Son Just Diagnosed - Alternative Treatments?

[KimS]

Hi my name is Kim and my 11 year old son, who was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease two years ago, was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease too.

Hubby is having a difficult time accepting that other than a life-long dietary change, there is no fix for this. He had the same problem with Crohn's when we had that diagnosis too, although there's no dietary fix there.

Hubby's sister sees this doctor who practices Bioresonance Therapy and claims he can cure all kinds of intolerances, allergies, autoimmune stuff, you name it. Instead of doing the gluten free diet, hubby wants to take our son to see this guy and give him time to see if it will really work.

Does anybody have any knowledge about this? Anybody tried it instead of the diet and had it work?

Thanks for the input,

Kim

[Ursa Major]

Hi Kim, and welcome to these boards. Your son has celiac disease, which is autoimmune. NOTHING can cure it, he absolutely needs to be on a gluten-free diet for life. By the way, Crohn's disease usually responds favourably to a gluten-free diet as well. In fact, many people with celiac disease get initially misdiagnosed with Crohn's, so it is possible that your son never really had it.

It sounds like that particular naturopath is a quack. I have a naturopathic doctor, and he is very careful to give me only supplements and treatments that are free of the things I am intolerant to.

Tell your hubby to get his head out of the sand, and to support your son in his new gluten-free lifestyle, instead of fighting it and keeping him sick any longer!

[jerseyangel]

Hi Kim, welcome to the board

This probably isn't what you would like to hear, but there is no cure for Celiac. None in Western medicine and none in alternative medicine. The only treatment we have right now is the gluten-free diet, followed strictly, for life.

Some alternative practioners can help with food intolerance, heavy metals, allergies, etc--but not Celiac Disease since it is an autoimmune disease. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can prevent the reaction the immune system launches against the body once gluten is ingested. If there were something that worked, we'd be all over it

The diet is simple, but not easy at the beginning--once you get the hang of it it gets easier and finally becomes almost second-nature.

You have come to the right place for support, menu ideas and recipies and just a place to talk to others going through this.

[AliB]

I have been following the Specific Carbohydrate diet. It is based on a very simple way of eating but has had great success for many different health problems but Stomach and Bowel disorders feature high on that list.

It is somewhat challenging but it does seem to work. It has really helped my gut heal and I can now tolerate some foods that I couldn't a few weeks ago.

We kind of kick at the fact that our diet has to be restricted, but the restriction is really a state of mind. If the restriction makes us better, it is not a restriction, it is a liberation!

Whilst I am trying not to eat too much in the way of carbs, we have our daughter and grandsons here at the moment who can, and we are having great fun experimenting with different recipes - some of my first ones went in the bin, but we are gradually figuring out how the gluten-free ingredients work.

Today we have made double chocolate chip cookies, buckwheat waffles, grain-free savoury crackers and a raspberry shortcake! Yesterday I made blueberry pancakes. gluten-free doesn't have to be boring!

Even on the Specific Carb diet I can have a few sweet things and have made some nice recipes using almond flour.

If you want to know more put Specific carbohydrate diet or BTVC into your search engine. There are a couple of threads on the forum too for support from others who are following it. I have started a new one on the Other Food Intolerance and Leaky Gut Issues section.

Unfortunately we all want the 'magic' pill or wand, but life isn't like that. I am diabetic as well as gluten intolerant and it is no fun. Nothing can take this away and drugs just merely mask the symptoms of most illnesses. Interestingly though, I know that what I eat not only affects my Celiac/GI but can also have a big effect on my diabetes, for better or worse. We are all affected one way or another, or sooner or later by the high-carb, high-sugar 'Western' diet. Some of us just have the benefit of it showing up sooner so that we have the chance to rectify our diet before we end up in a far worse situation.

You may think I am strange, calling physical ailments a benefit. At the end of the day, any physical problem is the body's way of trying to tell us something ain't right! The damage that is caused to the gut by gluten, and dairy and other foods like soy is making us sick. There is a huge irony here. In parts of Africa people are dying of malnutrition due to a lack of food. Here people are dying of malnutrition due to the vast over-consumption of food that is bad for us! Isn't that just more than a little crazy!!!!

Being Celiac/GI is not a life sentence. Avoiding gluten is an extremely valuable and simple remedy for many illnesses and diseases, a remedy that, unlike drugs, will not fill us full of toxic chemicals, but will help us to be in control of our own future..

[aikiducky]

It called denial. Denial is a very natural reaction to a big life change, it'll be followed by other emotions before finally getting to acceptance. I think your husband will come around with time.

There's no other treatment to celiac, but luckily the available treatment, a gluten free diet, isn't too hard to do once you get used to it, and best of all it's very safe and doesn't come with side effects.

Pauliina

[AndrewNYC]

If it provides your family any comfort there is a "cure" in the works. Its a pill and I think the basic idea is similar to the lactase tablets. It's in stage II trials. Could be many many years before its ready though. Kid has to go on the diet for now.

Hi my name is Kim and my 11 year old son, who was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease two years ago, was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease too.

Hubby is having a difficult time accepting that other than a life-long dietary change, there is no fix for this. He had the same problem with Crohn's when we had that diagnosis too, although there's no dietary fix there.

Hubby's sister sees this doctor who practices Bioresonance Therapy and claims he can cure all kinds of intolerances, allergies, autoimmune stuff, you name it. Instead of doing the gluten free diet, hubby wants to take our son to see this guy and give him time to see if it will really work.

Does anybody have any knowledge about this? Anybody tried it instead of the diet and had it work?

Thanks for the input,

Kim

[Lizz7711]

Someday they'll probably come up with some medication to "cure" celiac disease, but guaranteed it will come along with negative side effects that just screw up some other part of the body...being able to FIX celiac disease solely by diet makes it the most manageable disease on the planet when you think about it...the cure is easy and no side effects! (other than sadness and grief for a time).

By the way, you and your hubby ought to get tested since it's genetic and it's highly likely that one or both of you also have it.

Liz

Hi my name is Kim and my 11 year old son, who was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease two years ago, was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease too.

Hubby is having a difficult time accepting that other than a life-long dietary change, there is no fix for this. He had the same problem with Crohn's when we had that diagnosis too, although there's no dietary fix there.

Hubby's sister sees this doctor who practices Bioresonance Therapy and claims he can cure all kinds of intolerances, allergies, autoimmune stuff, you name it. Instead of doing the gluten free diet, hubby wants to take our son to see this guy and give him time to see if it will really work.

Does anybody have any knowledge about this? Anybody tried it instead of the diet and had it work?

Thanks for the input,

Kim