Living with Crohn’s disease

Do you have any advice for my daughter who suffers from Crohn’s disease, which flares up from time to time?

She also suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and self-injects with a biological drug every two weeks.

>> Crohn’s disease is a difficult condition to live with, and particularly frustrating to have perfectly healthy segments of bowel being compromised due to diseased sections. This also means it can occur along any part of the digestive tract.

As you will already be well aware, one of the biggest concerns with Crohn’s is ensuring the effective absorption of nutrients.

Understandably, dietary changes can have a huge impact on your digestive tract, so there are a few tweaks that will help reduce the severity and frequency of your daughter’s symptoms.

Adopting a plant-based diet, preferably vegan and low in grains, is ideal and has allowed many people to live free of symptoms.

Soups, broths, and dairy-free smoothies are valuable quick meals to have as a ready standby.

The immune system needs support with Crohn’s disease, and of course rheumatoid arthritis is considered to be an autoimmune disorder, so your daughter would do well to add zinc to her diet. Zinc in particular assists in the repair of cellular damage in the intestine, as well as being one of the key immune system minerals.

Free radicals, which contribute to inflammation and cell damage in Crohn’s, are also removed from the bloodstream by zinc. I would usually recommend nuts and seeds as a great source of zinc, however, a supplement is a better option where gastrointestinal inflammation is an issue, since nuts and seeds tend to irritate the delicate mucous membranes.

The Irish Society for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease (ISCC) is at 01-8721416 or www.iscc.ie.

* My husband and I are in our mid-60s and retired. We both are reasonably fit and take daily short walks. I have rheumatoid arthritis and my husband suffers from high blood pressure and a sensitive stomach. We’ve started taking a remedy — cider vinegar, honey and hot water. Will it help?

>> This is indeed a wonderful recipe ! — and will be a great help with your rheumatoid arthritis. The honey and apple cider vinegar combination is reported to work particularly well for arthritis, rheumatism, weight problems, fatigue, insomnia, circulation issues, skin problems, digestive troubles, cracked heels — the list goes on and on.

I like to add ginger root in as well, since this helps specifically with digestion, blood flow to the extremities, and works to relieve pain.

The recipe I use is one tablespoon (15ml) of apple cider vinegar (ACV) with a cup of near-boiling water, to which you add a heaped teaspoon of local raw honey, and a slice of fresh ginger root. You can add a pinch of cayenne for heart health if you can tolerate the heat of this spice.

The minerals found in ACV — potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, natural silicon, pectin, and tartaric acids — are thought to be key in the fight against toxins responsible for many of the above conditions, along with its alkalising effect on the body.

Combine this with honey — an internal and external remedy for many issues — and you have a truly therapeutic brew.

It is important to choose ACV that is organic and unfiltered — it will usually state on the bottle that it contains the ‘mother’. The filtered version of ACV doesn’t have the same healing properties, so it is worth seeking out a lovely cloudy vinegar.