Can You Manage Your Crohn’s Disease without Medication?
by Ricki Linksman
When a colonoscopy at a major medical hospital showed that a long-time Crohn’s patient had no sign of the disease anymore, the doctor was shocked. She had not taken a single prescription pill he prescribed for her. Genetically tested years earlier at the medical center to see if any of the Crohn’s medications would work, tests revealed she was among the 5% who would not respond to those medications. Having to manage Crohn’s without medication for decades, alternative health solutions were needed.
Many of the solutions that helped alleviate the symptoms included diet choices. Each person is different so it may take some experimenting. Here are simple steps to manage Crohn’s disease without medication:
Step 1: Eliminate one food at a time you are used to eating and note any improvements in your symptoms. If so, stay on that food removal plan for a few weeks.
Step 2: Then, after a few weeks, add that food back into your diet and see if the Crohn’s symptoms return. If they do, remove them again to see if the symptoms go away.
Step 3: Rinse and repeat for several cycles. After at least 3 tries, you may find that you feel better without that food. If there is no change, then that food may not be the one causing your symptoms to be worse.
Step 4: One by one, test out removing different foods, following the above plan, one at a time, to observe if your symptoms go away or improve. Over time, you may find your specific list of foods that worsen your Crohn’s symptoms and you will know which ones to avoid or at least reduce from your diet.
Diet is one factor that can contribute to Crohn’s symptoms worsening. Have you tried a vegetarian or vegan diet? Have you investigated whether you need to be on a gluten-free diet? Have you considered a yeast-free diet? Again, each person is different. The key is to find out what food allergies you may gave or what foods you are adverse to and start eliminating those foods to see if your Crohn’s symptoms improve.
There are other lifestyle changes that can make an impact on improving Crohn’s. Stay tuned for more alternative health and lifestyle changes and a list of foods to try to eliminate to find your own ways to reduce Crohn’s symptoms when medication is not an option.