3 Healing Case Studies: How Long Does it Take to Feel Better?

Lately, we’ve been getting a lot of questions along the lines of: “When am I going to get better?”

I get emails like this all the time:

“Hi guys, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease 5 years ago and I started SCD 2 weeks ago.  So far my energy is better and my diarrhea’s been cut in half.  My only question is: when am I going to heal?   Do you think I even will be able to?  Right now I can only eat 8 foods.” – Christina

I love this question.  Mostly because when I was sick 7 years ago I spent endless hours trolling Google trying to find the answer myself.  So I’m going to share some of the writing I’ve done about this before… because I could reply back with any number of cliché inspirational sayings we have, like:

• “It took a long time to get sick and it takes a long time to get better”
• “This healing process is a marathon, not a sprint – you’re doing great!”
• “Everyone has a custom diet that works for them… you just have to keep testing until you find yours”

Each of these reassuring clichés is completely true, but what I love about Christina is: she already started the diet.  She already accomplished the most difficult part of taking control of her health by overcoming thoughts in her head like “What if it doesn’t work for me?” or “I don’t have time to cook all this food.”

Starting the diet is not only the first step, but it’s the most important one.  Christina is going to be just fine.

How do I know? 

She cut her BM’s by 50% in two weeks.

50% Improvement is Dramatic

Sure, she’s isn’t healed yet, but let me put 50% improvement in perspective for you.

Imagine you finished a new project at work and it was fantastic… a total home run.  The following week your boss calls you into his office and says, “You did such a good job on the last project I’m going to double your salary and give you a 200% raise.”

What would a 200% raise do for your life? 

Doubling your income would be pretty awesome, right?  Maybe make things a little easier…

Well, so would a natural 50% reduction in your symptoms.

We want you to be your own health engineer… and to think like one too.  A 50% reduction in symptoms in 2-weeks is just as powerful as a 200% rise in your salary from one project.

 [It’s kind of a big deal]

Christina’s 50% improvement in 2 weeks tells me she’s on the right track and with a few more tweaks she’ll be in total control of her health.  I expect another email from her anytime with an update on her improvements.

So When Will You Get Better?

One more cliché response for you: “it depends…”

Have you ever heard that no two snowflakes are exactly alike?

It’s fascinating.  My 5-year old has a book about it that we read together.  No two snowflakes have ever been found to be the same.  They do all have commonalities.  For example, most have six sides and there are three common shape categories that 99% fall into (if you were wondering it’s needle-like shapes, columnar shapes, or irregular shapes).

But in the end, they are all unique, just like your diet.

Here’s the bottom line: This diet works … we’ve seen it work over and over again with thousands of people over the last three years.

But no two versions are exactly the same, just like the snowflakes.  And the analogy continues: there are common types (like the tough case or mild case versions)… but each will be subtly different in the end.

Your past lifestyle choices, genetics, and current lifestyle choices are all unique to you, and each has an impact on how you’re going to heal.

It doesn’t stop with food either.  Typically, the diet only goes so far – supplement and lifestyle changes help solve the complete puzzle.  So, there’s a lot of factors that play a role in this process.

For Example, Let Me Show You These 3 Case Studies:

Case Study 1: Crohn’s Colitis and Diarrhea

Nick* has been on Prednisone ever since he was diagnosed with Crohn’s Colitis 2 years ago.  He averaged at least 10 BM’s a day.  He was exhausted and the blood was getting worse. 

A few years before, he tried following full SCD for a few weeks and didn’t see any improvement, so he gave up.  His doctor was pushing for Humira, which motivated him to give SCD one last try.

He started SCD by properly doing the intro diet for 3 days and then tried adding in new foods.  Everything he tried made his diarrhea worse and it seemed like this diet was making him sicker!  After two weeks of horrible D he knew a flare was coming fast.  The first tweak he made was to start taking digestive enzymes and within two days his stools started to take better form and the urgency was less. 

Next, he was frustrated because his stools were still mushy and 4-5 times a day.  He decided to test dairy-free because he saw an article that it was one of our “four horsemen.”  Four days after eating dairy-free, his BM’s were down to 2-3 soft stools a day…  HUGE improvement for him.  Not only that, but during his 2^nd month of SCD his energy doubled and he finally slept through the night without waking up to go to the bathroom. The next six months were gradual improvement…

*Name changed to protect identity

Case Study 2: Constipation and Bloating

Joanna* has been sick many times during her lifetime, she’s taken many antibiotics and always seemed to have irregular bowel habits. Most days shed used laxatives/enemas to get by, especially when the bloating got unbearable. 

