# trying to stick to SCD while pregnant, but getting sick -- venting



## snowcrocus (Nov 15, 2007)

i realize i have been on and off the scd (specific carbohydrate diet) and flaking on it sometimes -- but i've been off dairy and grains for a while, and i'd been starting to feel better. i have ulcerative colitis, and at the beginning of my pregnancy i was only doing so-so, and for a while i was even losing weight. but now i've even been off all drugs for a couple of weeks, and i'd been feeling so good, almost normal, and eating a lot, and sticking to scd pretty well, and gaining some weight, and thinking that if this keeps up, maybe i can finish this pregnancy without drugs. (i'm about 22 weeks now.)

but a couple of days ago i started vomiting, and then i started having diarrhea, and now i feel out of control. i'm able to eat now, slowly, without vomiting, at least, but the diarrhea is clearly reestablished. i feel like crying. i don't want to start taking sulfasalazine again -- i don't feel well when i do -- but i'm not feeling well anyway. i figure, if i'm going to be taking drugs anyway, i might as well have a chocolate brownie and carrot bran muffin and breakfast cereal with milk and who knows what-all junk food -- but i know that, even if i were on prednisone, i couldn't eat those things without getting sick.

i'm not 100% sure how this started, but i expect it's probably from going out to eat a few days ago. isn't it always like that? i got beef fajitas -- no tortilla, no rice, but i did have a couple bites of beans, and who knows what they use to season any of it. probably corn starch, considering the violence of my body's reaction...

i don't know what i'm saying or asking. i really need to vent. every time i have ups and downs with this disease i wish i had someone who had had it, who had done the diet, who knew what to do, how fast it could be resolved without drugs, whom i could talk to -- i guess that's why i write here, because i know there are people here who scd.

i just wish i could eat more. i'm so hungry, and yet now that i'm sick, things that i know wouldn't have made me sick a week ago (like raspberries) i'm not sure i should eat now. i roasted a chicken, and i made chestnut stuffing for it; i ate the chicken, but with my gut as it is i'm a little afraid even of my ground-up chestnuts... i've been wanting ever since i read about the scd to do the scd yogurt, but every time i try _any_ kind of dairy, even totally lactose-free, i get all kinds of reactions. i'm torn between wanting to eat as much as i can stuff in so i can gain weight and feed myself and my active little fetus, and wanting to moderate so i don't irritate my gut and don't make my stomach want to vomit again.

ah, i want to cry, and being pregnant and emotional, i probably will. i want to go back to last week and warn myself that an evening out with my family isn't worth reactivating the inflammation. and now all of a sudden, all food seems like poison -- _anything_ can make my colon start screaming in agony -- and i just want to _like_ eating. i was always underweight ever since college and desperately eating as much as my reluctant stomach would take, and with my first child i loved being pregnant and especially breastfeeding so much because i was _hungry_, and i could eat and eat so easly, and love it. but this time it's so hard, and i can't eat even when i'm hungry because i may throw up or make my colon agitated -- and now i'm really crying. i guess that means it's time to stop ranting.


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## Panserbjorne (Sep 17, 2003)

Oh, honey. I totally feel your pain. I'm so sorry.

I did the SCD and felt the best I have felt in over a decade on it. IT worked so well for me. Everytime I slipped though, I felt it. BIG time.

I was in constant pain for over a decade and couldn't leave the house most days. Honestly. I went weeks without going out because I never knew if I could handle it. It was very physical, but it was also psychological as well. After that meany years, how could it not be? I had more traumatic experiences than I can count.

I did it for a year dairy free. Did you know you can make nut milk yogurt? Or coconut yogurt? You can't even tell it's not dairy-especially the coconut yogurt!

Can you go back to the first stage and just do soup? Is that painful too?

Head over to Health and Healing. There is a Healing the Gut tribe where many are doing the SCD and you will get a bunch of support there.

Sending you hugs. It will get better.


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## Manonash (Jun 2, 2006)

I don't have UC, but was on SCD when I started my pg. I did slip and didn't get back on it till several months after DD was born. I sooooooooooooo wish I had never stopped it. I didn't have near the trouble you have (only mild nausea for me) and I had these cravings to stop. Please try to hang in there.

Have you sought help from the Long Island Listserve people? Actually, the LILS is no more, but they are now here: It's a yahoo group. They are there temporarily until they can get a forum going. They're still really active though. Marilyn is a big help, as is GayB. GayB has a list of people who did SCD pregnant and where they are so maybe you can find some support that way too. They may be able to give you some support too. I really wish I had asked them for help when I was deciding to quit.


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## snowcrocus (Nov 15, 2007)

thank you very much to you who replied.

i have been looking at the gut healing group's archives, and finding a lot of good resources. thanks for pointing me there! i'll try the mailing list, too. and i'm looking forward to experimenting with coconut milk yogurt at some point, too.

i can't go back to the scd starter diet easily (i remember eating nothing but soup, ground beef, and black bananas for a couple of weeks the first time i tried it... i was _very_ sick then) because it's too difficult to get enough calories and nutrients while pregnant, but i've been cooking a lot and following closely an early-stage version of the diet. my digestive tract settled down remarkably quickly with that -- i'm no longer having diarrhea, at least! i think it will take a lot longer to get back to the best i was at, but i feel like i'm going in the right direction now.

anyway, i just wanted to update you, in case you were wondering, and thank you for making such supportive responses!


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