Please Read: Ginger Was My Answer

marcell said...

David1991 said...

countess18 said...
Are you still on the SCD diet? Also why stop something that works esp. before a cruise?

I am not on the SCD, and have not been for quite some time aside from a random month or so last fall (my full run of it was 4 months in the summer of 2016).

I see your point, which is why I'm back and forth about it. I was thinking of coming off of it to see if I notice a difference. I of course don't want to get worse but I figured if I did get worse I could conclude the ginger helped, whereas if I stayed just as good (minimal gas and cramping with formed stools) then perhaps it did not help much if at all.

So what are the results?

I can't say I noticed much of a difference when coming off of it. I thought maybe I was getting worse but it was a false alarm and even stuffing myself with junk food on the cruise I didn't notice any worsening of GI symptoms until the very end of the cruise. I've more or less had good solid stools since coming off the ginger.


I did just start getting red blood again these last 2 days but it's been something like 6 weeks I've been off the ginger now so I don't think it's related at all and if you recall I actually had a little blood when I started ginger last time. So unfortunately I can't say ginger made much of a difference but if I get another crampy/gassy flare I will try it again and see if there is a benefit.

Strangely enough the last few times I've had blood it's been bright red with no cramping or pain at all. Really no symptoms. So Idk what that's about. If it goes for another 1-2 days I'll start taking Rowasa again.

I switched from Pentasa to Lialda about 2 weeks ago but I had blood like this on Pentasa too occasionally.

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-Proctitis 10/2010. Later diagnosed with Crohn's. Then Pancolitis. Now they call it 'indeterminate colitis'

-Pentasa 5g/day

Worked:
SCD Diet. Asacol. Pentasa. Rowasa enema. Uceris. Hydrocortisone.

Didn't seem to work:
-Hydrocortisone enema. VSL#3DS. Canasa. Slippery elm bark. Astaxanthin. l-glutamine. Psyllium husk. Bee Pollen.

simplys said...
Hello all. Just another update. Been going strong with 100ml every three or four days. Any longer and my stool gets loose. The BMs are consistent at 1 per 2 days. Sometimes I have a little alcohol or spicy food and it still disagrees with me. Stool is always a perfect 4 after drinking the ginger tea. I have been using almond cashew milk to cut out dairy completely. Still not on any medication. Doctor saw high liver enzymes, so I'm cutting back on vaping and stopping my methylphenidate (ADHD meds) to see if that's the cause. No flare even though my nicotine is a tenth the usual.

I had an endoscopy a few months ago and it showed signs of improvement in my colon. First time I've ever shown improvement. Not sure if I mentioned that here yet.

To answer a couple questions, I clean the ginger with a potato brush. Ginger always has mud caked in it, so I clean it off like you'd clean a potato. Then I just juice it with the skin on. I tried blending before jucing it, but the yield was not as good.

I would not out too much confidence in tinctures since I don't know the effect of alcohol on ginger. I may start jucing some tumeric to see if it has any effect.

I cut myself shaving, cut my hands work on the cars, exercise frequently, and get checked by the doctor often. No signs of thin blood as a result of the ginger I take in.

Thank you for the continued updates. Great to hear your endoscopy results have improved. My next colonoscopy is July 6th...I could take ginger for a few weeks prior to that but it wouldn't really be a comparison to anything as I haven't had a colonoscopy in 2 years.

Symptomatically, I'd love to have seen some of the great benefits you saw but if I'm being objective I can't say I saw a huge difference. However, in the last year or so my symptoms have mostly been blood related (even with stools being a formed 3-4), not loose stools. Perhaps if I was getting diarrhea and intense cramping then the ginger would have more of an effect on that, I'm not sure.

As of now I'm about 90% controlled with oral mesalamine (Lialda) and mesalamine enema (Rowasa)



Only going to the bathroom once every 2 days seems low. Are you eating much in general? And did they still find significant disease in your endoscopy even though it was improved? If so, I would wonder if you should still take medications to get your disease even more under control.

---

-Proctitis 10/2010. Later diagnosed with Crohn's. Then Pancolitis. Now they call it 'indeterminate colitis'

-Pentasa 5g/day

Worked:
SCD Diet. Asacol. Pentasa. Rowasa enema. Uceris. Hydrocortisone.

Didn't seem to work:
-Hydrocortisone enema. VSL#3DS. Canasa. Slippery elm bark. Astaxanthin. l-glutamine. Psyllium husk. Bee Pollen.

Not specifically related to ginger but I made a post you all might find interesting/relevant here:

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=4023421&g=4023421#m4023421

---

-Proctitis 10/2010. Later diagnosed with Crohn's. Then Pancolitis. Now they call it 'indeterminate colitis'

-Lialda 4.8g/day

Worked:
SCD Diet. Asacol HD. Pentasa. Lialda. Rowasa enema. Uceris. Hydrocortisone.

Didn't seem to work:
-Hydrocortisone enema. VSL#3DS. Canasa. Slippery elm bark. Astaxanthin. l-glutamine. Psyllium husk. Bee Pollen.

What side effects were you experiencing with Mesalazine? I would not claim success after only 5-weeks, we can flare often within 6-months of stopping a medication. If it were me, I wouldn't stop Mesalazine, rather use both ginger and Mesalazine together.

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Moderator Ulcerative Colitis
John, 40, UC Proctosigmoiditis
Rx: Remicade @5mgs/kg/6wks; daily 75mgs 6MP, 4.8g generic-Lialda, and rowasa
And here I thought Game Of Thrones was who within a large household gets the toilet 1st in the morning...

Glad you know the risk, and are okay with it. I wish you success but worry you'll flare up in a few months time. Didn't miss anything.