My husband,who is 43, has had blood in his stool off and on for the past year, diarrhea that comes and goes and is anemic at this point. He was finally diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in January after two colonoscopies. It started in April of last year with just some blood in his stool, no diarrhea. We automatically feared cancer. Doctor put him on two antibiotics simultaneously. Severe diarrrhea and bleeding came after the colonoscopy in June. No cancer, though. Found only six inches of ulceration in sigmoid area: no clear diagnosis. Tried Pentasa but it made things worse so he stopped taking it. Used diet and a myriad of supplements from Jini's book to calm things down and try to stop this mild to moderate bleeding, but just couldn't stop it completely for any length of time. Major bout of bleeding and diarrhea in October was immediatley followed by extremely painful superficial thrombophlebitis. Was given antibiotics and prednisone. Things calmed down quickly and was phased down significantly with prednisone but had another bout of major bleeding and diarrhea at Christmas again followed by extremely painful superficial thrombophlebitis. Again given two antibiotics simultaneously. Things improved dramatically over January (started using l-glutamine) and the colonoscopy now done in London was a breeze. No Bleeding! Was phased off of prednisone completely. Supplements seemed to be keeping things under control. Some bleeding returned so doctor insisted on putting him on Salofalk. This did not seem to help and things were slowly deteriorating. So my husband decided to stop the Salofalk after being on it for three weeks and start the elemental diet (Absorb Plus). He has been on this for 10 days and has done 6 healing retention enemas during this time as well. Still some bleeding. How long should it take to see results? He is getting discouraged and would just like to get this bleeding to stop. He desperately wants to avoid drugs. Any suggestions? Thanks P.S. Tried probiotics last summer and it seemed to irritate things at that time.

Hi Lori,

A few things come immediately to mind:

The first time I went on the IBD Remission Diet - after severe bleeding - I continued to have some bleeding for the entire six weeks and it didn't completely stop until after I reintroduced regular food. So you have to look at other signs/symptoms too and if you see improvement overall, or in other areas, then you're on the right track.

Next, could the bleeding be from a fissure, or internal hemorrhoids? Re-read these sections in the revised LTYG - pgs. 132, 91 and follow treatment if necessary.

Until he gets his gut flora restored and balanced, he's not going to get any long-term relief. This means: Jini's Wild Oregano Oil Protocol and high dose oral probiotic supplementation combined with Jini's Probiotic Retention Enema. Again, see the relevant sections in LTYG for how to implement these therapies and how to go slowly and gradually build tolerance. Also, do a search of this Forum, because I know I answered a post from a reader who could not tolerate even the smallest amount of probiotics and I gave here a step-by-step procedure for what to do.

Remember, natural healing is a Journey and a committment. It takes quite a bit of time and every time you go back on the drugs or have a colonoscopy, you wipe out whatever healing you've accomplished and start pretty much from square one again. So you need to keep this in mind when becoming frustrated or impatient.

all the best,
Jini

Thanks, Jini! Your reply has been very helpful. After writing the post, I stepped back from it and looked at how things have progressed and then knew that the Wild Oregano Protocol and probiotics would be the key. I guess we thought the bleeding needed to stop completely before he could start the Wild Oregano Oil and probiotics and he just never quite got to that point. Thanks so much for your books and sharing your experiences with us. I can't tell you how much they have meant to us.

You're very welcome.

As I've written in LTYG and often remind people: There is a colon clinic in Sydney who routinely uses the Natren probiotic retention enemas daily, to stop even severe bleeding Crohn's and Colitis. They have been doing this for years and report a high success rate with it.

all the best,
Jini