Crohn's Zone

So recently there was an individual case study (published in the journal of Nutrients). As I write this the study has been downloaded over 3,000 times. The article is called Crohn's Disease Remission with a Plant-Based Diet: A Case Report.

Back in November 2014 a 25 year old male patient had been losing weight for several months, had diarrhea and flu-like symptoms. In January 2015 the patient then took Remicade every 2 months. The treatment dose had to be increased by 50% since he wasn't showing a clinical response. The patient had symptoms that improved, however the patient did not achieve clinical remission. By March 2017 the patient had been on Remicade for 2 years and the patient was able to eliminate all processed foods and animal products during a 40 day religious holiday (this was most likely for Lent). The patient limited processed food/animal products to one serving/week. When the patient was strict and kept to the diet he didn't have any reported pain. In addition to this the patient was able to work out (weight-lift, run, and do yoga). What is very interesting is that after 6 months when a colonoscopy was performed there was no evidence of Crohn's disease!

Other studies have shown similar results when patients reduce the amount of meat in their diet. In this study over a 2 year period 94% of patients maintained remission when eating a semi-vegetarian diet. What surprised me was 73% of the patients were able to adhere to the diet. What is even more impressive is that 92% of the patients were able to adhere to the diet after a 2 year period.

In the past I have wrote about the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD). The diet eliminates carbohydrates, dairy, and sugar products as it believed that these foods cause inflammation. As I wrote in that post a study published in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology showed that after 1 year of the SCD diet 85% of patients who remained on the diet were still in remission.This study from 2015 of 50 patients that stayed on the specific carbohydrate diet and 52% of patients who were in remissions were able to stop medications.

The evidence in the recent case study of a patient shows that diet can play a role in helping Crohn's. The only issue I see is that this is only one patient and it would be good to see more studies with many people. However, the studies with the SCD diets show that people do in fact improve. My own personal (non medical view) is that that these diets may help some individuals with their Crohn's. It would be worthwhile for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundations of America (CCFA) to fund research to study this area further since it often isn't looked at. Hopefully this can be studied further to lead to better recommendations and ultimately be used to help the pain and suffering many are in from both Crohn's and inflammatory bowel disease.

I haven't posted in a while since I have been feeling pretty well. Overall, my Crohn's has been in really good shape. I was even able to travel to London to visit my sister during the last week of May. While in London however the place my family stayed at didn't have any air conditioning so the windows had to be opened every night. Most of my life I really never had allergies. However, when I was younger I had an isolated incident of asthma but rarely took allergy pills. Well while in London leaving the windows open every night and letting in all the pollen and other interesting things in the air led me to have to take Claritin of the week long trip.

This past week was a little stressful. My grandmother of 98 years passed away. She lived in a nursing home for many years. My grandfather had lived with her up until he passed away in 2007 (he was born in 1921). Both lived a very good life and were kind and generous people. In my grandmother's later years she suffered from dementia. When she was in the nursing home me and my family would visit her weekly. However, over time her mental conditions deteriorated and she didn't recognize who we were. Grandma would have entertaining stories about her 5 husbands and what they did. This is a far cry from the grandmother that I knew growing up that would make me french toast, cakes, go on trips with, and have Sunday dinners with throughout the 1990's. Honestly, I think if my grandmother knew the kind of condition she was in she wouldn't want to live like that (but that is another topic for another day).

I found out my grandmother has passed on Wednesday night while I had just got done working out. Throughout the day I had been cramping (really more of the blunt stabbing pain with Crohn's) but it seemed to get worse Thursday and I felt tired. Friday I felt better and I got some pretty good sleep and today I feel pretty decent.

My workout routine is still going strong. I typically workout for 1 and half hours 3 times a week. My workout consists of free weights, strength exercises (biceps, triceps, etc), walking on the treadmill, and then I finish with the elliptical. Overall, I feel in pretty good shape. I at one point did have a personal trainer but feel I wasn't get the value out of that and they always do the exercises I wanted. Although, I would say I felt really sore after I was probably in the best shape ever of my life. Currently, I feel in good shape and may have loss a little of muscle mass but am quite happy with it. My weight is around 160 lbs (within the past few days it had reached 163). Feeling fit is always nice in terms of being able to fit into clothes and knowing every once in a while you can have a little extra to eat.

Overall, my health is quite well and I am always in awe of how successful my remission has been with Crohn's and how much of a miracle drug Humira has been. I am scheduled to see my gastro doc in May for a checkup (he books up months in advance!). The only thing I don't like is my gastro doc had his practice purchased my a large hospital. Before it was easier to schedule an appointment and I could talk to the nurse. These days I have go through someone else to do that. Also according to my internist my GI has more of a 9-5 job now that he works for a hospital and if he has a patient after hours someone else will admit the patient to the hospital. My internist is in a group practice and they have a younger GI that looks promising (however I wouldn't switch/also my GI is getting up in age and I could see him retiring within the next 10 years). All in all he has done a great job with me and I am grateful for where he has gotten me to.

Well it has been a while since I have written a post (this is mainly because I have felt pretty well). Last evening, I had some loose bowel movements (this has been rare for me and I honestly can't remember the last time I had one). I wasn't alarmed at all as this from time to time. Honestly, if I ever have a non solid bowel movement it is the week before I take the Humira between a Thursday-Saturday.

