This section is designed to provide you with personal accounts from fellow IBD and IBS patients. Their inspirational stories will help you realize you are not alone and demonstrate how others manage their condition with the SCD.

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 Critical Success Factors | How did you hear of the SCD?
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There are at least 100 additional testimonials on the Amazon.com web site.

The excerpted testimonials and success stories below appeared in the SCD listserves; click each year to view its full listing. Do you have a success story to share with the rest of the world? If so, send it to the webmasters via the Feedback link.

"..I have been off the Remicade since the summer of 2007 with no symptoms...Even when I am able to begin eating certain foods again, I will never go back to the way I ate again. This diet has truly changed my life."

"..Today she had her follow up colonoscopy after ten months of the SCD diet (Breaking the Vicious Cycle). The colonoscopy was entirely NORMAL! The gastroenterologist was visibly surprised."

"..I am greatful for the opportunity to help myself........all you need is a plan and willpower."

"..Eric was never this well even when he was in
"remission" pre-SCD, he never felt good, he threw up and had D a lot of the time but according to the doctor he was in "remission", and he averaged 2 weeks in the hospital a year. He hasn't been this healthy in years. I have my husband back and he has his life back!!! "

"..He said, "Mom, thank you," and threw his arms around me. I said, "For what?" "For me Mom. Thank you for me. Thank you for making my tummy better." Even Colin knows the power of this diet..."

"...Well - he had another colonoscopy yesterday. New doctor - the other one was too annoying. It's amazing. The lesions are GONE - completely - except for the most distal 2 inches of the colon. I was looking at pic after pic of totally healthy colon...."

"..Two years ago, I never thought I could feed our family of five SCD and I never thought I'd see an end to the pain.."

"...It was hard at first, but then it became routine to only give Sarah foods we knew she could digest. The change in her was huge - we are still so thrilled! I actually documented everything she ate and her problems and successes for months, if not years! If this gives other people hope, that's great..."

"..I think being on this list, even as a quiet member, has made all the difference in being able to stick to the diet. I love feeling like part of a community of people who are in this together.."

"..My opinion is get on this diet as soon as possible and take what medication you need to to get well and give the diet time. I speak from the heart because I now have an ileostomy.."

"..It is a beautiful day here in upstate NY and I took my kids to the playground. I have never gone anywhere since I was 10 without worrying about a bathroom... [here] I am at this same playground without even a thought about the bathroom and climbing the castle with my kids and pushing them in the swings and enjoying life. Thankyou isn't really enough. But I don't know what else to say. I am just so grateful."

"..I have my life back. I am not tied to a toilet. I feel and look great. Thank you, Elaine for showing me I can lead a normal life.."

"..In early June I started it and I have been on it since. I've been on it for almost 7 months and I feel great. I cheat on the diet every once in awhile, but not a lot. I know I will never be able to go back to eating all the bad foods I did, but, it's worth it because I can lead a normal life now and not spend half the day in the bathroom. I would recomend this diet to anyone that suffers from Crohn's or Colitis."

"..To paraphrase Mr. Frost, I decided to take the road less traveled and this has made all the difference.."

"..For me the ONLY thing that broke my flare was the diet, as I had reached the point of no return, where the drugs are no longer effective and the only thing left is surgery. If the pharmaceuticals could only bottle the diet, it's power would finally be recognized."

"..Thanks to the SCD the fear of Crohns no longer dominates my life. I might add that now the diet dominates my life (in a nice way). I have been on SCD since 1996 and don't intend to ever leave it. I don't make a fuss when I'm at someone's house, but other than that, I stick to it about 95%.."

"..After getting on this list and finding out more, I was able to stick with it 100% for the last 3 years. The improvement is incredible! I can't thank Elaine enough. Also, I just received my copy of Lucy's new cookbook. It's really great. Am looking forward to trying the recipes.."

"..the ONLY thing that has worked for my 11 year old daughter Hannah is the SCD diet. We have been doing this SCD thing for about a year, and she leads a normal life with no restrictions on any activities, with the exception being what she eats, and she is used to all that now.."

"..one night while looking under Crohn's Disease on the Internet, I found a reference to Elaine Gottschall's book, Breaking the Vicious Cycle. It has only been about 3 weeks but I can't believe the difference it has made. I can eat WITHOUT PAIN!.."

"My doctor is very supportive, in fact, he said "if the diet works for you, stay on it...no reason to get off a winning horse"

"Let me thank all of you for your input - I've learned more in 2 weeks than I have in 25 years."

