Archives: colitis

After all the excitement about my colonoscopy news I’ve had some time to think about what exactly I’ve done for myself to help in knocking this colitis out.

I’ve had people ask me how I’ve gotten to this point.

Well, here it is: I’ve had a major diet change coupled with yoga, meditation, and breath work and as if that isn’t enough, I see 2 incredible women, I work with a Therapist, I have a family to lean on and friends who stay by my side. My yoga teacher, although new to my mix of healers, has already shown me incredible, life changing tools to better my practice and myself.

Here is just a touch of the amazing healers in my life:

Dr. Crystal Joseph D.C., AK, CCSP: Chiropractor and Applied Kinesiologist.

When I step into Dr. Jo’s office I always know I’m in for a treat. She has incredible hands, which always know where to go. Whenever I have pain I lie on her table waiting for her to test my muscles and find the place that’s “out.” Her massages are unlike any I’ve ever had at a spa because she really knows how to get into the muscle to release whatever’s tight. Sometimes I don’t even have to tell her where to go and she knows… It’s not only about the adjustment though, she’s also very involved in the rest of my health and wants to know anything new that I’m trying or supplements that I’m taking. We always have interesting conversations and it feels like I’m visiting a friend who happens to be the most incredible Chiropractor I’ve ever encountered. Without a doubt, this woman has been a huge proponent in helping me heal my colitis.

Aimee Raupp, MS, LAc: Aimee is my acupuncturist and boy is she incredible! Her office is like my sanctuary – I know I’m there to simply relax for a good 50 minutes and sometimes longer :). Aimee is always interested in me as a whole – that’s why I love her and Chinese Medicine. She takes my pulse, checks out my tongue and then begins needling as though she knows my body like a road map. Aimee knows so much about health, nutrition, supplements and so much more – it’s always interesting talking about these topics with her. I know Aimee has lots of patients but when I’m with her in the room it seems as though I’m the only one that’s important. That’s another reason why she’s so special – she gives her undivided attention at all times and that’s not something that’s always accessible with other practitioners. I always leave her office feeling calm, de-stressed and lighter, much lighter. Aimee also has a big part in helping me to heal.

I mention all of this because this is how I’ve helped myself heal. It’s not just one quick fix…

I’ve learned that to heal myself I need to let go and let myself get taken care of.

Sometimes you have to let others take care of YOU. If you or someone you know suffer from an illness find the right team. It’s so important to let go and let others take care of you. Maybe giving in to just that will help you heal. Find the right protocol for you – we’re all different and our bodies don’t respond in the same way.

Do the search, get recommendations and be free!

I love to share my experiences and can help you find your journey too.

Live long, enjoy life and smile  🙂

Today was an intense day. Colonoscopy day. If you’re under 50 and reading this post, I don’t expect you to understand what it’s like to have this procedure done – but let me tell you, once 50 hits oh man do you all have a treat coming for you!

No, but really – it’s not SO bad, except that it’s bad. HA.

It’s not like I’ve never had this before either. I had my first procedure when I was 13! Can you believe it, little Shira walking into that hospital, brave as can be not knowing what in the world the outcome would be. Now here I am 12 years later doing the exact same procedure, although this time wasn’t in a hospital and my Dr. was new to me.

Well I’ll walk you through it – yesterday I had to drink 2 bottles of magnesium citrate, which tastes like a gross lemon soda and makes me gag after the first sip. Before the procedure I asked my Dr. if I could chase this lovely liquid with coconut water and he sort of looked at me sideways… “you’re the first person to ever ask that before” Well that’s not so surprising since people usually drink Gatorade or some other crap filled drink which I’m simply not into. I needed to keep my electrolytes in check and not throw up the liquid, so coconut water it was – as long as what I drank was clear it was good to go.

Let’s just say I was in the bathroom for the whole night…………

To top it off, I wasn’t even finished by the morning. I woke up at 5am to let it out……….

I won’t go into too much detail, but you get where I’m going with this.

Anyway I arrived at the facility, which was very nice – it was my first time there. When called, I was told to take everything off and put on the robe. As I lay on the bed freezing my butt off I stared up at the fluorescent-lit ceiling praying that the outcome of this procedure would be a good one. All my stress for the past couple of weeks was about to be over, finished and done with.

As I was rolled into the procedure room, my yogic breath flowing through my body, the anesthesiologist came by my side prepping me for a lovely rest. Right before he put me under he said “happy Bastille day everyone!” All I could do was laugh. The next thing I knew I was awake with the worst bellyache ever and tears running down my face. I was so emotional and happy that the procedure was over but still nervous to chat with the Dr. about the results.

Chad came in to sit with me while I got my bearings and brought me the most beautiful sunflowers ever.

These sunflowers immediately turned my frown upside down!

Finally it was time to talk with the Dr. The most important question of the day was “how does today’s outcome compare to the last procedure done in 2009?” He said he had to go check last years results. I waited patiently.

The outcome:

2009: Colitis was 11-12cm up the colon

2011: Colitis was 2-3cm up the colon and now only in the rectum making it proctitis!!!!!!

Here’s what the Dr. Said after he told me these results:

“Wow, the Rowasa enemas must really be working.”

I didn’t say a word –

The truth:

I BARELY ever take the Rowasa enemas!!! This reversal is all me baby!!

WOW!!!!!!! I’ve done it………… No, it’s not completely gone yet, and I have this strange feeling of not wanting to be happy about this information because I’m worried that I’ll jinx it or something – but when I really think about it, I’M SO HAPPY!!! And excited that all the work I’ve done on myself is finally paying off.

