Heal yourself of Crohn's Disease

I have three children (adults now) who have Crohn's disease, as did their father, grandfather and uncle before them. I have spent the last sixteen years trying to find some way to help them. Here is my story.

My middle child was the first to be diagnosed at the age of eight. At that time it was thought that Crohn's was not a genetic disease so that he was not tested for Crohn's for months after he started being very sick because it was thought that the likelihood that two people in the same family had Crohn's was so low as to be impossible. Many doctors later we were in the office of a Lyme disease specialist when a gastroenterologist walked by, recognized the strange rash on my son's shins as a symptom of severe Crohn's, and ordered us to go immediately to the hospital. Thus began a years long onslaught of medical tests, drugs, and doctor's visits. My life and his became consumed with medical events, unstable medical conditions, lengthy hospital stays and a whole lot of trauma.

Four years later my youngest child began exhibiting symptoms. Again we were told it could not possibly be Crohn's because of the tiny likelihood of yet another family member having the disease. This was soon dispelled by a colonoscopy administered at age ten. When my poor girl woke and I told her she had Crohn's disease she said "Oh good. It could have been much worse." She didn't yet know the hell she would be going through for years after.

Pentasa, Apriso, Mercaptopurine, Prednisone, Methotrexate, Remicade, Humira, Stellara, Entocort, Flagyl, Augmentin, Cipro, colonoscopies, CT scans, IV contrast, MRI's, X Rays, dexa-scans, endocrinologists, rheumatologists, orthopedists, neurologists, therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists in addition to gastroenterologists became household words to us. It was not unusual for me to schlepp one or another of these two to as many as eight doctors' appointments a week. They contracted a variety of drug induced ailments as well - lupus, raynaud's, myopathy, adrenal suppression, depression, anemia and dangerously low white blood cell counts, among other ailments. At one point my son was taking twelve allopathic medications daily. My daughter was once prescribed 32 pills or capsules a day, which is impossible for a Crohn’s patient to do, especially one so young.

Eventually I noticed the connections between what they ate and the severity of their symptoms, contrary of course to what the world famous and highly regarded pediatric gastroenterologist was telling us. All gastroenterologists scoffed at me when I told them that we now ate only organic foods and pastured meats, greatly reduced carbs, increased animal fats, zero white sugars and more, and that this seemed to make a big difference in the qualities of all of our lives.

At this point my eldest child was also diagnosed with Crohn's disease. She was nineteen. We were already savvy about the role food plays in health so we just stepped that up considerably, going full GAPS diet for her. She did a very short course of mercaptopurine, discontinuing that once she felt better and, I am delighted to report, she has not had any symptoms since. A recent blood test ordered by a new gastroenterologist has found that all of the markers for Crohn’s and all of her nutrient levels are within normal ranges. She has been disease free for nearly nine years now.

After two years of the GAPS diet my son was Crohn’s symptom free, corroborated by tissue samples. He suffers still from debilitating myopathy of the back muscles as a result of way too much prednisone (do not allow the doctors to prescribe that stuff!) so his health is not good, but his Crohn’s is in remission and has been for several years.

My younger daughter, who has had a more difficult time following the diet, recently began Stellara injections which have helped her to function again and feel better. Both Remicade infusions and Humira injections induced lupus in her, verified by frequent ANA blood tests. I expect this recent biologic medication to do the same. My hope is that once the disease is under control she will be able to better follow the diet and heal completely.

I have become convinced that we all must develop the means to treat ourselves via diet, herbs, essential oils, homeopathy, medical intuition and the like.

I urge any of you who have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease to try the GAPS diet or a related diet. Here is a starting place:

https://www.westonaprice.org/

I wish you all robust health, clear minds and hearts, and above all, joy. Thank you for reading.