If you are reading this, you are looking for the answers about Crohn’s disease. You were told that there is no real cause for it; therefore, consequently, there is no cure. The only option you are left with is treatment with the powerful pharmaceutical drugs.
Most likely you are confused. You are afraid of pain, bloody diarrhea, fatigue, possibility of the colon removal, cancer, and side effect of the drugs that you are taking. In the jungle of internet, thousand websites promise and sell miracle cure. The situation with Crohn’s disease is extremely complicated. Even medical authorities in this field write “Seventy-five years after Crohn’s characterization as a unique entity, we are still in the dark”.
Let me share some ideas about causes and possible non-drug treatments for this illness. Everything what I will tell you, is information from statistic and medical literature, practice of the doctors from other countries and my own 40 years of experience with Crohn’s disease. Yes, we do not know what the real cause of this disease is, but some facts can bring light to this problem.
All medical statistics show the growth of the autoimmune diseases including Crohn’s disease during the last 60 years mostly in the North America, Europe, New Zealand, and much less in Southeast Asia, South America. We cannot blame genes; they cannot change in 60 years. Some scientists consider Crohn’s disease as a disease of the rich people and connect Crohn’s disease with Westernization.
You were told that Crohn’s disease is a hereditary disease, so you did not have a chance to escape from that. The definitive role of genetics is only 15%. I personally believe in heredity of the life style when generation-by-generation people have Cesarean delivery, formula-only feeding, and eating unhealthy foods, drinking alcohol, smoking, having the same vaccination and infections, taking antibiotics, NSAID and living or working in the toxic environment, etc.
No wonder, heredity of the life-style is responsible for many disorders and medical articles and books prove that. Therefore, 85% of harmful environmental factors play the role in the development of autoimmune diseases, which rise for the last 60 years.
You were told that Crohn’s disease is autoimmune malady when the immune system acts like crazy by attacking person’s own tissue. Normally, immune system is designed to protect the human being from invaders such as harmful microorganisms, and toxic substances.
There are three common disorders of the immune system. The immune system can be weak after viral, bacterial, or parasitic infections, chemotherapy, immunosuppressant drugs, radiation, stress, AIDS, heavy metals toxicity, low adrenals and thyroid, etc. Secondary, the immune system can work extra high. We can see it in many allergic diseases, food and chemical sensitivity, vaccinations, chronic infections, etc. All these factors can trigger in predisposed persons the abnormal immune respond.
Unfortunately, there are no the specific tests for Crohn’s disease; therefore it needs to exclude alternative diagnoses, such as intestinal infections and parasites, diarrhea after antibiotics, Clostridium difficile diarrhea, celiac disease, lactose intolerance, exacerbation of irritable bowel syndrome-IBS, diverticulitis, side effects of NSAID, Candida-yeast overgrowth, small intestine bacterial overgrowth-SIBO, colon cancer and more.
Helping many years the patients with the Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, I strongly believe that the solution to manage autoimmune diseases is to control simultaneously digestion, dysbiosis (Candida-yeast overgrowth, small intestine bacterial overgrowth-SIBO) and chronic body’s acidity.
The key of the healthy digestion is healthy pancreatic function and proper balance of the friendly intestinal flora. Sadly, beneficial intestinal flora of the modern men are diminished and altered. If the baby did not get mothers friendly intestinal flora through the natural birth and mother’s milk or infant receives numerous courses of the antibiotics from the first year of life, the beneficial intestinal flora is replaced by yeast, harmful bacteria, and parasites.
These nasty invaders irritate and inflame the walls of the small intestine, create a porous, leaky gut, they ferment undigested foods, producing a great number of toxins. This can cause huge strain on the immune system with its overwork that is manifested by allergic reactions and allergic diseases. Allergy exists always in the Crohn’s disease; it is a leading player in all autoimmune diseases.
Modern diet with unhealthy eating habits, consumption of the chemically modifying, “dead” food products, sugars, white flour, bad fats, and oils, processed cow milk, can exhaust the pancreatic function. Pancreas has to produce more pancreatic digestive enzymes to digest “dead” foods without natural digestive enzymes. Improperly digested food goes through the porous, leaky gut into the blood causing additional awful overwork for the immune system.
