Took it easy today as far as diet. Ate 3 eggs for breakfast, scrambled, with some homemade ketchup, a little jalapeno mustard, some black pepper, and honey. Homemade chicken soup was my lunch, and I felt like everything settled better than the past few days. Since that was the case, I decided to see how much I could handle:



Seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon. Came out way better than I expected tbh. Only ate half because I don't wanna push my gut too much. I made another batch of homemade ketchup tonight that came out much better than my first. It seems as if I just needed to add a bit more honey near the end. I also have a dill pickle addiction.

Good luck man, subscribing.

I follow a fodmap diet, similar to SCD but designed for IBS. Recently had immunologist test for other food allergies and have removed other foods from my diet as a result.

For milk substitute, I've started using goat milk for cooking and for drinking I've found flax seed milk. No fiber. Pretty good.

Hey man, thanks for the information. Fodmap looks a lot less strenuous than following SCD from what I've seen. I've been very strict with the SCD the past week. My gut has gotten a bit better, but I feel as if it's hard to tell if it's the higher dose of prednisone, Humira maybe finally working, or the diet itself. Regardless, I plan to stick to it for at least a month to see if there is any improvement. Fodmap and SCD seem to have some contradictions with each other; maybe fodmap isn't for someone like me, who probably has a pretty damaged colon at this point after 7-8 months of constant UC symptoms.

Having some trouble finding goat milk in the area, but I plan to keep looking. I'll be attempting some homemade yogurt soon, and I'll probably use a cream that's high in fat (lower in lactose) and see how that works out for me.

Considering getting tested for food allergies. I just don't wanna be depressed if it comes back with my favorite foods

Here's today's breakfast:



Made from scratch. Pretty easily actually. 1 cage-free omega-3 egg and 1 smashed up ripe banana per pancake. I just need to figure out how to cook pancakes faster. If I put the heat on even med. high, the outsides seems to cook faster than the inside; if I put the heat on medium, it cooks evenly, just takes forever. At least they taste real good.

I weighed in at 133 lbs this morning. I'm down 20-25 lbs within the past 3-4 weeks. I'm eating as much as I feel my colon can handle right now, but I'm still constantly hungry. I'm hesitant to constantly eat right now. My symptoms come and go. I've had a couple of good days this week, but I've also had a couple of bad days. I started taking a magnesium supplement called Natural Calm in order to move things along my digestive tract when I feel it's necessary. I've been sticking strictly to legal foods on the diet, and I figure that's all I can do for now. I may have introduced some things too early, but all the symptoms I'm still having don't seem to be abnormal for someone just starting out on the diet.

My immediate goal is to make sure my gut is as good as possible for the drive to LV in about 9 days. I'm also hoping to gain some weight within the next week.

Damn that is brutal that you're still losing weight.

What about cramps etc...? I had em real bad, but once they started subsiding I knew I was finally on the right track back to health. It was a damn long process though.

The cramps and urgency issues come and go. Some days I feel fine; other days it's not as comfortable. I feel as if it's getting a little better overall though, but I think it's still too early to tell. And I'm not sure if I should attribute the good days to the Humira, Prednisone, or the diet tbh. It's definitely a process, you are 100% right about that. A lengthy one, but one I'm confident will have good results at some point.

This morning's breakfast: cage-free omega-3 eggs scrambled, chorizo pork sausage, homemade pineapple cilantro salsa. First time I've ever tried chorizo...amazing taste. It's my new favorite style of meat for now.

Baked a chicken last night with a few friends. Had those leftovers for lunch. I tried my hand at some homemade mayo yesterday that came out a bit better than I expected. Still could use some improvement though. I also have my first batch of homemade yogurt fermenting right now. Should be ready to eat in about 32 hours after the cooking process.

Diet seems to be going well. Feeling pretty good today so far, better than I expected since we ate kinda late last night. Hopefully the symptoms can keep improving.

Chorizo? Pineapple salsa?

I'd be stuck on the John for two days man. How do you do it?

/jealous.

Hahah not sure to be honest. Just sticking with the legal ingredients of the diet and hoping it works I guess. Felt like I was taking a 2/5 shot with the chorizo though. The salsa isn't spicy, just a lot of fresh ingredients that always have potential to be good or bad.

He does it b/c IBS is not IBD, especially UC

Yeah, that makes sense. I suppose that's why SC seems a bit more extreme in some cases.



Did some homemade avocado fries for the first time. Mustard base with almond flour as the batter, fried in olive oil. Came out real good. Also have a homemade chili on the stove. Visiting at my parents and spending quality time with my mom, trying to soak up as much cooking knowledge as possible, haha.

