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This topic really lights a fire in me. It’s why I decided I wanted to help other people get and stay healthy. I had just spent about 2 weeks in the hospital over the course of 3 months. After my surgery, my surgeon came in and told me for the first time since your diagnosis feel free to eat all the popcorn and nuts (when inflamed they can get stuck in wall of intestine) and whatever food you want. I just had about 6 inches of my intestines taken out and he was telling me to eat whatever I wanted. How did that make sense?
Crohn’s is an inflammatory bowel disease. The cause is not 100% certain and there is no cure. They believe it really comes from a perfect combination of several events that lead to the development of Crohn’s. There is A LOT of information, often times opposing statements, about this disease but still no cure.
The medicine I take, Stellara, is an injection every 8 weeks that suppresses my immune system. This helps manage symptoms because it is believed my immune system is what is attacking my digestive system (hence, autoimmune disease). When I was still feeling symptoms with this medicine my doctor told me the next step was adding methotrexate. That was one of the medications I took when I was first diagnosed because of the severity of the flare up. The side effects were miserable. The risks were terrifying. I was not going back on that medicine. I was tired of treating my symptoms.
So, since Crohn’s is an inflammatory disease my first thought was what can I do to reduce inflammation? I did research on anti-inflammatory diets, herbs, oils, treatments, anything. Now, this is a major work in progress. I am changing what I am doing constantly to see what works best. My diet has been evolving this past year with adding things in and taking things out and seeing what happens. I have currently landed on no dairy or meat and gluten-free. I have also heavily cut back on caffeine and alcohol. But, the best oils for inflammation no matter what are turmeric, frankincense, and copaiba. These are things I try to take in every single day (doTERRA now has turmeric oil and copaiba soft gels to make it even easier to get them in).
But, Crohn’s is also heavily influenced by our lifestyle, mainly stress. And of course, Crohn’s is actually linked to higher rates of anxiety so it’s a really fun combo. Stressing about being too stressed really doesn’t work well. This is another area I’m constantly evolving. But, when I get really stressed I take a step back and focus on my breath. Also, exercising regularly really helps overall. This includes adding yoga into my workout routine and trying to add meditation in regularly. For me, there are also many oils I turn to when I feel stressed or anxious (Peace, Balance, Lavender).
What I do to deal with inflammation and stress is me *trying* to treat what I believe to be one of root causes. I am constantly learning more about this disease and adapting to it.
Prevention is what I do to keep my later in life years as healthy as possible. I am not trying to cheat death but trying to keep my healthy years longer. Yes, there are a lot of things I do for my Crohn’s that also help prevent issues further down the road. I’ll take a two-fer deal any day. Things like managing stress and reducing inflammation are crucial for preventing chronic diseases. Also, taking a multivitamin everyday can help to make sure you’re getting the basic nutrients.
The biggest things for prevention is eating more fruits and vegetables and drink more water. The leading causes of death in America now are predominantly preventable diseases. The rates of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type II diabetes are the highest they have ever been. There are so many ridiculous facts about the cost of prevention vs the cost of these chronic diseases but I’ll let you explore that for yourself.
Treating symptoms is much easier than treating the root cause of something. If you have a headache you treat the symptoms by taking Advil. But, if you try and figure out why you have the headache (maybe dehydration, exhaustion, stress) and treat that problem instead that could help prevent future headaches!