By Krista Johnson, as told to Kate Sullivan
My husband calls them my âfoo-foo remedies.â He says, âYouâre always trying that weird stuff.â
To which I reply, âBut it canât kill you, so why not try it?â
I was 34 when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s (Iâm 49 now), and it took them a good year or so to come to that conclusion. I live outside of Orlando, and in 2007, Iâd been working at Discovery Cove, which is part of SeaWorld, where I swam with the dolphins. But my daughter had just turned 3, and I decided to take a job with the school system to better accommodate her schedule. Thatâs when my stomach problems began.
My doctors chalked it up to, âWell, youâre an athlete, always exercising, and now youâre sitting in an office â your brain doesn’t know how to handle it. Youâre not releasing your stress.â
At the time, I thought it made sense, but 8 months later, I started bleeding, had a colonoscopy and received the diagnosis. I didnât know a thing about Crohnâs. I was taking the pills they told me to take, but it was getting worse, and I didnât realize that this wasnât normal because I was still a rookie at this point â one big hot mess. Finally, I threw up bile. And my husband was like, âI think itâs time to go to the hospital.â
After this experience, I found my current doctor, who is phenomenal. He immediately put me on Remicade infusions, and for the next 7 years, I was also taking about 12 pills a day. It kept me functioning. But by 2014, I was passing them; I wasnât absorbing anything. It got to the point where I couldnât even swallow them, so I stopped altogether. This is what brought out the seeker in me.
Luckily, my insurance would cover 24 sessions of acupuncture. I thought: It canât hurt, right? I started going to acupuncture twice a week. (My acupuncturist also worked at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.) At the same time, I began an elimination diet and Chinese herbs, also recommended by my acupuncturist.
The gluten-free diet helped my inflammation a lot, so did not eating fried food or anything with lactose. I took extra vitamin C, some zinc, and vitamin D. Now I take 10,000 milligrams of vitamin D daily â a lot of Crohnâs patients are deficient. The Chinese herbs helped with my mouth sores because my Crohnâs was producing too much stomach acid. I tried cupping [an alternative therapy that involves the application of glass or silicone cups to the back] for a little while, but I wasnât a big fan as I found it uncomfortable.
The one other time I was in the hospital was in 2016. I had a stoma, followed by an ileostomy, and they gave me steroids. I put on 65 pounds and wound up getting medication-induced Cushingâs, [a disorder that can cause weight gain and weakness].
As I was recovering, I started to do chair yoga with the senior citizens at the National Training Center in Clermont, FL. I felt like I had the physical fitness of an 82-year-old, so why not take classes with actual 82-year-olds? More recently, Iâve done Peloton yoga, and because I still have a belly after my surgeries, prenatal yoga. I tried meditation, but my brain is just going 6,000 miles an hour. Iâve also used different essential oils on my neck when Iâm having an upset stomach.
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A lot of people wonât eat when theyâre having a flare. Sure, donât eat a chicken dinner with green beans and gravy, but not eating is the worst thing you can do. So I went the organic baby food route and now I swear by it! When I suggest that to people they laugh at me, but baby foods are for sensitive stomachs and theyâre nutritious. If Iâm having a flare up, I eat it, and at least I know Iâm having a healthy serving of fruit and vegetables. I started buying those little squeezable pouches. I love a weird combination â sweet potato with banana and blueberries. Theyâre a staple in my bag. I put them in the refrigerator at work and itâs become a running joke that we all know whoâs lunch that is.
My holistic remedies havenât replaced medicine, but I believe theyâve helped me bounce back and have kept my immune system stronger, which is more or less a petri dish. I have been on Entyvio since 2016, and Iâm on other meds for my Cushingâs. I feel lucky to have good insurance and a doctor who listens and shares information with me. A lot of people donât have that.
I also have a great support system: my family, co-workers, and a new online community. I found Girls with Guts via their Facebook support group; it’s for women with IBD and/or ostomies. The members are from all over the world, and they do a retreat every year. This will be my first time going.
These ladies are amazing. Some of them have feeding tubes or ports. We share whatâs happening, whatâs worked for us, rebate plans for medication and other things like that. Itâs so important to talk about Crohnâs like itâs not a dirty little secret.
It took me a year to make my first comment on the Facebook page; today, I’m the group’s secretary. Getting involved has been empowering. I have no problem talking about poop!
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