HEALING AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE | MY STORY
The intention of this post is to articulate the backstory of my natural healing process in its entirety, and illustrate how I’ve rebuilt my health to where it is today. If there are still any questions on your mind after you finish reading, feel as free as a bird to ask away.
9 minute read.
But here’s the TL;DR:
I grew up eating the standard american diet (SAD). Processed foods, few vegetables, poor quality meats and dairy.
I was hospitalized twice for severe abdominal pain during the summer of 2015. The cause was unknown.
In October of the same year, right before my 19th birthday, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.
Crohn’s disease is an autoimmune disease, a chronic disease, that is considered ‘incurable’ by the conventional medical paradigm. I was told I would have to take bi-weekly injections of heavy duty immunosuppressant drugs (Humira) to mask the symptoms of my disease… for the rest of my life.
From November of 2015 to the present day, through research, patience, determination and faith, I have healed my Crohn’s disease without any of the unpredictable medication that was recommended to me. I never took Humira, and haven’t taken anything else in these last 5 years. Instead, I’ve used food, exercise, sleep and lifestyle to restore my health to greater than it was before my diagnosis.
I’m not unique or special. Many other people can heal from many other diseases rather than being controlled by them.
I grew up eating the Standard American Diet (SAD). I ate quite a bit of pasta, bread, cereal, conventional dairy like pasteurized milk, cheese and ice cream, meals cooked with margarine and vegetable oils, caged eggs, heavy casseroles, C.A.F.O. meats, a few fruits and veggies here and there, chips, goldfish, mac and cheese, pastries, and the list goes on. It all tasted great and I thought absolutely nothing of it.
Health and nutrition was never on my radar. The classic food pyramid was about all I was familiar with, and that certainly wouldn’t help anyone prevent or reverse disease. My parents followed the general philosophy of the U.S. dietary guidelines and I heard all of those common, cliche sayings.
“Eat more whole grains.”
“Drink milk for strong bones.”
“Drink orange juice to get Vitamin C to fight your cold.”
“Finish your dinner (pasta, bread and cheese) so you can have dessert (ice cream, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, cookies).”
“We need to eat three square meals a day at breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
That list goes on too.
I felt fine enough not to be concerned in the slightest about how I felt. That’s aside from a mild two-week fling with some perpetual digestive discomfort in middle school that more or less resolved itself without much to speak of. I didn’t catch colds very often, maybe once or twice a year at most. I didn’t have any constant symptoms of pain or discomfort. I was always very thin and wanted to be more muscular, especially as I entered high school, but I didn’t have the discipline or put in the work at the gym and I didn’t know anything about how to eat for a specific goal.
I did become severely sleep deprived in high school. I would stay up late doing homework or going out with friends, and wake up early for school. I would often fall asleep in class and take naps when I got home (after eating more pasta and bread). And while I was very active generally, I wasn’t an athlete and I didn’t specifically exercise or incorporate intentional movement into my day.
This all led up to the month before I graduated high school, May 2015. One Friday night I started experiencing abdominal pains like I hadn’t ever experienced before. I’d never been excited about the doctor or hospitals so I tried to stick it out and hoped that it would pass, but it didn’t.
By Monday morning the pain had continuously gotten worse and I could hardly bear it. I couldn’t stand up or say more than two or three words at a time. It took a lot of mental focus to breathe because my abdominal pain would come in waves of 10-15 seconds, and my breathing would be restricted until it passed, only to return again after 30-40 seconds of reprieve. I had never felt more exhausted in my life.
My mom took me to the ER. She had to help me walk in and it felt like I was sitting in that small waiting-room chair for hours. Perhaps it was only a few minutes. I truly don’t know. Finally I was moved from the chair in the lobby to a bed and they rolled me into a small ER transition room. They put an IV in me with some saline fluids since I hadn’t been able to eat or drink in four days (aside from small sips of water that hurt to swallow).
The nurse attempted to have me drink a fluid that would help them take images of my digestive tract, but I couldn’t keep it down more than a few minutes. My amazing wife, who was at that time just a very sweet friend, sat by me during this severely uncomfortable experience.
After what seemed like a long time, I was admitted. The results they were able to ascertain showed there was an obstruction (of undigested food) and a lot of inflammation in my digestive tract.
The nurses put a nasogastric (NG) tube up my nose and down my throat to start clearing the obstruction, and added corticosteroids to my IV. These are anti-inflammatory drugs that suppress the immune response of the body. The specific one I had was Prednisone, which is commonly used as temporary, transitional, or indefinitely intermittent anti-inflammation for a number of diseases or infections.
This lasted for five days. Finally the NG tube came out and I could eat some regular food again. After one more night without it I was sent home with a four week prescription of the steroids to take by mouth.
As soon as we left it was as if it was all a fluke.
That was truly my mindset. I wasn’t concerned in the slightest, despite my parents struggling to hide their worries as I laid weak in the hospital bed for days. I really thought this was some weird fluke that would never happen again. I took the medicine for the full four weeks and went back to business-as-usual.
