No antibiotics--First time in two years

Hi,
I had been on every antibiotic under the sun since my pouch redo in 2006. Last september I started taking pineapple every day after hearing a radio programme and have not needed to take any antibiotics since! I also avoid wheat but believe the fresh pineapple is the answer as it gets rid of ulcers!! Would love to hear if anyone else has any success with this as I now swear by it!

I am encouraged to hear this progress. For reasons that should be obvious from my thread on warts/yeast infections from long term antibiotic use, I am seeing that I need to get off antibiotics by any means possible. I would ask that both of you keep us posted on your progress with your respective diets.

Jon, I recently gave up all carbs and sugars in my diet because I am weaning off Entocort (which I am taking with antibiotics and pentasa) and I want this to go as smoothly possible. I am prepared to make this a permanent lifestyle change and give up my foodie lifestyle of the past. I am very determined to beat the warts, the yeast infections, pouchitis and to keep my pouch.

I've also read that pineapple has potent anti-inflammatory effects. It's the bromelain it contains. Do a search on "bromelain inflammation" and see what turns up. I've also been eating pineapple.

CTB, how have you been feeling since your last post here? I've been off the boards for a while as I've been very busy. I am still doing well without antibiotics (has now been a month without them). I haven't given up carbs completely, as I still eat potatoes and rice. I may try to cut down on those, but right now I'm satisfied with being off dairy and wheat.

On another note, Dr. O discussed the lactulose question with Dr. Shen. Shen said that he has used it at 10 ml TID in patients with antibiotic dependent pouchitis with some success. I haven't used it yet, but perhaps you can ask Dr. O about it if you haven't already heard this news.

maybe i'll start on some pineapple juice. i can't eat fresh pineapple as the fibers and my pouch do not agree at all. i'm slowly cutting sugar out of my diet to see the effects. for now, i've eliminated all the really processed stuff and desserts. it definitely seems to be helping. going to hang onto my breads and carbs for now :-)

Just wanted to give an update. It's now been two months since I've been off antibiotics, and I'm still feeling great. I've stuck to my diet of no wheat and no dairy. Still eating lots of berries and dark chocolate. I do eat other carbs as well, such as rice and potatoes.

Jon can you post more information about the diet that you are following? I'm trying to get my pouchitis under control, really don't want to be on anti-biotics anymore.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to respond. It's been three months now without antibiotics, and I'm still doing great. In my opinion, something noteworthy happened a week or so ago. I was making shepherd's pie and included the suggested two tablespoons of flour, thinking that it was such a small amount that it wouldn't have a deleterious impact. Well, within a few hours of eating, I started getting cramps, and for the next several days, the frequency of my bathroom trips soared, which I believe was largely due to increased irritation/inflammation in the cuff. I had also been eating 70% dark chocolate (cheating, since before I was eating 85%--70% has much more milk and sugar), so maybe that played a role too. Anyways, I resumed my more restrictive diet, and within a few days, I was feeling normal again (no more pain, itching, burning, throbbing, etc.).

For breakfast, I usually eat eggs with a salad. I use some butter with the eggs, and it's fine. For lunch, it's usually more salad with either sardines or tuna. I make my own dressing from olive oil, vinegar, and dijon mustard. For dinner I have some sort of meat with vegetables and rice or potatoes. I eat as much fruit as I want, keeping in mind that my frequency will increase, the more fruit I consume.

I'm not saying my approach would work for everyone, but I intend on continuing it, as I haven't felt this good in a long time.

To summarize: No wheat
Extremely limited dairy
Nothing with added sugar

One note about sugar. There are tons of juices on the market today that love to proclaim they have "no sugar added", that the sweetness comes only from the natural sugars within the fruit. According to my own research and experience, consumption of "no sugar added" fruit juice is also bad. Eating whole fruit is better because the fiber helps to regulate the body's processing and uptake of the sugar, whereas juice is usually straight up sugar.

I also take 5,000 IU of Vitamin D a day, as well as a probiotic which contains the strain Bifidobacterium animalis.