Started having a bit of a setback Monday and Tuesday with more frequent, painful BMs. I think it's because I've been eating a lot of red meat overall. It could have been the avocado fries, but the first of the problems started before I even cooked those. Red meat has been the main consistency, so I decided to eat chicken today as my main course. So far, so good.

I also cheated a bit and ate a small amount of dark chocolate. It felt so good to eat, even though it was only a small amount. I at least made sure it was organic and fair trade certified to minimize any possible adverse effects.

I had an consultation appointment today with a surgeon just to get some information. I woke up this morning not even wanting to go because I figure surgery would be my last option after Humira and the diet. But after leaving, and then talking with a friend of a friend about his experience, I'm actually considering it more and more. It seems as if I should be able to live a normal life if things go correctly. 95% of people are glad they got the surgery. I will talk with my new GI doc next week when I get out to Vegas and see what his thoughts are. I figure it may be better long term compared to possible constant flares and being on steroids + big time meds (Humira or Remicade). Plus, I'm young, overall healthy besides the UC, and I don't want to waste too much time just waiting to get better. I really want to get back to being active and eating everything healthy that I want. I basically want to enjoy my life without having this pain. So I'm definitely considering the option. Not that I'm not enjoying the SCD; it's actually opened up my eyes to a new way of eating, and I've learned some great recipes along the way that I may not have even attempted before. Plus, it got me back in the habit of cooking for myself, which I used to do a lot more of before I got somewhat lazy with it.

surgery sounds attractive to me for the same reasons, the idea that you could be med/symptom free afterward is very tempting. Plus we aren't 60yo men here, we have 50+ years of damaging meds to go.

I had a small(ish) relapse myself this weekend, had some minor joint pain in my foot and wrist, nothing like it was before I got on the meds, but I'm supposed to taper from 5mg to 2.5mg on Friday so that has me worried. I'm trying to attribute it to working out and running again, but seems like wishful thinking.

I don't know about living without red meat, that might push me over the surgery edge.

Very well said. We're young, and who knows how much damage 4, 5, or even 6 more decades of Humira and prednisone could do to our bodies. Plus, these meds and this diet aren't guaranteed to keep my colon from flaring again; surgery would guarantee it. And it would take away the risk of colon cancer, which I believe is going to end up being the selling point for me honestly. I'd have to have kids and them have to watch me suffer through any sort of cancer. I don't want to feel as if I'm taking the easy way out, but at the same time, I want to be able to enjoy life to the best of my ability. And I don't feel as if I'm doing that right now. I'm eating healthy, but I can't put on any weight at all.

Tapering down makes me a bit nervous as well. I'm still on 40mg/day at the moment, and I think I'm gonna wait a week to taper down after I talk to the GI doc out in LV. Exercise is supposed to help your symptoms, especially joint pain, at least in theory. The stronger your muscles around your joints, the better off your joints normally are.

I actually feel better today after taking a day off of red meat. Maybe I just wasn't cooking it well enough. I was broiling my burgers to about medium, which is what I normally do, but I probably should have cooked them medium well at the least. But yeah, red meat is too good to just eliminate completely.

I'll definitely let you know if I decide to get surgery since I'll be posting updates in here anyway. In the meantime, I'm just doing as much research as I can, and I'm talking with a friend of a friend who went through it 7.5 years ago. It helps so much to talk with someone who's had it done before so you can know what their life is like now as opposed to just reading information on a website.

Damn surgery terrifies me. I think mainly because I highly doubt I'd be able to be as active with sports after it.

I assume you would go with the J pouch option over having a bag?

Also, I'm sure you've heard of it before, but the healingwell.com forum has quite a few good posts about surgery.

Out of curiosity how bad was the worst for you?

At my worst I was going 15+ times a day waking up every few hours when sleeping to go.

I'm thinking I'm insanely lucky the meds are working for me.

worst was not waking up once...

I was only going ~6-8x at its worst but the low point might have been crawling on my hands/knees to the can b/c I couldn't walk. Wish I had concrete/wood floors so I could have rolled my computer chair around, but alas carpet sucks for that.

Re: exercise/arthritis, there are many forms of arthritis, my rheummotologist has basically forbid me from doing any impact exercising, meaning weightlifting or running. He has OK'd me to do freestyle swimming and stuff like Yoga.

Surgery is definitely a bit scary. It won't be an easy decision if I go that route. I'm just trying to acquire as much info about it as I can. Yeah, I'd go with the J pouch option for sure and see how that works. If it doesn't work, then I suppose I'd have to try the bag. The one thing that scares me is if I have some sort of issues after the surgery, there's no turning back. It's not like they can put my colon back in. I wish colon transplants were popular and safe, haha.

