From: Frank L.
Date: Tue, January 72003

I have been on the diet for one year now and feel great.....prior to the diet, I was told by specialists that the only option to gain control of my life from colitis was surgery..............I am greatful for the opportunity to help myself........all you need is a plan and willpower.

From: Vikki E.
Date: Wed, March 12, 2003

I started on the diet last Aug.(2002) and am med free and symptom free and have been since about 2 weeks after starting. I love the food and my weight is almost where it should be after about 8 years. My husband supports me and has come up with some great recipes for the diet! Thanks to all who contribute and most of all to Elaine and Lucy!

From: Elaine
Date: Wed, March 12, 2003
Subject: SCD and Autism

The following link came through on the other listserve I am on. I loved the way it was written. It is not the first report of recovery using SCD. (link to SCD and Autism). "...The SCD was the single most important ingredient that led to Maria's recovery. But it wasn't the only one. These treatments also helped:..."

From: T.J.
Date: Thursday, May 8, 2003

The traditional treatments for IBD are outrageous! I will never go to a GI doctor again unless he/she is one who actually has this condition. Oh, sure, take all these expensive medications each of which has it's own set of side effects, which may or may not be as bad as the disease. Surrender yourself to victimhood and lay yourself on the altar of conventional medicine. OR - follow the SCD diet, modify it as needed to find your own level of comfort. It has taken a few years for me to find my own needs, which are more strict than the SCD, but I eat a reasonable amount of meat-chicken-fish, hard cheese, homemade yogurt, and many raw veggies. I can eat at restaurants (tell them [I am] on the Atkin's diet, everyone knows what that is)...being pain free, diarrhea free is a great motivator. Best luck to all!

Editor's note: The SCD and Atkins are not the same. The SCD is more restrictive about the types of carbohydrates that are ingested and less concerned about their quantities. The Aktins allows for bread and starches, the SCD does not. Certain aspects of the Atkins may appear similar to restauranteurs, but we see the two diets as different and suggest SCDers to simply "say what you want" when dining out.

From: Rhonda S.
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 2003

I was diagnosed with Crohn's Colitis 5 1/2 years ago. Six months after the diagnosis, I came to the realization that the medicine the doctor prescribed was not going to "fix" me or even control the symptoms, for that matter. It was taking increased dosages of medicine to maintain a not-so-normal state.

I started the SCD diet because it was the only option I found that offered any hope. At first, I thought it was the end of the world. My pre-SCD diet was almost totally based on flour, sugar, rice, pasta, potatoes - all the bad stuff! No wonder I got sick!

My recovery was not as quick as some in the other testimonials on this site. I saw only marginal results for the first year or so. However, my mother always said I was stubborn - so I stuck with it. I thought about giving up a few times, but each time I ate a complex carbohydrate I felt really bad.

Over the last 2 years, I can tell my digestive system gets stronger all the time. After five years, I am just now symptom-free and medication-free.

In that five years, my eating life has been transformed. I never thought I would say this, but cooking has become a hobby (as opposed to eating fast food). I have expanded my horizons to new foods, herb gardening and wine collecting.

My advice to anyone on the diet is: this disease did not develop overnight, so don't expect to cure it overnight. Don't give up, even if you don't see notable results right away. Sometimes being stubborn is a good thing.

From: Holly J.
Date: Friday, January 10, 2003

I began SCD on April 8, 2002. Unfortunately, my symptoms got worse before they got better. However, after stringently following the diet - no cheating - I am now med-free and symptom-free! It happened sooner than I ever imagined, but it HAPPENED and I am eternally grateful to the developers of SCD and all the support I received on the SCDListServ. The SCD is truly a Godsend!

From: Kim H.
Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 10:08 PM
Subject: One year anniversary, thank you Elaine!!!

Hi everyone,
I've been meaning to do this for a couple weeks now and just haven't had the time, it's Eric's one year anniversary on the diet!!! So in keeping with the tradition of the list I'll tell his story, here goes:

At this time last year Eric was sooo sick that he barely got outta bed, he couldn't work, and we were living with my parents (7 people in a 4 bedroom house). He was diagnosed in January of 2002 with a fistula that went from his intestine to his bladder, this type of fistula is very difficult to heal without surgery, in fact, in all the reading that I did when they told us that that is what he had, it all said that surgery was the only way to take care of it.

