My son has Crohns Disease at 5 years old. The doctor wants to put him on some strong medicine, but I just don’t want to do it! I went to a Alternative Medicine clinic who seemed like a quack. He was working on positive and negative energy by pressing on my hand and my son’s head. He put him on probiotics and some anti-virus medicine (all natural.) Anyone get this to work?
What kind of “strong medicine” does your real doctor want to prescribe, and why are you resistant to it?
What is it about the “doctor” you feel to be a quack that makes you think his treatment would be any better?
(Added- I am not aware of any “all-natural” anti-virus medicines. Did he give you a name?)
Imuran is the one they want to put him on right now. The other choice was Remicade. I just can’t do either of those to him. Imuran has side effects on his liver. None of these drugs have been proven on a 5 year old child. Everything the alternative medicine gave him is from a plant and has no side effects. How can I argue with that? I have taken dairy and gluten out of his life already. I am just willing to try anything natural vs. harsh medicine for a little body.
Well, possibly because it won’t work?
Find out what the alternative medicine guy wants to do and compare it with the results here: http://www.crohns.net/Miva/education/articles/Probiotics_in_the_Treatment_of_Crohns_Disease.shtml
There’s no such thing as “no side effects.” (For that matter I don’t know what “energy” is.) A drug may have mild side effects, but if it has no potential side effects, that means it doesn’t do anything. And plant vs. drug is irrelevant - a chemical is a chemical regardless of where it comes from. I think you’re being fed a line of B.S. by a quack, as you suspect, because I hope a doctor would not try that kind of garbage. Crohn’s is an intestinal disorder, and to be polite, it’s unlikely that pressing on a child’s head is going to fix any problems with his gastrointestinal tract.
Everything has side effects, and many plants are poisonous. If the “medicine” was not labeled with a list of possible side effects, that’s because it is not an FDA-approved drug.
You could argue with that by knowing that a lot of non-alternative medicines are also made from plants? There are poisons made from plants (foxglove, nightshade etc), so why would you assume things made from plants would necessarily have no ill effects? 
Plenty of medications are derived from plants, too. A strong chemotherapy medication, tamoxifen, is from a plant. So are aspirin, digoxin, penicillin (well, a mold), and others. They all have potentially serious side effects, especially if not taken as directed, but a big bonus is that they’ve undergone a lot of FDA-regulated testing. The FDA isn’t perfect, but it’s better than basically nothing, which is the level of regulation of many herbal preparations. Some can be highly dangerous and cause harm including organ failure and even death.
Please don’t underestimate Crohn’s disease. A coworker’s husband has it, and requires surgery to remove a small portion of his bowel. If you’re concerned, consider taking your son for a second opinion to another medical doctor, instead of settling on something that just sounds comforting to you but may not help the discomfort, pain, or health of your child.
As noted by Ferret Herder and others, Crohn’s disease is a serious disorder that requires serious attention and serious medication. Flare-ups can have devastating consequences if not managed properly.
I have a few patients with Crohn’s right now, two on imuran and one on remicade. They all report much better disease control, fewer symptoms, and less pain on these regimens. None has required surgery in the last few years on these regimens either.
I too have a child with a chronic illness which shortens lifespans. And thanks to potent modern medicines, her chances of living longer are increased, due to the use of these meds, despite their risks and side-effects. The benefits outweigh the risks for her.
If competent specialists in pediatric gastro-enterology tell you that the benefits of such meds as imuran and remicade outweigh the risks for your child, you should listen with all due attention, and be careful about finding someone who tells you what you want to hear.
QtM, MD and parent.
Have you considered how likely it is the plant has “no side effects” because it’s not doing anything? In all actuality, it could have a worse side effect in delaying real medical treatment. And you’re right to think your alternative healer is a quack. Anyone pushing on someone talking and positive and negative energy has no business practicing medicine (or in this case, pretending to). I understand the desire to be natural but all-natural is rarely the answer when it comes to serious illnesses. Good luck and I hope you speak again with real medical professionals and stay away from the quacks.
I suffer from Ulcerative Colitis, which is a disease with a lot of similarities to Crohn’s, and a lot of the treatments that work for one will work for the other. I have done Imuran, and I have done Remicaid, and right now I am currently on both along with finshing off a course of prednisone because my stupid body just seems to love to go all ape shit and attack itself.
