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Nearly four years ago, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. I haven’t seen my gastroenterologist since the day he performed my colonoscopy in August of 2006. Why? Because I went against everything he told me to do and instead followed my instincts and I am now 4 years completely symptom free. Imagine that? Healing without meds. Last summer, I released the e-book The Healthy Cooking Unbaked that recounts my trials from the day I was diagnosed until I began my work as a nutritionist. When people read that story, one of the most frequent questions I am asked is whether I have seen or spoken to my GI since. I have not.
With our Digestive Healing Retreat coming up, I thought it time I get back in touch with my doctor, and invite him along. Though I’ll admit, my empowered ego may have had a part in the writing of this letter, I genuinely hope that the work Josh and I are putting into this weekend will help spare as many people as possible from going through the experience I had leading up to and following my diagnosis. This is the letter I wrote to my doctor. I mailed it two weeks ago and have yet to hear back- but rest assured, I will let you know if/when I do. And if you are wondering what the photo above has to do with this post, well- that’s the post office in Inhambane, Mozambique taken in 2003 when the first sign of symptoms appeared after a slew of vaccinations.
Dear Gastroenterologist,
I was a patient of yours in July/August of 2006 and was probably like many of your patients, a young woman having suffered a long time with IBS, along with intermittent constipation and diarrhea that progressed into bleeding and more severe gastro challenges. In the report you wrote up following my colonoscopy, you described me as ‘very pleasant’. For whatever reason this small detail stuck with me.
In the four years since we first met and you performed a colonoscopy and biopsy, then diagnosed me, much has happened in my life and with my health.
When we first met, I had informed you that following the colonoscopy, I would be undergoing some acupuncture treatments in an attempt to remedy my severe symptoms that were presenting as inflammatory bowel disease. We had discussed diet and I believe you had told me that my diet wouldn’t have much effect on my condition, that it couldn’t cure it and that I was young, needed to live my life and that I had this disease. You explained there was no cure and no specific known cause and the best we could do was learn to manage it.
A few weeks following my colonoscopy, you confirmed, via fax, that I had Chronic Active Ulcerative Colitis. Two weeks after this fax was received, you had called me to check in, to discuss surgical options and medications I should start taking that would help manage the symptoms and could help prevent colon cancer in the future.
///
It has now been nearly four years since that time. I wanted to let you know that I have never taken a medication and my entire intestinal tract is still completely in tact, without having undergone any surgery.
Following your diagnosis, I had the biopsy slides sent to a GI at the UCLA Medical Centre. He worked closely with the doctor of Chinese Medicine I was seeing. Both looked at the biopsies, read the report and agreed with each other that what I had was more aligned with early stages of Crohn’s. Early Crohn’s, as you know, is rarely diagnosed.
At that point, I made the decision that I did not want to take any medications. At the young age of 26, I knew for certain that I did not want to be on and off of medications for the rest of my life. I opted for a completely natural approach that I had hoped, without knowing much about any of this, would feed and nourish my body so that it could do it’s part to heal and repair itself and restore my immune system to a normal functioning state.
My regimen included acupuncture, meditation, yoga, herbs, and whole, natural unprocessed foods- rich in all the good stuff.
Within a month, my symptoms were completely gone and never returned again. As far as I am concerned, whether it was Crohn’s or Colitis, I have healed from an ‘incurable’ disease. I am completely healed, not just from Crohn’s/Colitis but also from psoriasis which had plagued me for many years and as we both are aware, is closely associated with other inflammatory conditions.
Following my own health challenge, I went back to school to pursue my studies in natural nutrition. I am now a certified nutritionist and work with my clients to help them get what they need to heal and repair themselves in order to achieve optimal health. As you can imagine, given my experience and the success I am having with my work, many of my clients have very similar stories to mine; they suffer for many years with digestive challenges that most often culminate in disease diagnosis, medications and surgery. I would make the assumption that most people would prefer to avoid this outcome.
The reason for this letter is to inform you of what I am doing and the services I offer in hopes that they might be of use to your patients or that we might be able to work together in helping your patients achieve health as naturally as possible. I also wanted to let you know of an upcoming retreat I am hosting with a colleague, also a nutritionist and instructor of clinical and therapeutic nutrition.
On this retreat, we will be discussing the path of these digestive diseases and chronic inflammation from a holistic perspective. From there, we will be teaching our guests about the healing and therapeutic properties of specific foods, nutrient programs and herbs that can promote and accelerate healing in the whole body. Additionally, we will be discussing the mind/body connection as it relates to these conditions and offer simple lifestyle practices and tools that can help in every day life, including yoga and meditation.