Hi there, Very interesting to read your blog, Ive been on Cipro and augmentin for years but they were starting to wear off, and things were getting worse, so i thought if i dont do something then i can see myself returning to an ileostomy bag
( which for me wasnt too bad) and since pouchitis i have wished many times that i had'nt had it done, anyway Ive changed my diet cut out eating a lot of bread red meat, eating lot more fresh fruit and fish. At first i thought fruit? ?? but after a while i feel much fitter and the runs have stopped and i have halved my antibiotic intake, I know everybody is different but fruit and fish is working for me. Breakfast I have the mixed yogart with fresh grapes put in the yogart, banana about 11am , lunch rice with tuna and boiled egg, evening meal fish, potatoes,Boiled or mashed, vegtables (well cooked) strawberries and ice cream, nothing after about 8.0pm Hope this as been a little help best of luck Robert1

Hi there again, was on cipro for so long it has finished up giving me c,difficille, everyone should think twice about cipro, just read the blogs on this forum about cipro causing c.diff..
Ask your doc about c.diff, go on line and read the causes of c.diff it always relates back to cipro being the main cause. good luck.

Hi Robert,

So sorry to hear that you're struggling with c. diff. now. Have you been successfully treated for it? If so, how is your j-pouch doing?

With regard to your post on July 1, I'd say that you may be on to something when you remarked that eating more fish and fruits correlated with an improvement in your health.

Still doing well here. Approaching 9 months without antibiotics. I think Vitamin D levels may play a more important role in some people than the overall medical community officially recognizes. I will make a separate post about some of my findings (a scientific article in particular).

Hi jon, well iam on my second week taking another antibiotic called Vancamycin to clear the c.diff they say it is the strongest on the market, which is a bit of a worry. c.diff is so much like pouchitis I cant realy tell whether iam going to be any better, just want to get off antibiotics, and maybe have the pouch removed if i dare. I was so much better with an ileostomy, could go anywhere, walk anywhere with out worrying about a toilet, Hope you are ok now. best of luck.
We may not be able to climb the tower, but we can always jump off it, haha

Great thread Jon,
I am currently experimenting with a serious diet change at the moment.

About a month ago I started feeling ill like with a pouchitis episode, only worse… watery stool, real urgency, 20+ BM per day… I tried 2 courses of flagyl with no improvement (it has always cleared my pouchitis in the past.)

I felt like I had a partial block or had contracted c diff… something was not right, so I organised a scope. The pouch showed reasonable inflammation but no narrowing or strictures which was good.

The doctors prescribed a month of cipro which I am a week into… and now feeling so much better…

For the last couple of years I have also experienced significant arthritic pain in my back and spine… with crippling fatigue.

I had a light bulb moment while on the toilet very sick recently… Something has to change… why are these different auto-immune problems coming up?

When I had my pouch done 8-9 years ago, all the dietary advice I received was : eat white, eat low fibre, don't eat too many fresh fruit and vegies… which I have stuck to, I think to my detriment. I usually eat lots of pasta, bread, wheat cereal… I drink milky coffee, beer. I love all those things.

I have tried cutting these things out in the past with minimal results… but this time I have made a serious go at cutting all wheat, coffee, alcohol & dairy reduced… Have been making fresh juices with vegies, bone broths and trying to eat less carbs but can't bring myself to cutting all starches like potatoes, rice & oats

The past few days I have been feeling better than I have for 2-3 years…

The big unknown right now is how much of my improvement is from the cipro and how much is the diet changes. I am guessing that my sudden change of pouch comfort is from the cipro clearing the pouchitis. But hopefully the diet is the instigator in my reduced arthritis and general feeling of well-being.

With so many differing opinions on diets, it really is hard to no where to start… No Grains. No Eggs. No Dairy. No Nightshades… where does it end?

Honestly I would go batty on a strict paleo or primal diet… very hard when you are meant to be low fibre too.

I think I have been ignoring my bodies signals for years while gorging on wheat and eating/drinking like a teenager. The Arthritis, fatigue and general malaise has been wearing me down big time… I have little kids and the "daddy's gotta lie down again" schtick is growing old fast. I don't want to be the "unwell" guy anymore.

I'm really praying that these dietary changes can have a significant impact on my life.

rant over…
cheers

I have been on a no sugar diet for years, but still ate quite a bit of starches in the form of rice. Still i kept having problems with pouchitis, and SIBO. So i have recently went on the GAPS diet, and so far the results have been amazing for me. People with any digestive system problem owe it to themselves to check out about GAPS. There are many great youtube videos all about it, and why it works. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride is the founder of it.

Thank you for all of this information!! I am trying the diet modification as of today as I had myself a great cry this morn with two days of back to back agonizing cramps and multiple trips to the bathroom. I am really at my wits end with my chronic anal issues and pouchitis and I want to get off as much medication as I can and if not, I am ready to remove the pouch. It has been 2.5 VERY long and tiring years of constant issues for me. This is my last ditch effort as I really don't want to be on 6 mp or biologics.