Perfectly formed BM...

BabeintheWoods said...

tap said...
Presently I am in complete remission. I usually have one well formed stool and have no symptoms. The bleeding from my last flare concluded in June 2011 and complete remission (no symptoms / one stool a day) began around November 2011. I swear that my digestive system hasn't worked this well since my pre-teen years.

I don't believe in going overboard by spamming the forum, but the explanation for your awesome remission could be shared with us by at least printing your signature once in a while. Thanks

He may have my problem which is that my signature never prints, but it is defined in living color in my profile.

I too have not seen blood since the horrible flare summer of 2010 where I switched meds which worked but took a stroke tapering down from 100 mg prednisone ( it did not work it was just trouble ). Coming up on 2 year remission with most of it med free.

Because my sig does not print ( display ) I frequently list out what I do which is modified SCD+onlywater+curcumin. Working with the clay for bone strength and l-threonine.

My poop is solid once per day but its not perfect like teens. Then it would pass so solid I would often wonder if my business end might split open and require surgery, this usually left no trace and paper seems unnecessary. Today they are not quite that stoney and although perfectly shaped I have to use paper - that is what I would like to eliminate.

BabeintheWoods said...

tap said...
Presently I am in complete remission. I usually have one well formed stool and have no symptoms. The bleeding from my last flare concluded in June 2011 and complete remission (no symptoms / one stool a day) began around November 2011. I swear that my digestive system hasn't worked this well since my pre-teen years.

I don't believe in going overboard by spamming the forum, but the explanation for your awesome remission could be shared with us by at least printing your signature once in a while. Thanks

To get out of my last flare I did daily mesalamine enemas for a month although the bleeding went away within a week. After a month I did every other day enemas but I remained at 3 to 4 stools a day for the following four months at which point my potatoes in the garden were ready to harvest. I then went on to have hash browns most every morning and during the following two months and my stool count dropped to an average of one per day which is where it has remained. After my latest colonoscopy my GI and I decided that twice a week enemas would be sufficient.

It should be noted that I had done the twice a week mesalamine enemas before, for an entire year, but they failed to keep me in remission.

At the beginning of this year I changed my diet to eliminate all processed foods and most sugary foods in an attempt to eat healthier. My body fat has since dropped from about 20% on January 1st down to about 12% now. I had previously eliminated Carrageenan because it had triggered flares on more than one occasion. I kind of follow a primal type of diet now but I like bread so I make my own sour dough bread and eat a variety of other things that the diet doesn't necessarily recommend. For example, I make homemade ice cream on occasion.

I continue to do six Asacol tablets a day. I take them just because of my GI's belief that they reduce my risk of colon cancer. My mother died at age 36 from the disease.

My goal is to get my colon and rectum to look like they were brand new. My last colonoscopy showed my colon looking great and given how bad it looked in the past I was surprised by how great it looked now. My rectum looked like a parquet floor with herringbone patterns repeated across most of it. It looked really bizarre. According to the doctor each herringbone pattern represented a flat lesion polyp so I still have more progress to make.

I still have other issues that I'm trying to address. Specifically, my nails continue to be brittle and crack back to the cuticle. I'm trying the TerraMin clay to see if it will help.

My lower back continues to give me problems on occasion. In fact, I threw it out yesterday while applying testosterone to one of my thighs. Thankfully my exercises have allowed me to quickly recover so even though yesterday I could barely walk or sit without being in lots of pain, this afternoon I have little discomfort although I did lay on my back all yesterday with an ice pack under my lower back for quite a bit of that time. I was hoping that the L-Threonine powder would help it since my lower back tends to have a constant low level of discomfort. Interestingly I had a pain in my right arm that had lasted a couple of months and disappeared within two days of starting the L-Threonine powder. It allowed me to finally get back to doing my full HIT exercise regimen.

My free testosterone is low probably because of repeated prednisone use so I'm trying to finds ways to get it back to normal without the use of testosterone. The dose of testosterone I'm on has failed to affect my symptoms so I'm currently drinking onion juice every day as well which seemed to have a very positive effect the day after I started.

I have also been consuming Vitamin D3 since 2009. Mentally it has been very good at eliminating almost all feelings of sadness and depression.

Good advice, thanks babeinthewoods... I actually just started taking a few packets of Emergen-C electrolyte mix when daily, before and after working out. I was taking a calcium/vit D/mag supplement for a few months (march to may). I don't bode well with caffeine, its always given me anxiety, stomach aches and shakiness. But caffeine in small amounts, such as some teas are usually fine with me.

I feel better today, more level headed, and no cravings. I did have two small red potatoes with my dinner and now my stomach is gassy and churning...

I wasn't here a few years back, but I searched and just lost the HW thread topic link someone provided on a connection between potatoes and IBD: www.helium.com/items/1798653-potatoes-aggravate-inflammatory-bowel-disease
and the www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12479649 study link.

mindoverbutter,

Sorry for the late reply, but I haven't been getting email notifications....

InSoFlaaaaa, thanks. I am on to diet and supplements, although pred got me my life back. I am on day 160 of SCD, doing good, did have a setback, and currently taking 2 g's L-Glut. I just moved for a summer job, I am making bank, and live next to a guy who sells lobster live in a tank, plan on eating it atleast 2x a week for this L-T....! Please tell me more about L-Glutamine. I just take 2 g's usually after exercise, but you are up to 15? Please tell me more about this! How has this affected your BMs

Also, I believe some things work better after remission, aka, these things are used to sustain remission, not to achieve it. If you are doing stuff in the toilet that doesn't even slightly resemble a normal BM, (no hard feelings, you will get better), I don't think L-T will get you to normal BMs. InSoFla, has been posting for a while, she used LDN to get her towards remission and is now adding this supplement to solidify it (no pun intended ;) )

Glad you're doing well on SCD. Although I started with SCD, I eventually migrated to the Paleo diet, which I like alot and is IMO great because of its anti-inflammatory properties. Actually I was doing 15 g of L-Glutamine before finding the powers of L-Threonine amino acid powder, and have reduced my L-Glutamine intake from 15g to 5g now. Prior to the L-threonine, I was having solid and normal BMs, but they weren't perfect as in pre-UC - i.e. perfectly shaped (sorry about the details here: shaped like a banana with the colon imprints in it, don't know how else to explain it, lol). And it makes sense that the L-Threonine has that effect since it has involvement in mucosal lining repair.

