Taste of Health

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[wp_geo_map] Hi, my name is Barbara Kerr and I am a 29-year survivor of crohn’s disease. Crohn’s is an inflammatory bowel disease that can cause inflammation and ulceration of your small or large intestine and eventually malabsorption of the food you eat. It can cause chronic diarrhea, intestinal pain, urgency (when you feel there isn’t enough time to make it to the toilet), rectal bleeding, blood loss anemia, and incontinence of stool and fistula disease. Those that suffer usually suffer silently. It’s an embarrassing disease that is not talked about. My goal is to change all that and to let the world know there is hope! Do you suffer from crohn’s disease? Are you feeling groggy every day, like your mind is in a fog? Are you tired all the time but know you’re getting enough sleep? These are just a few of the signs associated with various bowel disorders, and crohns disease. I’m also very happy now living a completely new lifestyle that’s rewarding, healthy, and full of life. How did I beat Crohns you ask? Well come on in and discover my secrets but first, a little history… In October of 1994, doctors removed my extremely scarred large intestine and rectum. I felt as though I had been defeated and that I would never be able to help anyone else. At that point in time I had been drug free for one year and three months. However, the day before my surgery, I had my last Colonoscopy (a test where a tube with a small camera attached is inserted into the rectum and views you from the inside out). That test showed that I had totally healed approximately two-thirds of my large intestine, which had previously been 100%, ulcerated. Unfortunately, years of scar tissue had developed in my descending colon and rectum, making it impossible to save. I gratefully live with an ileostomy now, thankful to be alive and able to help others. I have occasionally had flare-ups, but can kick one out in 24 hours or less. Please visit the My Crohn’s Battle article for detailed information on how I have controlled crohn’s disease drug-free for more than 14 years now. I grew up a truck driver’s daughter in a family of six, where meat and potatoes were always the main course. At the age of 16 when I first became ill, I went to doctor after doctor and swallowed the handfuls of pills that were prescribed for me. But in addition to that medication, I was also given a special diet. I was told to eat very bland food that was fiber-free. White rice, white potatoes, white bread, casseroles and the like became my diet. I was instructed not to eat anything fresh or raw. No salads, fresh fruit or fresh veggies were to grace my table. At first this diet wasn’t a problem for me. I was a teenager and fresh healthy foods weren’t at the top of my culinary desires. Sadly, I did not understand that those foods might sustain my life for a period of time, but they certainly would not sustain my health! Years passed and I turned into an invalid towards the end of my 20’s. I spent hours every day in hot sitz baths where I began to read looking for other answers. I knew I was dying and I desperately wanted to live. I prayed earnestly for answers, asking God to show me what to do.

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