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Veggie Girl has Crohn's, and it seems she credits her vegan diet with helping to manage it...

Crohn's runs in my family and I pretty sure (I hope) if I continue my diet I won't get it. I have never had too good of working of bowels and neither is my brother but I think my current raw vegan diet is really treating them well. The supposed things that help you move stuff along like high fiber grains never helped me because they are so hard to digest my body was slow getting rid of them.
I am a raw vegan and so is Paul Nison (one of the raw food gurus/leader) who had Ulcerative collitis and cured it with a raw vegan diet. I believe that condition is closely related to Crohn's but honestly I must say I don't know too much about either disorder I did find this site.... http://www.colitis-crohns.com/index.html

And here is Paul Nison's story:

My Story by Paul Nison
From Living Nutrition magazine vol. 5
http://www.livingnutrition.com

Up until I was 19 years old, I ate the SAD diet (standard American diet). Then I received my wake-up call. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. Most people would consider this a tragedy in their life. I think of this as one of the best things that ever happened to me!

I don’t know how many people know about ulcerative colitis, but it is not an easy illness to live with. The colon is achy and painful with inflammation, ulcerations and sometimes bleeding, and this is accompanied by spasmodic and frequent bowel movements. The typically poor diets, increased bowel movements, decreased assimilation, and drug therapies all add up to malnutrition and decreasing vitality, not to mention misery and a ruined life.

I would get colitis flare ups about six times per year. Each time I’d go to the doctor and she’d tell me to stay away from dairy foods until I felt better, and she’d increase the dosage of steroids. When I would feel better in a few weeks, she would say it was ok to eat dairy foods again. So I would go out and eat as much dairy as possible and sometimes a whole pizza pie. Then I would get sick again.

I finally saw the pattern and cut out dairy products altogether. I was very pleased with the results; I would get sick less often. I then started to cut out whatever the doctor told me was ok to eat, e.g., eggs, meat and sugar. I told her I noticed a difference and she told me food had nothing to do with it. After hearing that from her, I knew she was wrong and I was on the right track.

When I was 23 I left my stressful job on Wall Street in New York City and moved to West Palm Beach, Florida. I was still having colitis flare ups, but not as often or severe as before. By seemingly sheer coincidence, I moved next to a place called the Hippocrates Health Institute. At the Institute I learned about raw foods and I put myself on an 80% raw food diet. What a difference that made! I told my doctor in New York City about my improvement and she said raw foods were no good for my condition. Once again I knew I was on the right track.

I was feeling much better but was not totally well. When I was 25 I moved back to New York City, my present home and resumed working on Wall Street. In the city I met many people who were eating the raw food diet. I also began reading books on raw food diet and lifestyle. One day I was in EastWest bookstore in lower Manhattan and I picked up a booklet by Dr. David Klein, “The Fruits Of Healing - A Story About a Natural Healing of Ulcerative Colitis.” This is exactly what I needed to read. Soon after that I heard David Wolfe of Nature’s First Law speaking on a local radio show about the raw food diet. Next I was prompted to call Dr. David Klein and he gave me some teachings which were the final piece in my health puzzle. Then in Manhattan I met raw fooders Matt Grace and Tom Coviello, and then Roe Gallo at a fantastic talk she gave. The more I got involved with the raw food lifestyle, the more positive became my outlook.

I stopped eating the 20% cooked foods which were mostly made of wheat flour. It had been hard to give them up until I made the decision to eat 100% raw foods. Also, the more I spoke to the Nature’s First Law guys, the more I was influenced to enjoy fruit.

Since going 100% raw with my diet I have completely overcome the ulcerative colitis, feel better than ever, and have become increasingly inspired about life. I quit my stressful job on Wall Street and began working as a raw foods chef in Caravan of Dreams restaurant in Soho. I also hold raw food potlucks every month at my home. And I have helped several people who have just gotten their wake-up call.

I recently traveled the world to experience the pleasures of new cultures and exotic fruits. My favorite fruit is the durian. My friends call me the “Durian King.”

Since adopting the fruitarian diet I have gone through several “healing crises.” I am happy for these elimination episodes and feel that the fruitarian diet is the best way for me to go. I feel “home free” now.

I am thankful for all of my friends who helped me make this all possible. I feel that anyone can overcome ulcerative colitis the way I did if they want to, but it is important to get the right education and friendly support to make it go easily.
Ulcerative Colitis: A Story of Healing

By Madelyn Krystal Hill Coming Spring, 2004 in Living Nutrition magazine vol. 15
http://www.livingnutrition.com

First and foremost, don’t ever let anyone take away your hope. I was 22 years old when I noticed blood in my stool. I chose to ignore it. But when it continued to recur, I came out of my denial and paid a visit to the family doctor. He diagnosed me with ulcerative colitis. My first question was: “What causes this?” My doctor told me the cause was unknown. It could be a gene, allergy, nerves and so on. This perplexed me. No one in my family had it; I had no allergies and I wasn’t nervous. My next question was : “What cures it?” And he couldn’t tell me the answer to that either. I proceeded to see a series of gastroenterologists, right up to the doctor who ‘wrote the book’ and started ‘the foundation’ in the hope that someone knew how to cure me. Throughout this journey, I was in and out of hospitals, took a series of invasive tests; and lived on rectal and oral medications including sulfur and cortisone which did not agree with me. I had swelling, nightmares, difficulty concentrating and felt disturbed most of the time. My condition worsened with time and there were days that I was so weak, in so much pain and losing so much blood that I could not get out of bed. I was told that I would soon need a colostomy and the severity of my condition would no doubt lead to colon cancer.