He had constant bladder infections and as you can imagine with a passage from his intestine to his bladder, he was peeing things that he shouldn't...very painful to say the least. They put him on Remicade infusions which he had reactions to, they put him on 6MP which he also had an allergic reaction to and they couldn't figure out what was going on (long story but it made him very, very ill). All these medications that were supposed to be helping were making him even worse. He had constant D and vomiting and he lost a lot of weight. To make a long story short he was in bad shape. He started the diet in March of last year and today he is doing awesome and has been for quite sometime. The fistula has closed, (something they never thought would happen without surgery which he was on the verge of when he started the diet), he is at a healthy weight, he is symptom free, he is working and has been promoted to general manager, we were able to move back to our
house...things are just going really, really well. Eric was never this well even when he was in
"remission" pre-SCD, he never felt good, he threw up and had D a lot of the time but according to the doctor he was in "remission", and he averaged 2 weeks in the hospital a year. He hasn't been this healthy in years. I have my husband back and he has his life back!!! This is the greatest gift anyone could ever give us! Thank you so much, Elaine!!! And our families thank you too. I also want to say thank you to Rachel, Tanya and all the other old-timers that helped me thru in the beginning, most of whom aren't here anymore...I miss them but I'm very, very happy that they are well and have gotten on with their lives. Elaine, I just don't have the words, you have touched so many lives, you are our angel and there is a very special place in our hearts for you. We could never, ever
repay you for what you have done for us and thank you just doesn't do it, but thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Lots and lots of love,
Kim and Eric AND Pumpkin and Lady (who are also very grateful to have a healthy daddy that can play with them, take them to the park, go for walks,...)
CD 4 years, SCD 1 year, med. free

From: Colleen W.
Date: Saturday, September 27, 2003
Subject: First anniversary--cause to celebrate

A year ago and two weeks ago, I was admitted to the ER with an acute case of Crohn's colitis. I weighed 90 lbs., was running multiple fevers in excess of 104 degrees F, had D to the tune of 32x/day, had lost 2 pints of blood and could barely walk.

After eleven days in the hospital, they gave me a choice: I could stay and receive more aggressive drug therapies (the 60mg of IV prednisone they had me on wasn't making a dent); or I could go home and "see what happened".

I went home. The next day, I talked my friend through Whole Foods on his cell phone, making him read me every label on the items I needed to begin the SCD. With the last of my strength, I made the soup and some homemade gelatin. And each subsequent day, I built on the little ground I had already gained until two weeks later, I was able to go to my doctor without lining my pockets with weights to cover the weight loss.

Within one month, I was able to do my laundry by myself again. Within three months, I was able to get back to work. Within five months, I was off all of my medications.

In the past year, I have had one flare, brought on by hormonal birth control. I went on all my meds again, but this time I was able to wean myself off of them in a mere four weeks--I was now that healthy. A year later, I still can't eat raw fruit with abandon but I can travel and not get sick. I haven't had bread or pasta or any other illegal but I can work, socialize and sleep through the night. My world of acceptable restaurants has shrunk even as my ability to be out and about with seemingly boundless energy has increased.

I've accomplished things I never dreamed I could twelve months ago. I've helped friends, acquaintances and total strangers find this diet and changed their lives, too. I've learned patience (oh, boy, have I learned patience) and as a result, am more tolerant of quirks in myself and others. This diet didn't just give me back my life; it gave me a totally new one, richer than I ever could have imagined.

So when people tell me how hard it must be to be on this diet with all of its restrictions, I smile and think to myself, "What restrictions?"

I've never been freer in my life.

Thank you, St. Elaine. Thank you, Rachel. Thank you, all of you wonderful people on this list who get up every day and fight the good fight.

Colleen
CD - 1.5 years
SCD - 1 year
no meds

From: Judi C.
Date: Sunday, October 5, 2003

I went on the diet in 1997 after being diagnosed with pan-colitis. After two weeks on the diet my symptoms were drastically
reduced. After two years on the diet they were gone. I did have a flare in 1999 following a rather tramautic childbirth experience (very
preterm, emergency c-section) but I went back on the diet. I am allergic to every drug used to treat the UC other than prednisone (which I
hated) so the diet was my only option.

As a result, I am now UC free! That's right--free! I had a colonoscopy done this year and there is NO SIGN of disease and NO SIGN of
damage to my intestinal walls. I have no symptoms and haven't flared since 1999. The doctor says I will always carry the diagnosis but that I
should consider myself disease free. I do think that it was 80% diet and 20% stress reduction (I learned to let things go and to ask for help
when I needed it and get lots of exercise). Learning to let go of controlling everything around me really eased my symptoms but the diet is
what cured my body.

Thanks Elaine for helping me get my life back. My husband and my daughters thank you more than words can say!