Do what, where?

So last week, I ventured out and tried some new things. We've all heard the saying, "if you keep doing the same thing, you will get the same result". Some therapies take a long time to do good (or harm). For instance, eating healthy can have a huge impact over the course of years, but in one day will not change a whole lot.

In any case, I got this idea from jini patel, and crohn'sboy, to get a colonic, and then to put in some healing herbs and probiotics.

Colonics are new to me, but not to humankind. As far back as 1500 BC, Egyptians used a type of enema to treat disease.In the early 1900's in Battle Creek, Michigan... John H. Kellogg, M.D., extensively used colon therapy, specifically colonics, on some forty thousand of his patients. In 1917 he reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association — that in all but 20 cases — he used no surgery for the treatment of gastrointestinal disease in his patients! The popularity of colon therapy in the United States reached its apex in the 1920's and 1930's. At that time, colonic irrigation machines were commonly seen, and regularly used as a standard practice, in hospitals and physician's offices. But in the ensuing 60 to 70 years the public's use and access to this valuable health treatment greatly decreased.

So, I decided to give this a try for myself.

 This is what the machine looked like. Pretty simple and retro, but seemed to get the job done.

If you've never heard of this before, here is the explanation of what it is:
"Colon Hydrotherapy is a safe effective method of removing waste from the large intestine without the use of drugs.  By introducing filtered and temperature regulated water into the colon, the waste is softened and loosened, resulting in evacuation by natural peristalsis.  This process is repeated a few times during a session." - Pam Craig, I-ACT President

The lady was very nice, and asked me all sorts of questions about myself and my family. Last year, she did 70,000 colon therapies on people in and around the city of Louisville. I didn't know there was such demand! I was told to lay on my left side while she insterted a tube, and then was transferred to my back. In and out went the water...it was a very subtle, and actually nice feeling.

The therapist kept asking me, "don't you feel a little different, Rachel?" I know she was implying me feeling a bit better, but I couldn't help but think, "of course I feel different! I've got water surging in and out of my colon, for heaven's sake!"

During the procedure, the most uncomfortable parts were some small cramps as it was cleaning, and the removal of the tube. I had them leave a bit of water in with some marshmallow root, comfrey root, and slippery elm bark (all known as healing herbs), as well as a few of the natren probiotics that I've been taking orally for the past two months.

After it was all over, they gave me a Vitamin drink, and told me to take it easy, as my colon had received quite the work-out.

Now, it is about a week, post-procedure. For the first 2-3 days I felt no intestinal cramping! It was seriously amazing. I've had a bit more of that come back, but it still is much subdued from what it has been for the past few months. Here's hoping that it continues to be as helpful!

Curious, anyone else had any experience with colonics?? Let us know! I'll keep you updated to my progress!

Keep on hoping!

Rachel

Back on the wagon..

Valentines 2011

It finally happened. I knew the day would come, but dreaded actually hearing it. I went to the doctor, and he said (my GI) that we have basically done all we can do. Ok, not everything...we can go to Mayo. Kinda scary.

I stumbled across this site, listen2yourgut.com. It has quite a bit of helpful information. One thing I found, was that I tried the shakes that they offer. It seems I can down these, when all else fails. The lady on the site greatly enourages a few things, including probiotics to reintroduce good bactieria, oil of oregeno to get rid of infection of things like MAP (more on that later if you don't know about it yet), and EFT (some sort of emotional release technique).

Right now, I'm feeling pretty good. Of course I always do when they put me on steroids. Then the downward taper off them seems to coincide with the downward spiral of how I feel, both in my attitude, and in my physical health.

That being said, each time I resolve that this time will be different. Resolve may not do much, but I believe hope does.I hear over and over that there is no "cure' for Crohns. I believe that to be true, in a sense. Many, many people have been helped through various means, though, putting their crohns into remission for long periods of time...so, that is the hope.

I am fully convinced there are lots of factors that affect the IBS patients colon. Some may be allergies, some infection, maybe toxic overload of some kind. Maybe hormones? Who really knows?

People like me get desperate for something to help. But it seems, eventually our "quick fixes" such as pain meds, and steroids all do us more damage in the long run. If only we could all figure out how to combat that?

I am contemplating doing an experiment, next, where I get a colonic done, and then do a retention enema with probiotics. I think some have found relief with this. Crohnsboy.com has a narrative with him trying one during a flair, and seemed to find some help.  Also, a really interesting idea to me is the one of Human Probiotic Transplant (otherwise known as a fecal transplant). I can't find any doctors here in the US doing this for Crohns. Many have tried it for c-diff with extremely high success rates. Also, a doc in Australia has been doing thousands of them with good results? Will I have to travel to Australia? Surely I can talk some local GI into trying this??

Now that you've all pondered this wonderful thought, go enjoy your next meal. :)