In June 2004, the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition published an article describing two case studies involving the Specific Carbohydrate diet.
One of the cases was a 9-year old with Crohn's disease who had not gained weight for two years. At the end of February 2006, this child's parents sent an update on the now pre-teen child's progress to "give someone else encouragement".
It shows the positive effects of the diet--but also some of the difficulties.
(The parents asked to remain anonymous.)
Our child was one of those highlighted in a case study in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition. I thought it might be interesting for your readers to get an update on progress since the article in June 2004.
For 18 months after [the] article, all was fine controlling Crohn's with just the SCD diet. We also kept him on a low dosage of sulfasalazine and 6MP (plus calcium, vitamins and folic acid to counter side affects). He was back on a fairly normal diet but with a lot of parental prodding to control intake of carbs, sugar and no milk. His height/weight was now in the upper half of the pediatric growth scale where he had fallen off the bottom before we pushed Crohn's into remission. [boldface added]
Jan 2006 brought a significant flare up. The next day we went back on a very strict SCD diet and within 7 days the flare up was under control. We successfully avoided going back onto steroids. After a lot of discussion with this pre-teen, we ascertained that the holidays had turned into a sugar and carb binge, including milk; all outside of parental view. The young sufferer quickly learned that it was very important to moderate the diet while in remission and to pay close attention to warning signs. Within two weeks, the mandate to stay on a strict SCD for 90 days heard a lot of griping.
30 days into the recovery we saw another 1 day flare-up. Again, this pre-teen was testing the bounds of the diet behind our backs and discovered that 90 days may not be that long when the day-count starts over on a flare-up. During a scout camping trip, peers aggressively teased with candy bars. It is so difficult to watch a young person learning to develop self-control.
It seems we pushed Crohn's back into remission using the SCD diet. We are back to experimenting with lots of almond flour recipes and learning more tricks to help vary the diet. It just has to be a lifestyle change that we live with.