From what I have learned, Imuran has potential side effects on the liver, but if monitored properly (regular blood tests) the risks are minimal. Who knows what the ever loving hell this “naturopath” is going to give your son. Who knows if he even knows how to monitor for side effects on the liver?
Given the choice I would prefer Remicaid or another biologic, Humira, to Imuran, which has a broader suppressive effect on your immune system, but really this is something up to your doctor, as those biologics ave a much shorter history in the market.
Please, consider the words of QtM and understand that the longer the disease is out of control, the more damage it does. For me, according to the docs, if it gets too bad they can always just remove my colon (beleive me, it’s not something I look forward to) and that will “cure” the disease. That option isn’t available for a Crohn’s sufferer, so the more it spreads the worse it is going to be.
I’m not touching the rest of your post- if it works for you, fine.
However, cayenne (capsicum frutens) is a vasodilator. It doesn’t stop bleeding, it increases it.
jakesteele has provided you with a post full of misinformation which I strongly encourage you to discount heavily.
A common theme for people embracing natural remedies is that current drugs treat only the symptoms, and do not cure the problem. So what is jakesteele’s post full of? Natural remedies which treat symptoms – and you have to keep taking them, or the symptoms come back. If they cured the problem, you could stop taking them once you were all healed up, right? Willow is the unrefined form of both 4-ASA drugs like aspirin, and 5-ASA drugs like Asacol, Colazol, Lialda, Apriso, and other generic meslamines which are used to treat UC and other inflammatory bowel diseases. Aloe Vera has natural anesthetic and anti-inflammatory effects, but as anyone with a sunburn can tell you, it doesn’t cure sunburn, that is only something your body does with time. AV gel simply provides some releif from the suffering.
One of the biggest lessons to learn is to not take medical advice from a random group of strangers on the Internet.
jakesteele, speaking as a physician, your prescribed treatment for Crohn’s and its complications is a recipe for death. Cayenne for hemorrhage? Please. Laxatives for intestinal obstruction? That’s a recipe for a surgical emergency. Garlic for infectious peritonitis? Unconscienable.
Your advice in this thread is not only wrong, but dangerous.
From a plant. May I quote Socrates … I drank what?
Hemlock is from a plant, and Id rather not consume it, thanks. Foxglove is a very pretty plant, and will kill you quite nicely. datura is a plant, and can cause serious hallucinations and death. Some mushrooms, though fungus rather than chlorophyll bearing plant are incredibly toxic …
Yet - digitalis is an extract of foxglove, and will keep a cardiac patient alive. Scopalamine is a valuable medication that comes from datura, so how about giving modern medication a chance? The main issue with ‘natural’ meds is in the extraction and dosing. Often the manufacture is substandard and the quality and strength of the medication can vary wildly. Just because it is synthesized does not mean it is dangerous.
As to teh side effects issue,
Datura[scopalamine, atropine]All Datura plants contain tropane alkaloids such as scopolamine, hyoscyamine, and atropine, primarily in their seeds and flowers. Because of the presence of these substances, Datura has been used for centuries in some cultures as a poison and hallucinogen.[3][2] There can easily be a 5:1 variation in toxins from plant to plant, and a given plant’s toxicity depends on its age, where it is growing, and local weather conditions. These wide variations make Datura exceptionally hazardous to use as a drug. In traditional cultures, users needed to have a great deal of experience and detailed plant knowledge so that no harm resulted from using it.[2] Such knowledge is not available in modern cultures, so many unfortunate incidents result from ingesting Datura. In the 1990s and 2000s, the United States media contained stories of adolescents and young adults dying or becoming seriously ill from intentionally ingesting Datura.[4] [5] There are also several reports in the medical literature of deaths from Datura stramonium and Datura ferox intoxication. [6][7][8] Children are especially vulnerable to atropine poisoning and they more likely to have a fatal prognosis.[9][10] In some parts of Europe and India, Datura has been a popular poison for suicide and murder. From 1950-1965, the State Chemical Laboratories in Agra investigated 2,778 deaths that were caused by ingesting Datura.[2]
Foxglove [digitalis] The entire plant is toxic (including the roots and seeds), although the leaves of the upper stem are particularly potent, with just a nibble being enough to potentially cause death. Early symptoms of ingestion include nausea, vomiting, anorexia, diarrhea, abdominal pain, wild hallucinations, delirium, and severe headache. Depending on the severity of the toxicosis the victim may later suffer irregular and slow pulse, tremors, various cerebral disturbances, especially of a visual nature (unusual colour visions with objects appearing yellowish to green, and blue halos around lights), convulsions, and deadly disturbances of the heart. For a case description, see the paper by Lacassie.[4]
Isnovick, half of your instincts are correct. Anyone who babbles on about “energy” in the context of medicine is a quack. No qualifiers. Run, do not walk, from anything that has to do with this person. And whatever he gave you is not all-natural. Did you walk into his back yard and graze it off a stalk? The only thing that “all-natural” means in this context is “no quality control.” Anything of any potency could be in that “medicine” and neither he nor you would ever know it. (Check the studies on “all-natural medicines” to see how much they vary from the supposed contents.) All-natural is the worst possible descriptor for a medicine. I want my medicine as artificial - and as pure and controlled and known - as humanly imaginable.
