Excuse me, Doc, Your Pants Are On Fire
I know for a fact there is a large community of people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) that find relief through eating clean. Many people have emailed me just to tell me that. The contacts and stories I receive from people with digestive issues say their doctor not only DID NOT recommend a healthier diet but said it has no link. Doctors say it will not help the condition. Liar, Liar, pants ABLAZE.
This is mind boggling to me.
I speculate (I never use that word…no idea why I just typed it) that it is because of pharmaceutical companies trying to pimp out our health system. Check out a good read about that topic here.
When doctors give information like this it is similar to a patient coming into a dentist’s office with broken teeth because they chew on rocks all day. And the dentist says, “You have weak teeth. It’s not from the rock chewing. You may continue gnawing on concrete because it won’t really matter. You have weak teeth no matter what.”
If my doctor told me I have weak teeth he should probably tell me to stop chewing rocks! Right? Okay, bad analogy. But, seriously. Why are doctor’s okay with telling their patients that eating has nothing to do with a bowel disease?
Luckily, my gastroenterologist is an actual human being with common sense. So, although he stresses the importance of medication (remember: this is a lifelong chronic disease with no cure) he also seems to think diet and other factors can contribute to IBD symptoms. After all, he’s the one who recommended the paleo diet.
What can you do to help?
Spread the word. Next time you have an appointment with your GI doctor tell them about Mangia Paleo. Share the success stories with your friends, family, doctors. In fact, share this exact blog post link. I’d like to see what they think of this entry. 😉
Your analogy is great! Thank you for sharing your experience!
AMAZING post!! So great to hear that your GI doctor was onboard, my doctor soooo wasn’t. He straight up told me “I’m glad you’re feeling better, but it’s not your diet that is helping.” It was actually pretty sad to hear that, since he was my GI doctor for over 10 years, and I thought he would at least hear me out. I do believe that the more we keep talking about what a life saver changing your diet can be, the more they’ll have to start listening 🙂
Thank you very much! Hopefully your GI doc will come to his senses. It’s too bad they really don’t think diet helps. It’s just common sense. Hopefully our paleo trend catches on!
Spot on! The doc treating my UC also said diet wouldn’t make a difference, but I was pleasantly surprised when I visited my gynae last week and he was in complete agreement that my diet had to change, and was so supportive. Thank goodness that these days, we have access to so much information and we’re able to help ourselves. Thanks for another awesome post 🙂
Thank you 🙂 I’m glad you’ve got a doctor who supports you. That is so important and really helps validate the diet. 🙂
My doctor too has told me diet has no correlation. I don’t even want to go back to him because I know he’ll put me on a slew of meds with terrible side effects. I am just starting a paleo/clean diet. I hope it helps!
I hope it does too! It’s very important, as you can imagine, to foster a strong relationship with your GI doc. Shop around and chat with them about their views on diet and colitis. Hopefully you’ll find one that encourages your healthy decisions. Pill pushers are the worst. Good luck!
I just discovered your blog today and I must say that YOU are a breath of fresh air. 🙂 I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in September after suffering since June. Going to the bathroom 20+ times a day. Rapid weight loss. Occasionally nausea, fatigue, joint pain, loss of appetite. I was pretty much wasting away. Fed up with waiting and waiting for a diagnosis I began a gluten free diet. I started to improve, going to the bathroom 5-9 times/day. When I met my GI doc I told him that I was seeing many signs of improvement on a GF diet, his response was “well lets get you a diagnosis before you do that.” When he diagnosed me with UC he told me my only option was medication, indefinitely. I desperately wanted to reach remission so I took the lialda to help me reach remission so that I could manage my UC naturally. Now that I’ve learned how my body responds to UC I know how to manage it without the meds. Meds are expensive and the long term side effects aren’t worth it to me. I’m so thankful for the internet. There are so many people out there sharing their stories just like you. Ive learned more about this disease from fellow IBDers than from any medical doc.
Ok, that was much longer than I planned, Thank you again!!
Whitney,
I’m so glad you found other IBDers to help. Welcome to the IBD family. 🙂 We are all in this together and unfortunately rely on each other a lot more than our doctors. I hope your experiment with diet is a good option and you find yourself in a long and comfortable remission!
Thanks for stumbling across my blog. MANGIA!
Laura