We are targeting this retreat for people who are suffering from the aforementioned conditions as well as the people who support sufferers. Additionally, we are encouraging health care practitioners to join the retreat to learn more about natural healing options that can work independently from, but also in conjunction with conventional treatment methods. We are teaching a health promoting lifestyle, that I am sure your patients could benefit greatly from learning- whether it be from me or directly from you.
Please find enclosed some of my cards as well as information regarding the upcoming Digestive Healing Retreat. You can find out more on my website at www.meghantelpner.com
I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience
Kindest regards and in great health,
Meghan Telpner
Meghan Telpner, BAA CNP NNCP
Certified Nutritionist and Holistic Lifestyle Consultant
President, Meghan Telpner Inc.
Director, Love In The Kitchen Academy
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I love this letter Meghan! So wonderful… what a great idea. I really hope he does respond to you, looking forward to hearing about it. I’m sad I can’t come to the retreat as I will be running an event for work… next time for sure!
Wow, Meghan. You must be so very proud of your sweet little GI tract
I hope your Doc responds! I love that you have requested to work WITH your doctor and his/her patients. I really believe that this type of collaboration between the medical and holistic fields is the way of the future.
As always, your story is so inspiring. Thank you.
this is amazing.
wooo hoo!! I think most dr’s need a letter like this!!
You are such an inspiration!
Meghan, no matter what kind of response you get from your doctor, I have the feeling that this letter is going to take you to some interesting places. I’m excited for you! Good luck!!
Meghan it’s great what you are doing.
When I was first officially diagnosed with Colitis, which took several years, I was given a prescription slip and told I’d be on medication for the rest of my life. I told the gastroenterologist I didn’t believe in medication and I was sure if I sorted out my diet everything would be better. She told me it had nothing to do with diet and if I didn’t take the medication I’d in her words ” come crying back to her”. Needless to say I stopped all future appts and to this day have not been back or had medication. I can’t say I’m totally healed – there are still some flare ups but then again I haven’t totally perfected this diet thing so I understand it’s all within my control – not in the control of a box of medication.
ohhhhh I would love to hear a response!
Substitute Crohns for any disease and it can become a form letter sent to every specialist in the medical field that gives out a diagnosis and says, “live with it.”
We’ve all heard it way too many times.
mom
Mom- I think you need your own blog! You have much to say
This is amazing, Meghan. Your approach to Crohn’s and the medical system is such an inspiration.
way to go meg! you will single-handedly change the way that people who receive this diagnosis, they just need to find their way here! you rock!
WOW! What a powerful letter. You have had a truly amazing journey. I really hope the doctor responds:)
Yes. The medical community. Ugh.
I was raised in it and have been diagnosed with many “incurables” that I then go on to cure. Including a lifetime of depression and anxiety and PTSD and you name it. They love to label and they hate when we remove those labels.
I also have suffered from IBS since I was about 12. By carefully paying attention to what I put in my body (and a multitude of other factors, including weather), I have managed to never “need” medication.
Thank God there are women like you, doing this work.
Go Meghan!! Everyone needs to take the time to write to their doctors who had “no idea how to help” Hope he writes back!
Writing letters is always very cathartic, I love that you did this even if he never responds (hope he will!)
Meghan/Patsy,
With all due respect, not all specialists suggest that you just “live with it”. If you or any of the readers have had that sort of experience with a medical doctor, well, that is unfortunate, but not neccesarily the norm.
As an example: A colleague of mine’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. She was 41 at the time. Their two boys are 9 and 11. Upon diagnosis, her oncologist recommended chemotherapy. This worked for 6-9 months. When the cancer started to get worse and the chemo was becoming less effective, her specialist suggested she try every other form of care; be it chinese medicine, holistic medicine, meditation, chiropractic care, natural medicine and so on. Sadly, she passed away last week.
So yes, my collegue is now going to have to “live with” the fact that he is now raising his two boys on his own. The reality is that despite what some may think, not all specialists simply say, “live with it” as many of them do suggest alternative options. To make that suggestion is both inaccurate and disrespectful to those medical professionals that do consider all types of care.
You go, Meghan!!! And you contact this doctor with your usual positivity and inclusive way of doing things — I hope they take you up on your offer and that they include you in future options they recommend to their clients.