She’s tried several other natural diets and supplements without any improvement. She finally decided to try SCD for 30-days.

She did the intro diet for 4 days and didn’t have a BM the whole time.  As she introduced new foods on the 5^th day, she was feeling really discouraged that the diet wasn’t going to work like all the others.  She read a post we did on Constipation and decided to start eating more coconut oil and made a batch of sauerkraut.  When the sauerkraut was ready, her BM’s started to be more regular every other day and things stayed that way through her 30-day anniversary.

It was nice, but she was still frustrated.  Her acid reflux, frequent burping, and stomach gurgling made her think more about trying Betaine HCL and she did the HCL Challenge.  The challenge made her feel so much better she knew it was the right tweak to test next.  Over the next 7 days, HCL improved her BM’s to one solid movement everyday for the first time in her life… and she never looked back, but stayed on SCD for the next year.

*Name changed to protect identity

Case Study 3: Celiac Disease and Malnutrition

Sue* struggled with undiagnosed Celiac Disease for many years, she alternated between horrible diarrhea and mild constipation.  It was very frustrating for her and she’d been to many doctors over the years.  They could never figure out why she was malnourished and had elevated liver enzymes.

She tried their recommendations to take more fiber and it didn’t help her stomach pain and even made her diarrhea worse most days.  She followed a strict, gluten-free diet for 3 years without an improvement in her symptoms.

7 days after she started SCD her diarrhea stopped completely.  But after that it seemed like once a week she would have diarrhea really bad and it never seemed like it was triggered by a food.  Her blood tests still showed many nutrient deficiencies.  After hearing my story, she tried digestive enzymes and within 2 days her stools seemed more well-formed and her energy levels improved.  But she still had diarrhea randomly once or twice a week.  It seemed like she was stuck and afraid to introduce new foods. 

As it turned out, she was an overworked, stressed-out mom with a history of depression.  She also just moved to a new city and the stress from the move was pushing her to the edge.  She decided to try our 7 day stress challenge and take stress management seriously, just like taking a pill or making a diet tweak. After two weeks of doing a few minutes a day of deep breathing and yoga – she started to notice she felt “more alive.”  And after 30 days of taking her stress seriously, she finally realized the random diarrhea was gone and she was starting to try new foods.  She finally felt like her life was turning around, but had her ups and downs over the next nine months.

*Name changed to protect identity

Each of them had to make different tweaks.  Some couldn’t tolerate foods that others could.  And in the end, each solution was unique, but the formula to get there was the same:

They properly started the diet, discovered their “food safe zone,” made the right supplement tweaks, and used lifestyle changes to help them heal.  But each one had different results over different time periods.

Here’s what this all means for you:

• I can’t give you a guaranteed template that will heal you
• I can’t tell you when you’re going to heal
• I can’t tell you exactly what to eat
• I can’t tell you how long it takes before you’re ready to try a new food
• I can’t tell you exactly when you’re going to control your symptoms

But there’s good news:

• I can give you the framework to create your custom diet and get relief
• I can help you figure out whether or not you’re a tough case
• I can show you what we’ve seen work (and not work) for most people
• I can show you what foods to test and tweak first
• I can help you find your “food safe zone”
• I can help you find the right supplements (like digestive enzymes or Betaine HCL)
• I can help you make lifestyle changes like getting better sleep, reducing stress, and spending more time with family
• And I can give you reassurance that you’re on the right track

So Here’s What to Expect as You Heal:

Starting this diet isn’t the easiest choice, but reclaiming your life is, so it’s worth it in the end.  Expect that this journey isn’t going to be the same as anyone else and understand that it doesn’t mean it’s not working for you or that you can’t follow our guidelines.

Use these case studies as a reminder to ask questions and always listen to your body.  It’s giving you subtle clues all the time about what to do next.  It’s also giving you signs about how well you’re healing.

Here’s what you can expect as you re-engineer your health:

Expect to customize…

Expect to tweak…

Expect to have ups and downs…

And expect to feel better over time…

Accept nothing else.

I’ve seen it work and it will work for you… stay focused on finding your custom version of the diet and you will heal over time.   I believe in you and I know you can do this.

More than anything, I’m excited for your new life.

– Jordan

P.S. – In the comments, let me know how long it took you to realize your first improvement on the diet.  For example: “In 3 weeks I went from 8 BMs to 3 BMs” or “In 3 days I stopped having D for the first time in years.”

I look forward to hearing from you…