And as a "Crohniversary" request, please go do something nice for yourself and let me know about it! Self love and self care is vital to all of our existence and wellbeing. I really want to hear from you!
Is it too personal for me to ask you if you are in any prescription meds in addition to what you wrote? I'm always curious about what works for different people. My son is on remicade and it has been amazing! But we're afraid it might be reaching the end of it's effectiveness soon. We'll see. He has been symptom free for about two years though which I'll always be grateful for. We hope we can find something else that works this well if/when remicade stops working! Good luck! I love your blog!
ReplyDeleteNo, it's ok to ask. This is all the medicine that I am on. I am very cautious when it comes to this stuff, and ideally I would like to get off of mercap. I do highly recommend naltrexone, though. Dr.'s normally do not proscribe it unless you ask. But after 3 months it seems to be highly effective. And it is safe too, which is why I like it so much. Glad to hear your son is doing well!
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