Let me know how else I can help. Keep up the good work.

 

stereofidelic89 said...
Sounds like your in a good place aguywithuc, and I agree cinnamon is great for the digestive system.

I need some input here if you guys don't mind...

Yesterday was my first whole day excluding sugar from my diet, and I felt terrible by the end of the day. Complete with mood swings, anger and sadness, as well as a cloudy head. Started having hate for myself for having disease. Who says sugar is not a drug? My God. Yesterday and today my energy levels are absolutely terrible, and if I recall, this is how I felt when on the SCD diet, not alot of energy. My recent doc 'drive by' diagnosed me with hypoglycemia because I have the lowest glucose levels. A few family members have this. I don't really consider myself hypoglycemic, because I didnt go through testing like other family members, doc just looked at glucose levels on a blood test and determined. Because i'm hypoglycemic, can abstaining from sugars/grains cause worse problems? What is the relation to my energy levels? -I understand I will get these back, but does this have anything to do with adrenals functioning properly?

In my mind, its a paradox because I crave the sugar for my energy,

Sugar is easy to eliminate cuz is cr@p. Read that you retrain the brain to crave better foods - that is what I hav done. I am dealing with an 11 year old who thinks everything has to taste sweet. Cooked filet mignon and eggs and she wanted a sweet sauce for the top meat. That is how so many are conditioned in this society. However when you stop the sugar you discover real taste is even better.

Carbs are another story, I was eating only protein for a couple days while taking 1/4 pill of vyvanse the new 12 hour adhd med and all my fat burned off around my gut and it was cool. 6-pack makes muscles in chest look bigger. However I read that despite being a rapid fat loss method it backfires in a few short days. The body goes into starvation mode and slows the metabolism, slows the energy level and slows the fat burn. THIS is why body builders carb-cycle. I never ran across this in a lifetime of weightlifting. So last night was it I went back on the bread I LOVE Harvest Seeded almond butter/honey sandwhiches until stuffed. Then today Harvest Seeded sliced boiled egg and Harvest Seeded stead sandwhich and back to almond butter honey. Now its going to be 3 days of near only protein diet. Sugar,pasta,whitebread or all the same, giant spike in insulin and very unhealthy and then a crash or 'craving' as you say for more. The high fiber bread with sunflower and pumpkin tastes like cake to me because I already cut out sugar. In fact eating something sugary would not be near as pleasing to me. Burns slower and lasts longer.

Energy - well truth is when I need to get things done I take vyvanse which seems to crank up my cortisol, I never flare from it, but after a couple good days it seems like the 'happy' brain chemicals are drained so I will go days or a week without it and I only take 1/4 pill half the pill makes me uncomfortable and 3/4 pill caused vision artifacts. I am just saying that I have to get thru my life and I am older at 49 and have UC so if I have to take some of that fine - but you heard it from me it wont make UC worse. What would make it worse are all the pre-workout energy drinks loaded with fake sugars. One product does not harm my gut but it just got banned for the stimulant ingredient - of all the luck, well I stocked up.

If I were active I would never tire but my job is sitting and writing software and managing databases so I can fall asleep from the lack of activity. My cheats run up against UC vulnerabilities so I manage them the best I can. Hope that gives you some ideas.

InSoFla said...
I am so glad the L-Threonine make your pain disappear. As I mentioned prior, it's helped me tremendously with my fibromyalgia pains. Have you noticed if it's made a difference in giving you perfectly formed BMs?

No, I have not noticed perfectly formed BMs as you noted in a later posting. I don't know if they are possible while I continue to consume ground flax seed every morning. The flax seed keeps my stools firm but they have sufficient water content to be easily reshaped during discharge.

tap said...
..without the use of testosterone..

The reasons for seeking normal T ( testosterone ) levels are numerous. I was asking why you want to avoid the use of T itself ? T works so I am not sure what is wrong with your protocol. The problems are usually that it has consequences because it breaks down into estrogen which has to also be dealt with when added exogenously etc. If your using a gel then get a better gel. If your using standard injections for T replacement therapy then inject more. You might also investigate HCG as a monotherapy without any T.

Insofla-

Tell me your experience with threonine and flares again? I have been on it now about 4nights but am just getting... Basically bloody water coming out. It has maybe made me feel a bit better, and sleep better, but no stool improvement.
Ive also been trying to eat just fish, eggs, bananas, and kiefer or yogurt.. So eating less. Which= going less. That means less misery.. I did put some ginger oat granola on the yogurt....

Freddy,

It may take a little longer for it to work for someone in a flare. Sorry it's not helping you yet.

But tell me, what are you doing diet wise? Have you ever done any diet modification? And has it yielded you any results?

Have you had your vit. d3 levels checked in the last few months?

Are you on any probiotics, VSL #3?

I should be getting mine today, we'll see and I will let you know how it goes....it's been over a week now since I ordered

Freddy,
Sounds like it is some progress.
I hope you continue in the positive.
From 5 to 2 is a nice improvement, no?
Hopefully after a good 10 days of Threonine, you will see more improvements, here's to keeping my fingers crossed for you.

How come you take just at night, can you take during the day? JW