Hi,
My name is Chuck. I am a j-poucher since late 2005. In 2008 I started having bouts of pouchitis which were successfully treated with rounds of cipro. I was getting pouchitis about every couple months after the successful treatments with cipro. Using the side effect producing antibiotics I though not ideal, though,so I searched for something natural to treat the pouchitis. I came across mention of candigone on this board as working so I bought some and gave it a try. It has seemed to do the trick for me and I haven't used antibiotics for about a year now. I use 2 servings, one in morning and one at night, for as long as needed (usually two weeks) to get in remission.

Wow--I really like to read this, thank you for posting! This is exactly why I believe a lot of problems are fungal, (candida) and why a low-sugar/carb diet will help to control symptoms.

I'm glad you found something to help you.

HI Chuck, THanks for the tip. Did you also change your diet? Or do you still eat carbs / sugar?

For broader health reasons than pouchitis, I do follow a low glycemic diet which does limit both sugar and carbs... and I had never heard that might be good for the pouchitis. Very interesting! I am also a vegan for other health reasons. I have PSC, a liver disease associated with UC, and I've done a lot of experimentation with my diet to see what helps with that. So far a vegan, low glycemic, natural food diet is working great for me (and the candigone does the trick when pouchitis sets in). I've been on this diet for about 2 years now and I don't have any symptoms of the PSC anymore like I used to (itching, fatigue).

I quickly googled candigone and it appears to be a colon cleanse, as in enema. Is that correct? You say you take "servings" and, to me, that word implies by mouth not by butt. Where do you get it?

Candigone is not an enema...you take it orally. It is made by a company called Renew Life. It comes in two parts, capsules and tincture, which you take together. I get mine at my local Whole Foods.

Thanks.

There are lots of oral "colon cleanse" products out there. Basically, it is sort of a buzz phrase that makes people think you need to clean your colon (if you have one) or get rid of toxins. Usually, they are laxatives, but sometimes other sorts of products are included in the category.

Jan

Maybe there is something to what Shelby said above...my problem was more fungal than bacterial. But that doesn't explain to me why the antibiotics had worked for me....do antibiotics work on fungus? I must also wonder if the Candigone has an antibiotic effect and the problem was bacterial.

Antibiotics generally do not work on fungus/yeast, and that is why yeast infections occur following antibiotic use. The active ingredient (undecylenic acid) in Candigone is used as a topical antifungal, and also has some antibacterial and antiviral properties. The other active ingredient (caprylic acid) is used as a commercial food surface sanitizer and is an algaecide, bacteriocide and fungicide (sort of like Lysol without the toxicity). Being a medium chain fatty acid, it typically gets digested and absorbed in the stomach or small intestine before reaching the end of the line, where most of the microbes are, unless it is enteric coated.

If you are going to use something like Candigone, I think that taking probiotics along with them is a good idea to help keep a healthy balance of flora.

Jan

There are many other herbal ingredients in the candigone which could play a role also (oregano, olive leaf, cinnamon bark, etc.). From my experience so far, I don't see a need to use probiotics as the candigone has done the job. Its an "If it ain't broke..." king of thing. I will consider it though if in the future I am having to take the Candigone substantially more than I do now...thanks for the tip.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chariotsoficetea,

Good point and I agree a "less is more" attitude is always a good thing! Not sure what all the other herbs would do specifically, but who knows?

Jan

Do you think this might work also on cuffitus?
Would you have to be competlyy off anitbiotics or can you take in inconjuction to? I would like to try this but since I am in a flareup pretty bad I hate at this point to stop the anitbiotics.

I do not have any experience with cuffitis so I'm not sure or not whether candigone would help with that, and honestly, I'm not sure that it would even work for other people's pouchitis... but maybe it could which is why I posted my experiences. I would not recommend discontinuing a course of antibiotics in favor of trying this, but maybe start out trying this in conjunction with the antibiotics. Hope the battle went/goes well!

quote:

candigone

I have had pouchitis since 1997 off and on been on Flagyl since then but have been eating yogart like crazy and taking 1 floragen 3 per day BUT still have flare ups I have a W-pouch I don't have a yeast or Candida problem they checked that will candigone help me ?