Furthermore, wheat and milk were introduced in the human food just 10,000 of years’ ago. From that time, digestive systems did not adapt well to lectins; proteins in grains and beans (for example, gluten) or casein (protein in the cow milk). Poorly digested lectins go through the porous, leaky gut’s wall into the blood system, attach to the body tissues, and mimic the healthy cells. Confused immune system by attacking the lectins destroys also the healthy intestinal cells. Many scientists believe that it can be central mechanism to trigger “crazy” immune respond, especially in the predisposed persons.
There are also some evidences that Crohn’s disease is infection, and Mycobacterium avium that causes cows’ tuberculosis may play a role in the development of the Crohn’s disease.
The question arises. Can the methods of the alternative medicine help? My answer is “Yes” because these methods focus not only on aggressive immune respond and inflammation but also on possible causes of the disease, subsequences of the disease and treatments. Many of these methods are time-proved, scientific, and clinically based. Some are widely used by medical doctors in other countries. They are:
1. Strictly non lectins, anti Candida, separate and alkaline-forming diet
2. Drinking healing mineral water prepared from the genuine Karlovy Vary thermal spring salt
3. Super strains, bile-resistant probiotics
4. Herbal formulas, herbal extracts and teas
5. High quality and potency variety of the nutritional supplements such as minerals, trace elements, vitamins, amino and essential fatty acids, various supplements for immunity support, reducing pain and scaring, control Candida-yeast, bacterial and parasites overgrowth, healing intestinal lining and precursors of the neurotransmitters
6. Acupuncture: Chinese body, Japanese scalp, Russian ear-lobe, Korean wrist-foot, cupping, electro acupuncture
7. Medical Hypnosis, Deep relaxation, Custom self-hypnosis CD, etc
Some of these healing methods are practically unknown in the U.S. For example, one of the unknown methods is drinking healing mineral water for ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. For more than 500 hundred years, European doctors sent their patients with chronic diarrhea or bloody diarrhea to the small Czech town Karlovy Vary to drink healing mineral water from the thermal spring.
Understanding that the mineral content of this water is a main therapeutic ingredient, Czech medical doctors suggested producing the genuine Karlovy Vary thermal spring salt. By dissolving this salt in water, everyone can make healing mineral water at home. By scientific research, Karlovy Vary healing mineral water
• Normalizes acid-alkaline balance
• Improves the function of liver and pancreas
• Increases amount and quality of the digestive pancreatic enzymes
• Promotes the growth of the friendly intestinal flora
• Heals damaged gut’s wall, reduces inflammation
• Restore the balance of the water, essential minerals and trace elements
Almost all of patients with the ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease know about probiotics and possibly already take them. On the other hand, not too many people realize that mixing probiotics with antibiotics, immunosuppressant’, and steroids, either does not work or can have potential risk.
We can make the analogy of the gastrointestinal tract with garden. It is difficult or impossible to grow roses if the garden is full of the weeds, pests, rodents, chemicals, and the soil is drained and deficient. The roses by themselves have to be an acceptable quality, as well. Nobody can improve the condition of the garden without the help of qualified professional. Restoration of the friendly intestinal flora is vital, but it is not a quick fix and self-treatment.
By clinical studies and my experience, it is impractical to get stable remission without restoring the normal function of the pancreatic gland. The low function of pancreas, low amount, and poor quality of the pancreatic digestive enzymes aggravates all autoimmune diseases; I explained that in my eBook. Chronic bloody diarrhea affected humanity for millennia. Therefore, ancient doctors were faced with this problem a while ago and gained experience in the treatment of chronic diarrhea primarily by healing foods, herbs, and acupuncture.
So, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are the results of multi-factor interaction between genetic, immune-related, environmental, digestive, infectious and possible medical triggers. Accepting that, I do not believe in the panacea or miracle in this case. Only the hard work and cooperation between patient, his/her friends, relatives, PCP, and knowledgeable, licensed medical practitioners can bring the patient to the stable remission. Customized, simultaneously accomplished combination of natural, holistic, non-drug methods of the alternative medicine can be very beneficial for people with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.
The goal is to enhance pancreatic function and entire digestion, restore the friendly intestinal flora and normalizing acid-base balance, regulate the immune respond and inflammation, and replace deficiencies.
Rush does not help. Abrupt discontinuance of medications can lead to rebound effect that can make things worse. Therefore, after we help to achieve the clinical remission, patient and his/her doctor will decide about safe withdrawing from the medication with following overlapping them by using more of the non-drug methods.
The information contained here is presented for educational, informational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This information is not to be used to replace the services or instructions of a physician or qualified health care practitioner.