Respect, my friend.
x
Jordan,
I’m sorry that cancer has affected someone close to you. It’s a reality that is becoming more and more prevalent for all of us. It seems though that you’re emotions have influenced your perception of what Meghan is trying to portray in her letter. If I may assist you in understanding the message (correct me if I’m inaccurate Meghan), but I believe that Meghan is simply trying to empower those in similar situations to not blindly accept the recommendations of doctors. Doctors have been socialized to be the “go to” people when one is in ill health and this is misleading for many. They are deemed health care practitioners, but it would be more accurate and fair to them if they were referred to as disease care practitioners. I say “fair” because it is unjust that society has put such a great pressure on them to lead people to health when in fact they have only been trained in disease management. Medicine is great for two thing: emergencies and damage control. Perhaps your friends wife needed immediate chemotherapy, or perhaps she could have benefited from alternatives 6-9 months earlier. No one will ever know.
That being said, there are some progressive forward thinking doctors out there who consider all options and I don’t think Meghan is speaking about these practitioners. I’m sure she would have been telling a much different story today if she had been so lucky to connect with one during her health challenges.
Please reconsider your interpretation of Meghan’s message, a message that has been inspiring to so many, myself included.
Have a healthy day!
Mark M.
Meghan, this is awsome! amzingly inspiring! totally fantastic! When it comes to autoimmune disease, doctors really don`t know how to help-surgery and medication is all they have to offer. In acute`or trauma situations, western docs is all I`d want, but for chronic conditions -I`ve learned to run the other way!
Jordan- natural medicine doesn’t work its best when used to clean up the mess left behind by man-made toxic cocktails like chemo. It is always sad when life is lost and hard to play the what if game- never leads to good things. But what if these natural approaches had been taken before the doctor injected the patient with toxic chemotherapy drugs? What if the traditional medicine had been used to support the patient DURING her chemo treatment? Sadly, it sounds like her doctor gave up trying and was offering these alternative treatments as a last ditch effort.
It is unfortunate that these alternative methods of care are not given the time and respect they should be in medical school. I am a trained ‘conventional medical’ doctor myself, though after seeing and experiencing the lack of health these conventional philosophies and practices were giving my patients, I took it upon myself to broaden my education. I believe very strongly in using the best of both. Ideally, doctors should be versed in the validity of all types of treatment options- both conventional and traditional- not so they can perform both necessarily but so that the patient is given their full spectrum of options- no matter what their disease or condition. This was not offered to me in my formal medical education but I know how important it is to be open to what it can do.
OMG Meghan, I just found you blog and cannot believe it. For the first time I ‘meet’ someone who, like me, was diagnosed with Crohn and went against recommendations, stopped seing a GE and didn’t take any medication for years.
I was diagnosed with chronic ulcerative colitis 13 years ago. Never took any medication because all they could give me at that time was made with Aspirin and I’m allergic. Then I had a coloscopy in 2007 and was told it was now Crohn. My GE prescribed me immuno-depressors (purinethol) and simply said : “go back home, eat whatever you want and take this medication – for the rest of your life.” After searching on the net I was horrified by the side effects and when I talked to my GE about my concerns, she looked at me with desdain and said that I had no choice. That was enough. I decided I was going to find a way to heal, without chemicals and stupid (in my opinion) advices.
I’m still struggling some times because I didn’t I fully recover. It’s much better than it was but I’m still trying to figure out what I can/cannot eat. Some days I’m completely fine with some food – then the other it gives me pain. I’m now on a dairy/gluten/sugar free and I almost never eat meat but that’s not enough. So I’m still trying
.
I wish I could come to your retreat but being in Montreal, with 2 kids, it’s difficult. Maybe one day, who knows!
And finally… thanks. You made my day. You gave me hope.
Dearest Meghan – you know that I am on the same page as you are. When my niece Meghan endured three cancers, she did so much better than people her age around her who were also suffering , as while going through chemo, radiation and every other torture, her doctor encouraged their decison to also add alternative treatments to keep her immune system up. Dr. Wentz (Usana) says that cancer is not a disease, it is a lowered immune system and the rest of the diseases are caused by inflamation. Get the inflamation down, and the “disease” goes away – have seen this personally many times. There is a book out there written by a Dr. Strand – his tenth on this subject – called – “What Your Doctor Does Not Know About Nutritonal Medicine May Kill You.”
There is that old saying – the proof is in the pudding – you are the pudding!
Hugs, Jan
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