why im doing what im doing.
HI, I’m Tai, I currently work as a warehouse assistant, in Southampton, England, in the UK, I am also studying for a diploma in nutritional healing, at the Nutritional Healing foundation. Once fully qualified, I would like to go on to either teach others about nutrition through becoming a practitioner and assisting people in their personal healing. Or perhaps teach other want to be students to become practitioners. Maybe even become a researcher within the industry, which is a fast expanding industry at present. My reason for this particular career move is this. I was diagnosed when I was 19 with ulcerative colitis, but in the five to six years after the diagnosis, it had changed to crohn’s. Prior to the diagnosis, I had been suffering bad stomach cramps and lots of bloody diarrhoea and weight loss. It was on and off for a while but after a few months I had some tests done and was then diagnosed with the colitis.
What are the differences between colitis and crohn’s?
There are three key differences:
- Location.
Ulcerative colitis affects only the large intestine.
But in Crohn’s disease, inflammation can appear anywhere in the digestive tract, from the mouth to the anus.
- Continuous inflammation.
People with Crohn’s disease often have healthy areas in between inflamed spots. But with ulcerative colitis, there are no healthy areas in between inflamed spots.
- Which layers are effected?
Because Crohn’s disease affects more of the GI tract, it can cause some problems that doctors don’t usually see in people who have ulcerative colitis. For instance:
- Mouth sores between the gums and lower lip, or along the sides or bottom of the tongue.
- Anal tears (fissures), ulcers, infections, or narrowing. (1)
To a certain extent, I’ve been quite lucky, because I’ve never really had any bad flair ups until five years ago, which were the worst few to date. Even the steroids stopped working like they used to.
I have tried a number of medications some worked OK and others not so well, for the first 10 years I was taking asacol, 4-6 per day. My doctor said that I was having to may flare ups per year and needed to take something else that would hopefully lower the flare ups. I was put onto Mezavant XL for a few years, and they worked ok for a while, but gradually, they stopped working as well. The options for drugs with minimal side effects was running out. The last option, azathioprine, gave me bad side effects and I had to stop them immediately. Now the only options were stronger drugs with more severe side effects and health consequences. I.e. fertility problems and having to stop taking them, 12 months before trying for children! “NO BLOODY CHANCE”! This was not an option, or a road I wanted to go down.
I carried on with the Mezavant for a while, even though they were of little use, then one day at a regular check-up appointment. The specialist I was seen by said that, maybe we should rest the body from medication and see what happens. Then we can try medications again, as he thought that my body had become immune to the drugs. My condition wasn’t good at this point anyway so I agreed and went along with it. I was going to be booked in for another colonoscopy to see how things were doing on the inside. I was thinking to myself would this be good idea or would it make an already bad situation worse? Time would tell I suppose. Anyone who has Colitis or Crohn’s knows about the regular colonoscopies that are needed to see inside the intestines. (A camera that moves around the intestines) They are used to see how severe the condition is and to look for anything more sinister like polyps that may be advancing into cancerous lumps! At this point my large intestine was an absolute mess, it was very swollen everywhere, there were loads of polyps everywhere, so many, I couldn’t even see the walls of the intestine any more.
The doctor doing the colonoscopy had to use lots of air to try and move around the large intestine with the camera, as it was so inflamed. The pain and discomfort was something else, each time I had a colonoscopy exam, they would gradually become more uncomfortable and painful. I think it was the year 2013, this was the year, I will never forget.
It was the worst and last colonoscopy, where I was in pain and badly inflamed. It was also the one which I will never forget, and from this day on would change everything in my life. Some would say and I say, it was a blessing in disguise. It was the one where they found a large polyp, around the size of an inch (2.5 cm) even though it looked bigger on the monitor. It made me open my eyes, take a breath and take notice. The first thing that went through my head was cancer, I had seen before this exam, that cancer looked like a white lump, which I had seen from images online and this looked just like those images. The doctor took a sample and said he’d have it tested, biopsies again are a regular procedure whilst having a colonoscopy. After the examination I had a bit of a wait, until the follow up appointment you get after your colonoscopy. It can take weeks to get your follow up appointment date, but this time it was much sooner, which made me more nervous about the results!
