Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum and wondering if Jini's books, recommendations, and products are real. I am not trying to be skeptical but am very vulnerable at this point and do want to be taken advantage of. I hope you understand where I am coming from.

I am a 34 year old male living the California. I was diagnosed with crohn's 3 years ago and have been really healthy due to eating well (relatively), exercising, and taking medication. I am currently taking entorcort; however, I had a colonoscopy earlier this week that revealed some ulcers and inflammation in my ileum. As a result, my doctor wants to put me on azathioprine and I am very skeptical of this medication, especially because I feel fine. I do not have pain and usually go to the bathroom 1-2x per day. It is hard to have your doctor tell you that you are sick when you do not feel sick. On the flip side I do not want the ulcers to turn into more serious complications.

I want to maintain my health and hopefully reduce the active crohn's (ulcers and imflammation) so I can continue to enjoy my life. I am interested in some of these products but really want to know if this stuff is real. Also, has anyone tried acupuncture and with type of results?

Thanks,
Brian Sanders

Hi Brian,

I was diagnosed with UC (mild) almost a year ago but after the diagnosis, I got really scared because of all the negative stuff I was reading on the internet. Because of the constant anxiety, my symptoms got worse and the anti-inflammatory I went on stopped working. I tried many herbs, supplements, diets (SCD, The Maker's Diet). Nothing seemed to help, or it would work for a little while but then my symptoms returned. I got very depressed and discouraged.

I wanted to find something that dealt with the mental and emotional aspects of IBD, not just the physical symptoms because I believed that the anxiety was what was keeping me from being healed. I didn't think that there was anything out there, but one day I stumbled across Jini's site online. I read the first chapter online, and for the first time I felt a glimmer of hope. I finally felt like my outlook could be changed and I could begin true healing. I bought the e-book because I couldn't wait to start and I read 400 pages the first day.

I have begun to tailor a program to my specific symptoms. This has been great, because I feel like IBD is not a one-size-fits-all condition and Listen to Your Gut is not a one-size-fits-all program. You learn to listen to your body and find out what truly works for you. Most of the things that I've tried have helped me and I've only been doing this for a month. However, I am off meds and my symptoms are 90% better. I still have "episodes" but I don't let one small setback here and there take away my hope that eventually I will be completely healed. This program has begun to give me my life back, and has taught me how to relax and live a life of joy again.

Wow, thank you for your response! It gave me chills to pick up on the courage and confidence you have developed for yourself. It was very relieving to get your feedback regarding the anxiety and learning how to enjoy life. I am a psychologist and have strongly felt that my anxiety and often times worry has played the most significant role in me developing Crohn's. The last couple of years I have really worked hard on "practicing what I preach" to my clients and finding more enjoyment out of life and reducing stress. My 20 month old daughter has really helped put perspective into my life and allowed me to recognize the importants things. I am excited to read Jini's book and hope to walk away with the same feeling you have.

I forgot to tell you, I have also been getting Chinese acupuncture for the past 3 months (once every two weeks). I have a fabulous acupuncturist who is also an MD but has been trained by traditional Chinese acupuncturists and is very knowledgable. It has been helpful, mostly because I feel that he is treating my whole person, both for my UC symptoms and also for other areas where I have imbalance (liver, spleen) which can play a huge role in my overall healing. It is good to get his feedback on a regular basis as I have someone who can monitor my progress along with me. He has helped me to figure out various areas I need to focus on as well as provide encouragement. I would say give it a try because just as with many other healing methods, no two people respond the same but you may find it very helpful, especially to gain insight into other areas that need work. Good luck!

Hi Brian,

As momof2 has said, the neat thing about LTYG is it provides a HUGE amount of information on a wide variety of treatment options so you can experiment and see what works best for you. The book is, IMHO, the single best source of information on alternative therapies for IBD.

I've had UC for ten years now and have been mostly in remission after the first two years. I was desperately ill when diagnosed and it took a long time to find the combination of things that worked for me. In my experience, it's not diet alone or some miracle supplement, but rather a combination of diet, probiotics and supplements to reduce inflammation and promote healing - along with stress control and lifestyle modifications, as you mention.

Hope this helps,

Angela