After 3 years of severe debilitation which had propelled me into a state of depression, I awoke one morning with an intuitive prodding and I felt a sense of urgency to seek a new path. I instinctively knew I was doing something wrong to have caused this and I was propelled to find out what it was. With the help of what must have been an angel, I made my way to the library and a used book store to research my condition. Among the many books on diet and health I found, was Fit for Life by Marilyn and Harvey Diamond. When I read eat only fresh fruit till noon, I thought: “What kind of gimmick is this?”. After all, I grew up in a family where we were taught to be grateful for all food on the table. No one questioned if it came from a can or a jar. I thought anyone who wouldn’t eat my grandma’s lamb stew (like a vegetarian) was a total weirdo. But something about the book captured me and it was through this find that I learned there was such a discipline called natural hygiene. It was not taught to doctors in medical school or influenced by government or industry. It was solely based upon biology and the immutable laws of nature which do not violate the innate wisdom of the body. I immediately elected to study it.

It was by following the tenets of natural hygiene, including a natural hygienic dietary that I established the conditions for my body to heal itself. Once I learned the disease building acts I was engaging in (acts which I then thought were healthful), it was easy to make the changes and jump-start the innate healing powers of my body. I started out by giving up artificial sweeteners; then foods with chemicals and preservatives. I saw a remarkable improvement in my condition. Then I followed the principles of food combining and gave up hard to digest snacks like yogurt with nuts and raisins. I added more and more fruits and vegetables and live foods to my diet….. and so on. Within 3 months, I was totally healed and haven’t had a recurrence since. That was over 15 years ago.

Today, it is estimated that 25,000 women each year are lost to colon cancer, the third most common cancer among women in the United States. Health care costs are soaring yet there are no “cures”. I was behooved to share my story with you in the hope that more and more patients and clinicians will seek out systemic truths and open their eyes and ears to the tenets of natural hygiene in determining the cause of disease and its disposition.

Don’t ever let anyone take away your hope. Especially you.

I'm being tested for Crohn's Disease right now. I've had a colonoscopy, an EGD, the pill cam, and a CT scan. We're in the middle of trying to figure it all out. All I can say is see your doctor and hang in there. I know it's tough, and I figure you probably know more about nutrition than your doctor. I have an amazing doctor that is either vegan or mostly vegan, and he thinks what I'm doing is a great help. He's my second doctor, because the first one didn't want to listen to me. He told me to stop running. Wrong answer.

Hanashi, you didn't mention whether you've been to the doctor. Please go--you have symptoms that could point to Crohn's or a number of other ulcerative diseases. You need to start controlling these now, or you could have greater problems in the future. I'm on a prescription called Lomotil, and it has absolutely changed my life. Diet helped immensely, but I could only do so much on my own.

I'm thinking of you! This is tough.

Crohn's and other digestive problems are very serious, remind yourself of that when you get embarrassed next time. Your health is more important than anything else. I always remind myself that these are medical professionals, they are used to all this...no big deal. I know it isn't easy, but I had to get over all that pretty quickly for my health's sake.

So I don't know what's going on with me and honestly, I've been too embarrassed to mention my issues with anyone.. My main question, I guess, is how do you ask a doctor to check out your bum? I'm too embarrassed to even mention it on the phone to the people who set up appointments. I had a doctor appointment today for other reasons and I was trying to force myself to bring up the toosh issues, but I couldn't manage to. :(

Doctors are used to this! Just mention your symptoms. I didn't know where to start, so I just mentioned the problems to my lady doctor, and she set me up with another doctor who started the whole process of diagnosing me (and I'm nearly 2 years into it and barely getting it under control--start now).

Yeah but whenever I call to set up an appointment they ask me what it's for.. Urgh. I don't want to verbalize it! I wish I could just email them.

Maybe tell them something related to your problems and once you get into seeing the doctor tell them the other problem you are having.  Tell them you are having digestive problems and go from there.  Just a thought.

Haha, yeah, but I've got some different issues that I don't know how to rename..

Haha, yeah, but I've got some different issues that I don't know how to rename..

I've been diagnosed with diagnosed with Crohn's Disease since I was 19 years old.  I first went to the doctor when I was 18 but I was too embarrassed to tell him all the symptoms I'd been having.  By the time I went back almost a year later I was so miserable and in so much much pain I didn't give a "shit" (pun intended).  He asked me what my symptoms were and without hesitation I was like...constant diarrhea, pain, severe cramping, mucus and dripping blood.  Believe me....they've heard it all.  Nothing you say will be a shock to them.  Personally, if I worked in a medical office, I'd find it hilarious to listen to someone tell me their problem by using some cute nickname instead of flat out telling me what the problem was.  If you have diarrhea, just say the word diarrhea.  Everyone has experienced it at some point in their life so there's no use getting embarrassed about it.