I arrived anxious about the results, and was quickly told that the lump was not cancerous. Wow what a relief! The best news I had ever heard, the doctor said that if the lump had been in a more inflamed area, they would have gone down the cancer route. He also said that I should still remain off of drugs! I thought that it sounded crazy. Maybe that’s the reason the lump had grown to that size! Reluctantly, I again went along with the choice, and it was the best choice that I could have ever made, and one that I have mainly stuck to, to this day.
I went away happy but confused, so I decided to look for information on other ways to help the illness, and see if there was anything else out there. In the process of online research for crohn’s and cancers, I came across websites and found information on nutrition and lifestyle changes that could and would, help my condition. There were many changes I made, from diet and nutrition, to stopping the use of chemical laden and synthetic products that I was using such as:
- Cosmetics,
- Shampoos,
- Shower gels/soaps
- And more
This included household cleaning products you would use around the home. There were recommended books that I brought and read and bit by bit the information built up, and as I implemented these changes, and used the information, the crohn’s and my life started to get better. I will go into more detail on why everyday household cleaners and cosmetics are a problem in another post, and keep this to my story and the reason behind the website and nutritional healing diploma I’m training for.
I no longer take any medications, and haven’t needed to for a few years with a few exceptions. I now use food and nutrition as my medicine, by eating a balanced and healthy diet of fruits, vegetables and wholefoods, that are ideally grown organically, are the best preventions for disease. There are other factors that play a role in illness and disease which I will go into as well in other posts.
Now, I would be lying if I claimed to live completely free of junk food. I have had set backs, where I have given into temptation, and eaten junk, like cookies and cake! What can I say I spent most of my life having a sweet tooth, it’s not easy to just give it up, even to this day, I have battles with eating refined sugar, it’s not often but it does happen. I also paid the price and faced the consequences of eating junk foods, which led to me having flair ups. On some occasions I even went back to taking the prednisolone to try and gain control of the flair up, although for me it stopped working like it used to, and had horrible side effects to deal with. It’s only in the last year that I’ve found natural alternatives that help during a flair up, which help the body. Having a life with no medications, is the life we all really want, as all medications have side effects, especially prednisolone, (a steroid that is used as an anti-inflammatory) even though some do work or work for a while for some people, I think the best medicine is natural medicine. I now use herbal and Chinese medicine and also vitamin and mineral supplements. These aren’t as quick as prednisolone in a flair up (if it works) but they do, do great things for the body. You see if you maintain a healthy, balanced diet and lifestyle, including managing your stress, flare ups will be a thing of the past.
here are the comparison pictures: back on the (worst 2013) colonoscopy on the left and the most recent (2016) colonoscopy exam on the right.
Since 2013, I have had other colonoscopies, the best one and last one was in 2016, and from the images above you can see huge differences. I don’t have any official images from the procedure, and I did try obtaining some for the purpose of this website, but nobody at the hospital would ever get back to me. From the camera images on the monitor, I can tell you how it looked. There was almost no infammation what so ever, the only swollen and inflamed area was the cecum. This is where the small intestine meets the large intestine on your right hand side. everywhere else was back to normal! Smooth, light pink and nice and open with no swelling and only five polyps. Thats 5 the whole way around the bowel, compared to before where they were completely covering the wall of the intestine. WOW, I was so happy and impressed with what I had changed and achieved, from diet and lifestyle changes. I hope this inspires people and gives proof that your not stuck with this illness for the rest of your life. It worked for me, so there is no reason that it wouldn’t work for you as well. Yes we are all different, but with a bit of adapting to each individuals needs and situation, you can have a completely different life, a happy and healthy one.
make this your medicine!
get rid of this, and watch the difference
A happy digestive tract, full of good bacteria, with no inflammation!
no more inflammation!
In future posts I will add information on good foods that help inflammation, the diet that helped me, and why chemicals and toxic products also play a part in your bodies ability to heal. I will share why stress is a big problem, and how not getting good amounts of sleep can effect your health as well. along with some book recommendations and plenty of information to help you along the way.
my two main issues that caused my flair ups were bad diet and STRESS!
Thanks for taking the time to read my post, and I hope over time I can help you better your health and if you have Crohn’s or Collitis, help you to gain control of it.
To a happy and healthy future,
Tai
Resources
(1) https://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/crohns-colitis-difference#1>
Disappearing Crohn's 