"Thanks to the SCD the fear of Crohn's no longer dominates my life. I might add that now the diet dominates my life (in a nice way). I have been on SCD since 1996 and don't intend to ever leave it."

"..My days are happy and fulfilled and best of all I'm physically intact. I'm not scared anymore of surgery because I have the best prevention of that in the SCD."

"..the doctor said my colon was 98% perfect with just a slight inflamation at the end 2 inches. Every time I've mentioned the diet in the past, he rolls his eyes with the usual response "diet has no effect on this condition". Well this time he said, it looks excellent! Just keep doing whatever you're doing."

"..I have now gained back a total of 15 lbs! Another 10-15 and I'll be back to normal!! Yahoo!!!! I really I am going to have the rest of myself back again soon! Thank you so much to everyone who has given advice and suggestions and to those who have just read my messages. Writing to this list sometimes is just what I need to feel like someone out there is listening."

"Thank you so much for providing the SCD information on the internet. I have suffered from chronic diahrea since 1986. Last year my digestive system deteriorated to the point that nothing would slow down the diahrea. I was desperate and decided to search the internet for "diahrea". I found the SCD site. After reading the information, I decided to put it to the test. I ordered the book and begain a basic SCD diet. The diahrea stopped immediately. Here is my story..."

"..Well I have been on this wonderful diet for over 2 years now and I feel "Thank God" cured!"

"To beginners, I would say that you will get used to this restricted diet. A lot of our group have posted some very interesting recipes..."

"..Once I started the diet I noticed a great improvement. I was gaining approximately a pound a day for the first 34 days. My energy level went through the roof. Well 2 years ago on this day I started the diet and to this day that was the best Christmas present I can ever receive HEALTH!"

"..I'm grateful every day for Elaine, the diet, and the wonderful life I almost threw away."

"..Anyway because he felt so good, he decided he could go back to his old way of eating. I told the SCD list that I would lurk until Ken decided to return to the diet. I had to see him get crampy (D) and sick again, although not to the same extreme. We both knew that if he kept up eating this way, he could very well end up with colon cancer. So, a month ago, Ken went back on the diet. And once again, he is feeling great, as though he is not plagued with the disease at all!"

".. the doctors were advising more surgery. It was at this point that a doctor in the ER told us of his brother. He said his brother had Crohn's and after 5 years started a diet that helped him more than drugs. He gave us the name of Elaine's book and said, "you didn't hear this from me."

"..I noticed a significant boost in energy, most likely from the carbohydrates, and put an extra maybe 7 pounds on, I felt more substantial. Once I started putting ketchup on burger patties, and allowed myself to go out to restaurants, the symptoms started creeping back until -- WHAM! I was having a relapse!.."

"..I literally can feel a shift happening in my guts. They feel "stronger"; like I haven't experienced in about 10 years!"

"..this isn't a diet, it's my life."

"..What I've experienced during this second week on the diet sure as hell beats a 50 mg increase of prednisone.."

"..I will stay on the diet for the rest of my days. The diet is now my life style. I wont return to the foods that make me ill. There is no secret to this diet. It is after all nothing but simply healthy food. So why in the world would I to leave it?"

"..Sorry if I say this too often but the diet has been wonderful for me. Yes, the diet has helped tremendously. I leave out fructose, lactose and gluten. I don't wake up in the night any more, bleeding has almost stopped, and everything is MUCH better for this UC sufferer."

"..after 4 months I can say that my CD symptoms have improved. It is definitely worth a try.."

"..I was still on your diet and I went to the specialist and asked if he would take me off the steroids! ... He disagreed but helped me ease off them anyway. The last day I left his office, he said to me, "You will be back in six months." That was 5 years ago. By religiously sticking to your diet and not eating too much raw fruit, I managed to gain 30 lbs in two years. Getting back the weight I had lost made me feel like a new man. "

"..When I received the book and read the diet, I thought, "No way. Many of the things she says are safe to eat have caused me problems in the past." However, with the encouragement of another person on the diet, and still waiting to be seen by a specialist, I committed myself to follow the diet strictly for one month, the recommended length of time to see if the diet will help. Within a week, I noticed definite positive changes. My abdomen felt weird after eating. Then I realized that I was waiting for the usual digestion pains to come and THEY DIDN'T! By the end of the month, I was symptom-free.."

".. Within one month on the diet my pain was gone. In another three months, all my symptoms disappeared. I followed the diet for a year and a half. I now eat what I want and have been Crohn's "free" for about two years. If this diet helped me, it can help anybody. I've referred several other people to the book and they've all had great results.."