Overall, though I don't feel too bad. Within the past 2 weeks I have felt more tired and somewhat fatigued. Some nights this past week I was in bed by 8:30 P.M. Also I have been doing my combination of hot showers and a cold pad on my stomach before bed. Before these past 2 weeks I had been working out quite a bit-with 2 hour workouts not being uncommon and probably felt the best I ever have felt in my life in terms of energy and fit. The other thing that has seemed to help my energy level is taking potassium chloride on a regular basis. Before I was taking it on and off and it really wasn't doing anything. When I switched to taking it on a regular I could definitely see a difference in my mood and energy levels.

My weight has declined steadily. Typically I am in the 163-165 pound range but recently dropped to 158 and currently hoovering around 160 pounds. Overall though I do like it as I look more trim and fit. When I lost weight I would add more and initially wasn't gaining weight but then eventually the weight came back all at once!

Concerned about the weight loss I went to my primary doctor and he said he couldn't really point to anything but said it could be a temporary virus or something that could pass. Usually I am pretty proactive if I am not feeling well. This weekend I plan to get some good sleep and just relax. Work has been fairly busy but I am not stressed as I have been at times before.

Hopefully, this cramping is a temporary thing. I have seen this many times before and honestly lucky and happy I have been in remission for so long (since June 2012). If there are any other developments that come from this I will be sure to post them on my blog.

For a while I had heard of Squatty Potty. Honestly I was a little skeptical about this device. There were thoughts in my head like 1) why hadn't a gastroenterologist invented this already? 2) How effective could it really be? 3) Is this just a fad? To be perfectly honest even though I had Crohn's I had not realized that constipation was such a common problem.

Well December 3, 2018 was interesting day for my bowels. At work in the early afternoon I had tried to pass a bowel movement but was unable to do so. It felt as if I had two large bricks in my backside and I pushed and pushed but nothing happen. I left work early and went to a Target near my apartment to see if they had Squatty Potty (someone who worked at the store looked at me without trying to laugh). Unfortunately, Target was out so I went and purchased some stool softeners. As I was walking to the car my backside felt like it had a tremendous amount of pressure inside. I went home and was able to pass the bowel movement (honestly it was one of the largest I had ever passed) and I felt like I had lost a few pounds in a matter of minutes. So I ended up not using the stool softeners and got them just in case. I had been having constipation issues for the previous couple of weeks so I went ahead and went onto Amazon and ordered one through Amazon Prime.

When my Squatty Potty arrived I still was skeptical thinking is this really going to work? Luckily the day it came I had some constipation and had tried to test try the Squatty Potty out first. It is pretty easy to use and really helps you squat to do your business. The first time I tried it honestly it did help make it easier. I did a test run too to try a bowel movement with and without the Squatty Potty. I did notice the Squatty Potty did help ease passing the bowel movement. The best way I can describe it is the Squatty Potty seems to keep everything in line (as opposed to just sitting on the toilet). Overall, I am quite happy with the Squatty Potty and have noticed an improvement in passing bowel movements and reduced strain.

Sometimes regular people and Crohn' patients have constipation. The constipation seems to have gone away as I have been working out much more (I am off on vacation for 2 weeks) and therefore drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated. I would recommend the Squatty Potty for anyone that is looking to help pass their bowel movements and honestly don't see any harm in using it (even for Crohn's patients). Although, I am not a doctor I would think the Squatty Potty would help since you aren't having to strain as much which over time could cause issues.


Full disclosure: I purchased Squatty Potty on my own and don't receive any financial support from the maker of Squatty Potty

So Fourth of July is tomorrow (I somewhat wish this holiday was on a Friday or Monday instead of a random Wednesday). For some reason I seem to have cramping almost every year around 4th of July and near Halloween time (not sure why this is). At any rate I have been having some cramping. Last weekend was somewhat up and down. Last Friday I felt pretty tired, Saturday I felt very good (almost no cramping) as I got plenty of sleep and took my Foltx and potassium chloride, and Sunday overall I had some minor cramping. This past week I felt a little tired and cramping.

My diet has been that great either. I probably have been eating things I shouldn't have. My weight has fluctuated a little bit. Within the past couple of weeks my range has been 165-169. Currently, I am hitting near that 169 mark. However, I plan to work out and watch what I eat (last night I had a grilled chicken sandwich with fries and a fudge pecan pie with ice cream-yes it was amazing too). Also over the weekend I had pizza, a burger, a brownie sundae and little workout. Usually I don't have any issue bringing down the weight . Honestly, if I weighed between 160-165 I would be happy (I always like to leave a little room for a dessert now and then-also I like to fit comfortably in my clothes as well).

I recently saw my GI and he said I looked like I was in great shape, however it had been a while since he had done a colonoscopy. Honestly, the last colonoscopy I had was at the end of 2011 (so a little less than 7 years ago). I am hoping the cramping will go away so I can see what my colon should look like when it is healthy and good! The bowel prep is always the worst thing but if I only have to do every 7 years that is a positive thing.

Overall, I don't really have too many complaints. Yes, I have some cramping, gained weight, and a little tired, however these issues can be resolved with hot baths/cold packs, watching what I eat, and some great sleep. Luckily due to the holiday I will sleep in tomorrow and this weekend as well. Hope everyone in the states has a good and safe 4th of July! Be kind to your bowels this holiday.