I’m not sure if there are any cases of colitis being reversed…. But I’m getting pretty damn close…..

I’m really excited to share this great news with everyone and I hope you can have the same success as me with whatever it is that your working on disease wise.

If you do the work, it truly is possible – miracles can happen.

Cheers to that and feeling great!

Love,

Shira

Last night I had the opportunity to try a special yogic cleanse called Dhauti. In Hatha Yoga there are numerous cleansing techniques and this is one of them. You have to be guided by a teacher and in my case my teacher Will is certain that this cleanse is going to cure my colitis or definitely make me feel better!

Anyway, it’s only been less then 24 hours, so I can’t tell if I’m cured, but what I can tell is that my digestive tract and belly have been in a resting state for a lot of hours now and I am in awe.

You know when someone lies down on your belly to rest and they say, wow there sure is a lot going on in there! Well that is always the case for me. Last night after the cleanse I was resting and Chad in his loving way came to rest with me. I kindly asked him to put his head on my belly and tell me what he heard… S.I.L.E.N.C.E. is what he said.

I am so excited that I’ve had the opportunity to let my belly rest in this special way. My body is in harmony and my soul is able to rest knowing there is no pain.

I am excited and hopeful that this will be part of a new wave of feeling great!

I will continue eating very easily digestible foods for the next 2 meals and after that I’ll eat clean food until eternity!

Thanks to Will for showing me the way – I am grateful in every way.

I just went for my annual physical checkup today and was so pleasantly surprised when Dr. Lee took a look at my latest colonoscopy results and stated “it looks like your colitis is getting smaller and smaller.” I’ve been having a flare up for 3 years and the time is finally here when not only are my flares getting less and less but also, the colitis is diminishing all together!

You might be asking how in the world did I do this?!

Let me explain – over the past year and a half I’ve taken the time to read many books and educate myself on how to cure myself of this belly bloating, gas producing, uncomfortable, colitis.

I know that there are lots of sufferers out there and I totally get what your going through – I promise I was right there with you not too long ago.

Instead of only listening to my GI doc, I decided to educate myself even further on the topic. I wasn’t happy about taking steroids for the rest of my life so I made a decision not to do it. Yes I did take the suppositories when needed but I coupled them with the eastern side of medicine.

I do yoga, acupuncture and see a chiropractor on a regular basis, which are all part of eastern medicine. I believe that these forms of medicine have helped calm belly.

I’ve made the conscious choice to change my diet and I haven’t looked back since. Well… maybe I’ve looked back when everyone is enjoying their glutinous filled pizza and all I want is that NY slice… I have found other options for pizza and they are pretty delicious, but when it’s right in your face it’s very hard to say no – the only way to really say no is to remember how you feel when your belly hurts and for me that’s plenty. I’m so happy to have my gluten free, dairy free Amy’s Pizza readily available when I need my pizza fill. It takes strength and a good support system but you will overcome it.

If you have specific questions on what books I’ve read or what I’ve done to help cure myself please feel free to message me. I want to keep an open communication with you and anyone you know who suffers from a hurting gut.

Please take care of yourself.

I’ve come to realize that there are MANY people out there who have stomach issues every minute of everyday. Here I am thinking that I was the only one! PHEW! It seems like everyone has aches but chooses not to talk about them. I can understand that, especially when it has to do with our bathroom habits and what goes on in the toilet… it’s not such a comfortable topic.

I get it!

The problem is that if no one talks about it then we all think we are alone. I’m here to let you know that you’re NOT alone and that the person sitting next to you on the bus or train is probably feeling somewhat of an ache just like you… they just aren’t as open about it as me!

Personally, I’ve had stomach issues for my entire life (not something to be proud of!) and I figure that the more open I am about them, the more information I can learn from others about their experiences on the matter.

Believe me, it helps a whole lot to know that I’m not the only one who feels the pain. For those of you who have that constant ache or bloating I encourage you to be a little bit more open about talking about it with others. Maybe it won’t be the random person sitting next to you on the bus, but I would start with friends.

Find out what they feel and how they are dealing with it. Maybe they have a wonderful doctor that they can recommend or an eastern form of medicine that they have tried. Once you start being honest that you yourself don’t feel well, others will begin to open up.

I wish you luck on your journey to health. Remember, opening up about your problem is your first step to feeling better.

When I started my new diet people kept wondering where I was getting protein from and if I was eating enough of it. What our culture doesn’t understand is that we are getting TOO much protein and our bodies don’t need so much to survive. Eating protein at every meal is not necessarily a great idea. What happens when we eat protein is that all of our digestive organs are working really hard at digesting this food – if they are working so hard to digest then they are not helping the body to heal.

In my case, my ulcerative colitis causes inflammation and it’s very important to have my organs working to help heal my inflamed colon. I’ve cut down the amount of animal protein that I consume because it’s known that it causes mucus and it’s not an easily digested form of food. I try to take it easy on my digestive system by eating foods such as whole grains, starches, and vegetarian proteins. Occasionally I eat fish and chicken but only if they are organic and raised humanely.

It’s interesting to see how much emphasis our society puts on eating protein – I’ve been guilty of it for many years and have just slowly started realizing that I get plenty of it by eating quinoa, tofu, tempeh, rice and beans and many other forms of vegetarian protein.

Try paying attention to how much protein you eat and think about possibly cutting down. I’m not saying not to eat any protein at all because we need it for energy but you can try cutting back a little bit. Most importantly try to be aware of what you’re putting into your body and understand the effects that it has on your digestive system.

Have a nice day.