Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Natural Cure Crohn’s Disease

Question:
Anyone know of any alternative/herbal/natural help for someone with Crohn’s Disease (in remission now...not flaring)?

Answer:
If you don't have a copy, stop by a bookstore or health food store and see Prescription for Nutritional Healing by James Balch (2nd edition). On page 218 he lists many herbs for this condition. This is going to sound strange, but my brother is 44 years old and has suffered from severe Crohn's disease since he was seventeen. He has had two surgeries and is not considered a candidate for any more surgery. He has been given every drug available and many experimental ones as well. The doctors have tried everything to raise his blood iron levels, but nothing worked. They basically gave up on it. He is developing arthritis related to Crohn's.  Two winters ago he read an article in Readers digest about herbal medicines. Just on a whim, he started taking ginseng. I couldn't believe it when I saw him last, he actually is a bit fat!!! Something that had never happened in his twenty seven years with the disease. Also his blood iron levels are up. The doctors cannot figure out why or how this has happened. Apparently ginseng isn't supposed to do this. He hasn't done anything else to explain this change in his health.  I wonder, has anyone else had experience with anything like this? This is a great mystery to our family and to his doctors. The ginseng is actually doing 2 things to help the condition. Ginsengs are a good source of organic germanium which stimulates the bone marrow to increase red blood cell counts. Though it is not a true ginseng, Siberian ginseng also contains organic germanium. I recommend it to AIDS patients who become anemic from AZT. It works very well. To understand the second effect you must first understand the process of autoimmunity. I have been attacked for explaining this one before because simple concepts are often hard for people to comprehend. Since i have also posted the full explanation before I will just give a simplified version. Suppression of the immune system leads to the formation of excessive levels of low affinity (nonspecific) antibodies which mistake the tissues for foreign antigens. This is why stress and steroids will aggravate autoimmune conditions since both suppress the immune system further. The steroids are actually given to autoimmune patients to suppress their immune function so they cannot mount an immune response. Ginseng helps support the immune system by supporting adrenal function. And before anyone decides to slam me again for posting how autoimmunity works, I would suggest doing your homework first. Get a good book on immunology that discusses the purification of antibodies. It will explain the procedure used to separate the low affinity (nonspecific) antibodies from the high affinity (specific) antibodies. You can also look in to silicone antibodies and there role in the formation of autoimmunity. This will show that autoimmunity can be non-hereditary, and second of all that it occurs from immune suppression, and not stimulation. Silicone does cause an overactive immune system. Some people have reported very good results with Cat's Claw (Una de Gato) Anyway it is certainly worth a try!