That included my diet and sleep habits. It was summer now. I was released from the hospital in time to make up my final exams, graduate, attend college orientation and I was back to staying up late, sleeping inconsistently, and eating whatever I wanted.
Two weeks after I finished the steroids I was back in the hospital.
This time I was worried. I thought something was wrong with me, something that was going to change things. My mind started jumping to different diseases or disorders, but I didn’t know much about any of them. I just didn’t want my life to be different, abnormal. I had physical fitness aspirations, I wanted to travel, I was afraid this would affect my ability to have kids. My mind was frantically attempting to process.
Another course of steroids and a handful of tests later and I was diagnosed with a ‘textbook case of Crohn’s disease.’
The gastroenterologist said my ileum (part of the small intestine) was chronically inflamed and that it was caused by a disease discovered by Dr. Burrill Bernard Crohn in 1932. It is understood to be autoimmune in nature, and that meant we didn’t know what exactly caused it or how to cure it, but that my doctor had a regimen with which his other patients found ‘success.’ He gave me eight weeks to think about my options and we would follow up about taking the meds.
Let’s pause a moment so I can explain a few things.
Crohn’s disease is indeed a chronic autoimmune disease of the digestive tract. It can occur in any part (stomach, small intestine, large intestine), and mine happened to be in my small intestine. It is considered ‘incurable’ by the conventional medical paradigm and the protocol is almost always a lifetime prescription of heavy immunosuppressive drugs. They suppress the immune system, because that is what is creating the inflammation, but they don’t address the actual problem or cause of the disease.
Three of the most common drugs for this are Stelara, Humira and Remicade. I was recommended Humira. These drugs have numerous side effects, and many are not even listed because they don’t fit the paradigm. For example, these drugs wreck your healthy gut bacteria, which can cause a host of other systemic issues, but that doesn’t fit the category of side effects you might notice right away, like bleeding, trouble breathing or burning pain (also ‘side’ effects of Humira).
You can see why a quick internet search made me want to avoid these drugs at all costs. I didn’t even like taking Tylenol, let alone a lifetime of bi-weekly immunosuppressive injections.
So I had eight weeks before my next follow up to find a good reason not to take them. I researched every single day for hours and was determined there was another solution, an actual solution, and not just a mask for my symptoms.
Meanwhile, I was still taking the steroids, which are hard on the body for their own reasons, and another drug called PENTASA that was supposed to help as well. That one I was told I would also have to take forever.
After only a few weeks, along with dozens of articles and blog posts, I had bought and read two books cover to cover and started implementing everything in them. The books were Listen To Your Gut by Jini Patel Thompson, and Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo. After only four weeks, I weaned myself off of both meds and continued feeling better.
I drastically changed my diet, my sleep habits, my stress management, implemented some herbal regimens and kept researching.
By the end of the eight weeks I was still improving. I saw the doc, told him how I was able to stop taking the meds and that my diet was making me feel so much better.
He was upset I stopped taking the meds and said diet had nothing to do with how I was feeling.
wut…
He said we needed to start the heavier meds or I would have another flare up. I politely declined. He was rude and upset, and while I was frustrated, I didn’t care. I knew I had found something life changing.
Thankfully, over time, there have been a greater number of health-centered companies entering the Food Industry in hopes of making a difference, and the number of Health Coaches, Nutritionists, Functional Medicine Practitioners, and conventional PCPs who are willing to learn about natural approaches continues to increase. However, there is still a huge disconnect between our food and our health, and an equally drastic disconnect in the understanding of that relationship by the medical professionals we are supposed to trust.
The last time I took any form of conventional medication for my Crohn’s disease (or for any reason) was November of 2015. Five years later I feel better than before I was diagnosed. I’ve put back on all of the weight I lost after getting sick (25 pounds), plus an additional 20 pounds of lean mass. I go to the gym almost every day; I spend as much time as I like outside in the sun; I sleep well; I eat foods that give me lasting energy. I have the mental focus to work full time (teaching teenagers no less), serve at my church 10+ hours a week, and practice several creative pursuits like music and writing.
I’ve healed my chronic disease.
I continue to learn and grow and become stronger and more focused. I tweak my choices and strategies constantly to learn how to truly optimize my performance and feel the best I possibly can. The ultimate bright side is that these natural interventions have no nasty side effects.
I’m not ‘cured.’ If that were the case I could eat junk and disregard my sleep and fitness and be just fine. I still have Crohn’s Disease (though I forget more and more frequently). But I don’t want to be fine anyway. I want to thrive and exceed my health and performance goals. The fact that I’m doing those things lets me be confident in saying that I’m healed. As long as I continue to live a lifestyle that builds up my mind and body, I will continue in good health.
Many of the diseases of modern society are optional. We can combat, reverse and prevent so many of them from happening to us and our loved ones.
Thank you for reading. I truly hope this was valuable to you. Feel free send me a message if you have any questions. I’ll talk your ear off.
