A friend e-mailed me asking about Edgar Cayce's suggested treatment for colitis, and a few other friends have asked me about it.  I thought it might help more people if I shared my response here.

The Question

I have a friend who recently developed ulcerative colitis....  Is that the same condition you have?  He's unsure of how to manage it at this point.  I remember you said you drink chlorophyll for it, and I got the impression that you'd found a way to manage it a good part of the time.  Do you have any advice I could give him?  I looked up some info on the web, regarding what the Edgar Cayce readings had to say about it.  This is the routine Cayce gave for treating it:

1.  Diet:  The Basic Cayce Diet is intended to improve assimilation and elimination.  The diet focuses heavily on keeping a proper alkaline/acid balance while avoiding foods which produce toxicity and drain the system.  Essentially, the diet consists mainly of fruits and vegetables while avoiding fried foods and refined carbohydrates ("junk food").  Certain food combinations are emphasized.

2.  Internal cleansing:  Hydrotherapy includes drinking six to eight glasses of pure water daily and a cleansing diet of fresh fruits and vegetables.

3.  Spinal manipulation and massage:  Osteopathic or chiropractic treatment is recommended to relieve any pressures that may be hindering assimilation and elimination.  If osteopathic or chiropractic treatment is not available, the use of an electric vibrator along the spine may be helpful.

4.  Medicine:  A specific herbal formulation combining ginseng, ginger, lactated pepsin and stillingia has proven very effective in cases of chronic colitis.  For persons experiencing diarrhea, another herbal remedy based on alum root is suggested.  Beef juice taken as a medicine is recommended for persons who experience general fatigue and debilitation as a result of colitis.

5.  Grape therapy:  The use of grapes in the diet and in abdominal packs may be helpful for individuals suffering from abdominal pain.

I was wondering if you'd heard of any of these approaches before, maybe from a holistic healer or something.  I'm wondering what the 'ginseng, ginger, lactated pepsin and stillingia' combo is.  Thanks.

My Response

Hey!

Yeah, ulcerative colitis is what I've had.  I can only speak for my case, but what I've found for myself, and which may be true for your friend and in general, follows:

Much of the problem seemed to be caused by not digesting my food real well, and my poor digestion seemed to be exacerbated by poor nutrition (and vice versa).  Liquid chlorophyll is apparently a helpful topical aid for wounds (and this is basically what the colon ulcers are).  It can be helpful in smallish amounts (as recommended on the bottle).  It has no known toxic amount, so much of the time I used it I got a little overzealous about it and used more than the small amount recommended.  This had a small detrimental effect, which I'm mentioning so your friend can consider avoiding the over-use of it:

The mixing of fluids with food in the stomach or intestines dilutes the acids that would digest it, and diminishes the digestion that occurs upon it, contributing to both the poor conditions in the colon and the poor nutrition of the subject.  Most of the liquid chlorophyll (at least in my case--I'm not sure if this is totally normal in a healthy system), was passing all the way through my system in liquid form, and more quickly than whatever food was there.  After a li'l time I realized it was catching up to food eaten earlier, and diminishing my absorption of it.  So...small amounts are effective enough, and should maybe be taken half an hour before a meal (as long after the previous meal as possible)--maybe best in the morning.

Also aloe vera juice is purported to have the identical positive effect on wounds, you just need more of it.  I have found significant benefit from both at different times, which is a point worth mentioning:  different things may seem to have different degrees of effect at different times.  I suppose it may be just that we need different things at different times, until we get enough of it for the time being, and something else becomes the prime deficiency.  (I think cases of colitis are probably generally very complex, and have many factors and deficiencies contributing.)

So, on the point of avoiding the mixture of fluids and food:  wait about 15 minutes after drinking before you eat, and wait a minute for every year you've lived after eating before you drink.  E.g., I'm 29, so this rule-of-thumb indicates I need to wait 29 minutes after eating before I drink something (but I double the time recommendations just to be safe).  It's a li'l annoying not to be able to drink while eating at first, but you get used to it quickly and enjoy drinks between meals.

I discovered Cayce's prescription for colitis in my diets-for-colitis researching years ago.  For myself, it has not quite agreed with the results of my experimenting, and most dieticians would have at least a few caveats to add to Cayce's idea:

1.  Fruits can be very sweet, which is an irritant.  Consider how a lot of sweet fruits can contribute to diarrhea.  Some vegetables can be problematic, esp. raw, depending upon how poor the subject's digestion is; but they are great as fiber contributors, which is very important.  Some examples are that a salad can be a problem--a bunch of raw lettuce:  larger pieces that didn't get fully masticated may actually stick to intestinal lining and cause a problem for a while.  Even fully masticated, if it's not getting digested, it will prob'ly be an irritant in the colon.  If some lettuce is eaten, it's better if it's chopped fine and combined in a moderate amount with the rest of a meal.  Vegetables of a different consistency, like potatoes and rice, may be much preferred.  Mastication:  chew your food extremely well, like a good yogi.  Also, on the point of fiber, psyllium seed husk is a great supplement.