Alternative medicines may work as placebos for conditions that aren’t very serious or that go away naturally. They are totally ineffective against serious body illnesses like the one your son has.
Please, at the very least check out another real doctor to see if the advice concurs with the first real doctor.
My condolences - it can be very frightening to find out your child has a serious medical condition.
Well, I can certainly understand that. You probably want everything to be all better with a healthy child who doesn’t need any medical care whatsoever. Your reaction is understandable.
However, the reality is your child has been diagnosed with a serious, potentially very serious, medical condition. The good news is that there is treatment available and with proper care your son could grow up healthy and strong and live a long, wonderful life. The bad news is that this is going to take a little more work for him than for someone who doesn’t have Crohn’s Disease.
Your instincts are correct - the alternative medicine guy is a quack. Do not go back to him.
Yes, those are very serious medications, and not to be taken on a whim. On the other hand, they are also very commonly used to treat Crohn’s Disease.
I believe those are your emotions talking. Naturally, as a parent you will be emotional about your son. You want to protect him from harm, either disease or medication side effects.
However, do consider that NOT using strong drugs in this situation may be worse than risky side effects. Crohn’s can be extremely serious, too. Some of the “side effects” of untreated Crohn’s can be pretty nasty, too.
It MIGHT have side effects on the liver - it doesn’t always have those side effects. Monitoring of liver function is customary when Imuran is used, and precisely because there is a risk. I emphasize again, though, that liver problems are NOT a certainty on Imuran.
That’s because testing drugs on children is generally seen as unethical. However, other children have taken Imuran for serious problems and thus there IS some practical experience out there, particularly among doctors treating Crohn’s Disease.
It’s bullshit. EVERYTHING has side effects in great enough quantities. If it’s strong enough to help you it’s strong enough to hurt you if misused. He’s telling you what you WANT to hear, not what you NEED to hear.
Did you remove dairy and gluten because of doctor’s orders, or symptoms, or because Mr. Alternative said to do this? One of the complications of Crohn’s is malnutrition which, needless to say, can be extremely serious for a child. I would hesitate to eliminate foods from his diet unless told to by a doctor or unless doing so is customary in treating Crohn’s.
So you think the medicine for Crohn’s is harsh? Please educate yourself about the disease - perhaps one of our MD’s could steer you towards a reputable source. The consequences of NOT treating Crohn’ are also very harsh. I know it’s difficult to consider strong medicines for your child, but in this case it may be necessary in order to maintain his long term health. I urge you to consult with a reputable medical doctor with expertise in treating Crohn’s, even better if you can find one with experience in treating children. This disease is manageable, but managing may, indeed, require potent pharmaceuticals.
This is an excellent point. Successfully treating his Crohn’s won’t do him much good if you give him Rickett’s in the process.
Moderator Note.
The post above of jakesteele has been moved to a place on the server where it’s unaccessable to users. It was not deleted, but it’s so full of misinformation and potentially dangerous, that a few of us mods decided that it’s better off not in the thread. This is a very unusual circumstance, not done lightly. I"m sorry if following the thread is made more difficult.
samclem Moderator, General Questions