My name is Sheila Trenholm. I started SCD on February 1st, 2001. I had gone through a very bad flare up of my Ulcerative colitis in September of the previous year. I was hospitalized for about a week in September about 40 lbs underweight and put on prednisone (a steroid). Shortly after weaning off the prednisone, the colitis flared again and by the end of November I was back in the hospital. About 9 days later I was sent home again with another round of prednisone. At the end of January although still on prednisone, symptoms started coming back even quicker than before. The doctors had told me they had no idea what was going on. Some of the emergency room doctors had said that most people with UC for a long time usually end up having to have surgery. I was very scared. My husband felt that we needed to take matters in our own hands and said let's check the Internet and see if we can get some ideas. The first link that popped up was about SCD. He said let's check further and see if there is more information. We ended up on the Amazon site with the reader's reviews of Elaine's book,"Breaking the vicious Cycle". The reviews were very encouraging because they were from people who had gone through the same stuff and were seeing great things.

We agreed that I would start the diet first thing in the morning. I gave up my usual bowl of bran flakes, homemade bread and milk-laced tea. I think I ate a plate of eggs. By lunchtime the cramps and pain in my gut disappeared. I was completely flabbergasted. Teams of doctors and increasingly higher doses of prednisone had only been able to help in the past and only after days of IV treatments. This had worked within hours. I called my husband at work and told him he had to find this book before he came home that night.

About a year later (and doing amazingly well) my husband and I sat down and talked about putting our kids on the diet. They had been having the same SCD lunches and suppers as me but were still having cereal for breakfast. Our son was put on IV antibiotics right after he was born and had always had frequent, very smelly, mushy stools. Pretty normal while still a baby but they never got any better as he got older. We started him on SCD when he was about 2 1/2 yrs old. Within days of starting his stools lost the smell and the frequency dropped from 5-8 a day to 1-3/day. He now has formed bowel movements and is doing great. Even my husband and daughter had surprising results when they went on SCD 100%. My husband lost the 50 lbs that he had fought with over the years and my daughters occasional but intense constipation was also brought under control.

Besides ulcerative colitis, SCD has helped me in other ways. After many years of not being able to get pregnant I was eventually diagnosed with Poly Cystic Ovarian Disease. This is a condition, which causes irregular periods and can lead to infertility. With the help of fertility drugs I was fortunately able to conceive and have two beautiful children. After the treatments my body returned to having very infrequent periods. While in the hospital for the flare, tests performed found that I also moderate dysplaysia. After a year or so starting SCD I stopped taking BC pills, which were supposed to help regulate PCOD (but didn't). I had my B vitamin levels checked and found that my malabsorption had been corrected. Shortly after, the PCOD came under control and the dysplaysia "disappeared". More wonderful side effects of SCD - the chronic acne I had since a teenager has cleared as well, as the cystic acne, mild eczema and roscea.

I originally joined the Pecanbread List to get some ideas for school lunches and to have a place to discuss having children on SCD. I love the recipes that we are able to create with SCD. I have a degree in Biology (emphasis in microbiology) and worked at the local university in a Food Science lab helping to develop new food products, run microbiological tests and testing food products with Pilot Plant sized equipment. (Oh the irony!) These days I am a full- time mom and homemaker.

Sheila can be reached at: sheilat@ ...