2.  Fluids are great, but again I can't agree too strongly w/ the fresh fruits and vegetables, at least for my case.  I have found a profound benefit lately from drinking an ounce of liquid minerals w/ 2 ounces of aloe vera juice and 3 or more ounces of water, a few times a day.  The liquid minerals are easily digested, and obviously the nutrients are very important to supporting the digestive processes.  This brings up another point:  avoid hot showers (which I used to love and take all the time) and jacuzzies/spas.  Hot water cooks and leeches the minerals from your body.  (This has been demonstrated in studies but is apparently a really unpopular idea.)  Keep showers as luke-warm as possible.  I really believe this was a huge factor in my case.

3.  I think good chiropractic is very valuable in general.  I've seen a lot of chiropractors through my life--most were mediocre, and just a couple were extremely effective because they employed several systems besides chiropractic (e.g. applied kinesiology, reflexology, meridian systems, even very evolved and accurate intuition) to verify their diagnoses and confirm the effects of the chiropractic.  I've received it a good amount, and don't feel it treated the colitis condition much directly, but other knowledge the chiropractor had was sometimes hugely valuable.  I feel it was a chiropractor--who also had several other health and medical degrees, including nutrition, and much experience and knowledge in both mainstream medicine (which he despised) and alternative systems, not to mention an uncanny psychic skill--who was a huge blessing to my recent improvements.  (A few months ago I was wasting away--weighing the least I ever have in my adult life--not feeling well and not able to even sleep a couple hours w/out having to go to the restroom.  At the moment I've regained my weight, feel well, and my colitis has largely cleared up, while eating and drinking things that would've really set me back in the past.)

4.  I can't speak on those herbs, specifically, but I know there are several recognized as aiding digestion, some of those included; not to mention that in raw form they may contribute enzymes.  Pepsin is a protease (an enzyme that breaks down proteins) and could obviously help.  Enzyme supplements are something I wanted to try more but they're not cheap.

5.  I have no experience w/ grape therapy.

I've devoted myself to half a dozen different diet ideas at different times, and have studied nutrition and worked a lot with computer analysis of the diet, and the analysis of the nutrients of thousands of foods.  (If you're into this, you may enjoy a free Excel spreadsheet that I created for this:  http://lilytears.com/research/nutrition.htm )  My opinion after all that is that it is well to eat roughly equivalent to your ancestors, at least as far as is practical.  The use of dairy products beyond nursing is a development of the last ten thousand years, and 75% of the world currently remains lactose-intolerant.  Wheat, soy, peanuts, tropical fruits, some seafood--all the foods that are commonly allergenic--have not been in most of our ancestors' diets for long.  I managed my condition for a long time by avoiding alcohol, caffeine, dairy, greasy foods, junk food, peanuts, soy, spicy foods and sweets.  It's kind of a pain to cut all those out (especially wheat, 'cause it's so common--that's one of the less significant ones, though--cheat on wheat and soy before on the others), but if you cut them all out for a bit, besides noticing improvement, if you try reintroducing one for maybe even just one meal you will probably be able to see some negative effect.  Unfortunately it's all very subtle and you may have to try avoiding all those for several weeks before you heal enough to see the difference.

Nutrition:  There are so many nutritious things and nutrients to take that it's overwhelming, but the stuff that I really needed and that seemed to turn me around was chelated manganese, chromium picolinate, vitamin C, vitamin D (especially) and of course the liquid minerals.  If you don't have an accurate medical intuitive who can read your blood chemistry miraculously and tell you what you're lacking (like I was really blessed to have), maybe a blood analysis would be in order to find out just what nutrients you're missing and focus on those.  Some people highly recommend green superfoods for an easily-digestible nutritional foundation, which I thought sounded like a good idea but never tried.  The liquid mineral thing is similar, and maybe cheaper (you can find various brands of large bottles of it, some around $15).

Oh yeah, bloodless surgery:  Some chiropractors/alternative therapists, by manipulation through the abdominal wall, may correct the positions or states of your ileo-caecal valve, sigmoid flexure, pancreas or even diaphragm, to the great benefit of their normal processes.  It's a li'l weird how helpful that can be.

Good luck!

--Anast

P.S.  Please let me know how any of that goes w/ your friend!  I expect at least some of that will have a real benefit, but I'd be curious to hear back about it

P.P.S.  Your friend might want to consider avoiding eggs, also.

P.P.P.S.  I developed colitis pretty soon after becoming nocturnal about 6 years ago.  I just became diurnal again right about the time I started seeing recent improvements in my colitis condition.  I can't prove there's a connection, but I feel there is and it makes sense to me because sunlight regulates biological rhythms that probably are basic to our whole system.  Research has also shown a possible correlation between the reduced melatonin production that results from a nocturnal schedule and colon cancer.

Conclusion

Please let me know any thoughts you might have on these ideas, or results you might get.