Diagnosed, medicated, and feeling fine

When I was 19, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I was prescribed a daily cocktail of anti-depressants (my doctor felt stress made the disease worse) and other medicines to try to combat the disease. Suddenly, I went from being a normal, healthy teenager to taking 20 pills a day. At first–besides the constant fatigue and a scary low weight of 85 pounds–I felt fine. So I continued to live my usual college lifestyle, living off of a combination of junk food, energy drinks, and coffee. (After all, didn’t I need to gain weight?) But these habits took a toll on me. Every year I felt worse.

Symptoms worsened, even surgery didn’t work

Soon, certain foods made me so sick, I couldn’t go to work. I could no longer keep up with my friends, and sometimes would sleep for over 12 hours if nobody woke me up. I wasn’t enjoying my life and had no idea what was making me feel so bad. By now, I had stopped taking pills that gave no relief and instead, started on a black label drug that had me hospitalized on more than one occasion. The pain was so drastic that I even had surgery to get a section of my intestine removed. Everything seemed to help temporarily, but why was I still getting worse?

I decided to listen to my body

I finally decided to change my attitude. Instead of a burden, Crohn’s could be a blessing in disguise. This condition was forcing me to be as healthy as possible to maintain a normal level of energy and live a full life! While others could eat whatever they wanted without consequences, my body communicated with me immediately if it wasn’t happy with how I was treating it. For the first time, I decided to listen to my body and give it what it needed.

Changed my food, changed everything

I began eating as naturally as I could, focusing on foods with anti-inflammatory effects. The funny thing is, I suddenly felt better! After an entire year eating this way, I went back to the doctor that I used to visit every month. He tested my blood and was shocked to see that, for the first time since I became his patient, I had zero inflammation in my body. My Crohn’s was in complete remission, and my intestine looked just like any normal, healthy intestine.

My ultimate advice

I know that food alone is not a cure, and my Crohn’s can come back at any time, but I do believe that my new diet gave my immune system the boost it needed. If there is any advice I could give to those going through a similar situation, it would be two-fold: do your research and listen to your body. It may just be telling you what it needs to heal.