what is scd??

i've seen it mentioned a few times..what is it?

I'm a big proponent of SCD! I had a colonoscopy just prior to being on it for 2 years, and the report showed a perfect looking colon . Biopsies showed no inflammation. I love this diet!

We put our son on the SCD diet after he was dianosed with  crohns in the colon and with a rectal fistula at 16 years old. After 6-8 months on the diet and taking pentasa, all his symptoms like D and mucus completely disappeared, and by the 12 month mark,  the rectal fistula completely healed up. My son is now 21 soon to be 22 and has been away in college for almost 4  years and he has been symptom free without any problems, and he has not taken the pentasa since he was 18 (his dicision, not mine). He still follows this diet to this day, and probably will the rest of his life.

The real secret to making  this diet work is dedication dedication and more dedication.  I suggest you do a lot of research and read a lot. There is all kinds of good info out there to inform you.

I have been on SCD for a couple of months (if you only count 100% compliance) and about 6 months if you count 99% compliance.

It sure seems to be working for me.

I love the food. I do have an issue when I travel, but I am learning how to do that also.

Each must find their own way, but for me, I would reccomend it.

Also, I have had lots of great support on this site including from spookh. So you decide to give this a try you will not be on your own.

Dave

"I'd like to hear more about colonoscopies after going on the diets during a really bad flare."

I do SCD and I have my fingers crossed that I will never be able to answer your question cause I will not get back into a really bad flare. ONly time will tell
dave

Roni, all my colonoscopies before the diet showed the usual signs of crohn's: inflammation, granulomas, ulcers, fistulas, etc. I never had a good scope. I was on a variety of drugs over those years, including big guns like remicade and 6MP. I had a colonoscopy 6 months after SCD (and while on Humira), and there was MAJOR improvement. My colon looked normal for the first time (minus the mega scar tissue at the ileocecal valve), but biopsies showed there was still inflammation. My next colonoscopy was just before 2 years on SCD (off Humira for over a year, and on LDN for a few months). Perfect looking colon again, but this time the biopsies showed no inflammation. My GI said the anastamosis from removing the scar tissue 1 year prior healed perfectly as well. I can barely see the incision on the pictures she took.

My GI is now a believer in SCD, especially since my colon was better a year after being off Humira. She wants to do scopes every 1 to 2 years though to monitor things.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, nuts don't have to be a big part of SCD. Lots of people are allergic and do the diet without them. I'm allergic to most nuts, but I rotate the ones I have a lesser allergy to and do okay.

I use the CTT diet, stands for , cant touch that ...Most anything that taste good,,cant touch that ...If I dont follow the diet, you guessed it,,,,Hammer time,,,bam bam bam, cant touch that .

Roni said...
That's great, spooky.

I have a couple of questions:

How long were you on Humira before your 6 month scope?

Were you were on LDN and Humira before with no results?

Also, you had a resection after on SCD for the scar tissue? Were you having obstructions?

I went on Humira in July of 2008. I started SCD on December 1st 2008. My scope was May of 2009. My surgery was September of 2009, which was also the time that I stopped Humira. I started LDN in May of 2010, and had my next scope in October 2010.

The Humira helped reduce my pain a lot, and reduced my bleeding. It didn't help my fistulas, fissures, cramping, or constipation. I started LDN as a sort of insurance policy to back up SCD. I don't feel any different, with the exception that I sleep better.

I got obstructions fairly frequently over the years due to my tiny stricture. I did okay on SCD, because I pureed and cooked to death all fruits and veggies I ate. about a month before my surgery, I did have a partial obstruction (it thankfully resolved itself at home). I had eaten a dessert that contained cherry halves and coconut flour. Pretty dumb thing to do with a stricture! I was just glad it was able to push through eventually. I also had a partial obstruction on prep night. The massive amount of prep backed up behind the stricture, and caused pain all night. My surgeon said there was Miralax backed up when they did the surgery that morning. I am so glad I got that stricture cut out!

Thanks Dave, please update after they get a look inside so the rest of us will know how the SCD affected the CD for you.

Dang, the trouble with colonoscopies: anybody who has a colonoscopy while on SCD AND meds has no way of proving what actually caused remission. Was it the diet? Was it the meds? Was it both?

SCD helped my daughter, but there's no evidence, so far, it can keep her from flaring by itself. She was on strict SCD in 2006 while on Entocort, and then when she tried to taper off Entocort, landed in the hospital. Even in the hospital, I kept her on strict SCD by bringing her stuff, but it was the pred that knocked back the flare. After the hospital stay, she continued on strict SCD, along with pred then Entocort, for months before deciding to add potatoes and rice back into her diet (modified SCD) - she did this because she was losing too much weight and because she still had symptoms, which indicated the strict SCD wasn't fully effective.  

BUT we do think the modified SCD helped keep her in near-remission for years (symptom-free, stricture gone, and colonoscopy showing more healing despite one or two spots of continued inflammation), because clinical trials show it's highly unlikely just one pill of Entocort can keep you in remission for even one year.

OK, maybe she wasn't on SCD long enough when she landed in the hospital (though Elaine, the author of the book, "Breaking the Vicious Cycle," said it shouldn't take more than a month for SCD to take effect), so now she is on strict SCD again - giving it another try. Her integrated medicine doc, who once ran an SCD trial, thinks SCD will probably, by itself, never put her into full remission. (I'll admit I glared at him when he said this.) We will see.

It would be wonderful if strict SCD, given at least a few months, could enable my daughter to be med-free or get better results from LDN or Pentasa. But if it doesn't, SCD, like any treatment, should not be turned into a religion, where a patient spends years going through all kinds of restrictions, impacting her quality of life, in the desperate hope they might someday help.

Keep letting us know the whole truth. If you had a clean colonoscopy while on Humira, let us know whether you also made any dietary changes, or changes in supplements. If you had a clean colonoscopy while on SCD, were you also on meds? Which ones? The whole story will enable all of us to make better decisions. Even Elaine said SCD doesn't work for everyone, so if it doesn't ever fully kick in for my daughter, we very much need to know the whole story so that we can figure out what next to try.  

You might think it's the Humira, the SCD, or a supplement, but whatever you think it is, the truth is that if you are doing any kind of combination therapy, there are at least three possibilities: 1) you are right, or 2) the combination itself is doing the job, or 3) some other element(s) of the combination than the one you think it is, is actually be doing the job. I'm hoping those who think it is SCD are right. 

Btw, right now my daughter is on Keflex for a skin infection (the disease itself is directly related to issues with wound healing), which, combined with the Entocort, could cause a yeast infection. Fortunately, SCD helps prevent this side effect.

Post Edited (njmom) : 1/8/2011 8:47:55 AM (GMT-7)

I think this diet works for some, but not all. It also is a diet that has to be followed to the letter to work. It is restrictive in my opinion and does take alot of dedication has you have to prepare all your food. Now I personally follow a modified low residue diet myself. It works well for "me". But...I also believe you should always do any diet along with meds and that both should be considered as complimentary of eachother.

I have seen folks who swear by this diet or makers and state how they are med free, only to come back later still seeing some inflammation in their scopes. The diet may be helping some, but in my opinion its not enough, that some type of med is needed to help it do its work. Spookyh is one who I consider is doing things right. She is doing the diet along with a med LDN. And this is working really well for her and keeping her healthy.

I am not against the diet, as I have seen some get much needed relief from it. Its just not a diet for "me" personally. But I still believe any diet must include some type of maintenance med also to do the job properly and keep the CD in control. JMHO