Im 38 and was told 6yrs ago that I have osteoporsis and tested
positive for Rhuemtoid also if anyone know of a good site let me know.
Thanks TheQueenBee

Hi Mike
I have sent an email to your address (I hope it's correct) with regard
to Crohns as my brother is dealing with it successfully using DIET
only, no steroids.  I hope it is of benefit to you.
Terri

Hi Mike

I saw your inquiry about osteoporosis and hope that this reply is
helpful to you.

I'm new to "groups" but an old-hand with osteo, being post-menopausal,
and have suffered with it and multiple minor fractures for over 5 years
now.  I hope that you can find some benefit from these few bits of
information, as I would not like to think that someone as young as you
would have to suffer in the future with the numerous breaks and pain I
have had to cope with.  I am at present hobbling around on a kneecap
which has 3 hairline fractures in it as a result of a minor fall and am
taking time off work ... not good.  A decade of steroid use for a
gynaecological condition in my 30s has definitely contributed to my
osteo.

My brother who is 46, was diagnosed with Crohns last year, however he
has no osteo yet, as he is successfully controlling his illness without
the use of steroids. If your osteo is related to the use of
corticosteroids, you might like to investigate how to treat it with
DIET, as my brother has done so with wonderful results so far.  Before
doing some research and changing his diet he was suffering badly with
constant diarrhoea, and pain, also weight loss and extreme fatigue.

All people are different Mike and have different metabolisms/chemistry,
etc, but my brother has not had any of his symptoms from his Crohns
(for about 6 months now!) since he learnt to avoid eating or drinking
certain foods which worsen his condition.  In fact after his initial
diagnosis, his doctor recommended a certain type of eating which would
have in fact have made his condition worse.  However after some doing
some of his own research and with trial and error, he has now regained
the weight and is back to being in A1 shape.  Also, he is NOT taking
the steroids which his doctor wanted to prescribe, and which do come
with their own nasty side-effects.

As I say, this has worked brilliantly for my brother, and will not
necessarily be right for you, but anything is worth a try and it seems
to make a lot of sense to me.

He avoids: onions, garlic and chillis (of course), also any mustards or
spices.  He peels all vegetables to avoid eating the fibre in the
skins.  He eats NO FRUIT, and has found that bananas were particularly
bad for him.  Also very bad is sweetcorn, which contains elements which
require a certain enzyme which because of his Crohns he does not have
to metabolise.  If he eats any corn products, these elements aren't
broken down and remain in the bowel to form acetic acid and
formadelhyde ... BAD BAD.

He has no problem however with carrots and potatoes, pasta and rice.
He also eats green beans, lettuce,  broccoli and snow-peas.  He has
also learnt from his research that his gut won't tolerate anything
containing CORN SYRUP (which is in a lot of processed foods, flavouring
sachets which come with noodles etc, soft drinks and gravy and soup
mixes).

High fibre foods he avoids also include breakfast cereals (we are in
Australia so I won't quote any particular brands here). He tells me
that if eggs are to be eaten, they should be well cooked, not runny,
and raw eggs are definitely to be avoided.

Since he learnt to eat in a way which agrees with his Crohns, he also
takes a daily multivitamin to make up for not eating fruit, and he
recommends acidopholous tablets (the active bacteria in yoghurt).  Some
acidopholous in this country has dairy and/or sugar additives, try to
find the non-sugar varieties if available.  Fructose (fruit sugar),
lactose (milk sugar) and sucrose (cane/corn sugar) irritate his Crohns.
For that reason, most milk products aren't recommended.

My brother enjoys a beer (I did say we are Australian didn't I???)
with no side-effects, but he tells me that other types of alcohol can
trigger symptoms.  I don't have any other info about that sorry.

My brother got a lot of his info from a book by Dr Lamar Gibbons
(I've posted a link below and scroll down the site to a review of it
by someone else which was very positive).

I hope this is helpful to you.  I was very worried about my brother's
health when he was diagnosed with Crohns and am so happy to see him
back to normal health and energy now.  He does very physically
demanding work and is back to being fit and healthy thanks to a few
modifications to his diet.  I would be thrilled if you contacted to let
us know if it works for you too or any feedback at all.  All the best
to you.

Terri

Link to Dr Lamar Gibbons book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/087983546X/wwwlink-software-21/026-3072
891-3363627