I have been on healingwell. I posted a topic when I was real bad off a couple of weeks ago. I will definitely check out some surgery info on there; the people on that forum are extremely helpful from my limited experience.

The worst for me has been about the same. 10-15xs a day, waking up in the middle of the night, extreme pain during BMs, lots of blood, not being able to make it into work. Fevers, chills. Had to go to the ER once because I was running a 101+ fever for 4 straight days.

I don't know that you're necessarily extremely lucky the meds are working for you, but maybe you are. Some people respond well to them, others don't. I sort of wish I could respond to them in a better way, but I really don't like the long term effects they could have on me. Plus, like I said before, the higher risk of colon cancer and lymphoma would basically be gone if I were to have the surgery.

One of my best friends, who also has UC, has real bad joint problems at all. And everything he attempts to take for the pain seems to mess up his gut. He's done a lot of stuff short of just trying Humira. He probably has his UC under more control than the joint pain. I feel as if I'm a bit lucky in that area. Today, I had bad joint pain, but it's pretty rare for me to be in significant pain in my joints.

The colon cancer risk doesn't bother me too much since we're supposed to have regular colonoscopy, so I assume it would be caught early enough to be dealt with. Also, it is one of the more treatable cancers.

The lymphoma risk is definitely a bit scarier, but from what I've read the risk is only slightly increased.

One thing I wanted to mention is I did come across a post on healingwell recently where the person kind of regretted the surgery as they developed pouchitis or whatever it is called.

Anyway, you come off as the type who researches things in depth before coming to a decision, so I'm sure you'll be very well informed whenever the time comes to make a decision.

Hope your meds start working for you soon.

I'd say the people on Healing Well who have had the surgery are nearly all happy they did it.

I can't imagine the cost of it though, must be through the roof, I ended up paying ~$5k out of pocket for my colonoscopy b/c my ****ty personal health insurance has a massive deductible. I'd been healthy for 27+ years, never thought I'd need it. Without insurance the bill would have been like $12,000 for ~90min of time in the hospital, such a rip off.

Yeah I definitely plan to research as much as possible. Looked up information this morning on the actual procedure and prognosis, and I want to read some first hand experiences on healingwell. I plan to discuss things w/ my doc and hopefully get the opinion of another surgeon once I get to LV next week.

Yeah I'm sure the cost is absurd. Luckily, I'm still on my parent's insurance (thanks Obama) until the end of May next year. So if I decide to go that route, it'll definitely be before then. The overall satisfactory rate for the surgery is 95% from what I've read/heard from multiple sources.

I've felt pretty good the past 2 days. My total BMs seem to be down overall. I've been eating fairly well, just not putting on any weight at all. I've been adding in a little more dark chocolate daily, and I seem to be doing ok with it so far. Road trip to LV starts Sunday morning, hoping for the best.

Ventured a little off of the SCD the past few days. Nothing drastic though. Had my last good Louisiana meal for a few months yesterday: grilled catfish, fries, and bread. Fries and bread prob weren't the best idea. Same with the tartar sauce. Was hurting some after.

Started the road trip to Vegas today. Went about 10 or so hours without the real urge for a bathroom. Very weird. Snacked and ate healthy the whole way: tuna salad, turkey burger, Kettle Brand chips, chocolate chip cookie from Whole Foods, dark chocolate chips, pineapple, and grapes. Hoping tomorrow is more of the same results!

Made it to LV yesterday afternoon. Stomach has been ok for the most part. I won't say I'm in remission until I'm completely off of the prednisone though, which will hopefully be sometime within the next month. My appt is tomorrow afternoon, so we'll see what this doc's pov is on my situation.

Looking forward to getting settled in over the next few days. Hopefully get some poker in by the weekend, check out campus, do some exploring, etc. I'm hoping I can start posting some workout logs within the next month or so to get the thread moving in that direction as well.

Impressive log IMO, with a number of informed and positive people (including op) contributing despite difficulties.

Hey, thanks for reading so far! Glad to get a new reader on board. I'm hoping through this log (besides it being motivation for myself) to educate others on some of the ins and outs of this disease and showing that this or something similar shouldn't be a sentence to be lazy or not try to better themselves. And you're right, we've had a ton of positive support and information in this log so far. It wouldn't be nearly as informative without them! It's awesome to get other people's POVs.

Did some shopping at Trader Joe's (first time going to one) and Whole Foods today. Hoping to to do some cooking soon!