Is it the Herbs? Or what?

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So, here it is: 5:30 in the morning. I have just finished my breakfast and am waiting.

Waiting to go.

You see, I haven't gone in well over a day.  That's right.  For the first time in...well, as long as I can remember, I haven't had to go.  And if you're having problems reading between the lines here, I haven't made a doodie in approximately 40 hours.  This hasn't happened since before the Crohn's came along.

I have a pattern in the morning.  Of late, I usually went about twice before going to work. So yesterday, I hung around as long as I could so that I could take care of business here---after all, I have the bidet and the bathrooms at work are...well, let's just say they haven't been updated since the building was built in 1968.  And they don't have bidets.

I feel good for a change, actually.  Better than I have been in several months.  So why is this happening?  That is what I am having a problem wrapping my head around.

I am still taking the Chinese herbs.  41 herbal pills a day.

I am on 15 mg of prednisone.

9 mg of Flagyl.

Two types of probiotics:  acidiphillus and Align.

I have given up milk and dairy products.

I receive acupuncture a couple of times a week.

Is it any one of these things or a combination of them all?

I have been on prednisone on and off (and at larger doses) over the course of the last year.  And this hasn't really happened on the prednisone.  So, I don't think it is that.  Plus, I am on the lower end of the dose.  I started off at 40 mg.

Antibiotics such as Flagyl usually mess up the intestines and make the bowels move even more.  So, I don't think it is that.   However, my surgeon prescribed the Flagyl not for an infection but for inflammation.  He said that Flagyl reduces inflammation in the colon for some Crohn's patients.  But they don't know why.  Could this be the reason?

The acupuncture....I still don't get this.  But who knows?

The only other options:  the herbs, the dairy-free diet and the probiotics.

I have been taking the probiotics for a week, after going on the Flagyl.  This is the first time I have ever taken two.  Why?   I thought two different strains of beneficial bacteria is better than one.

So that leaves the dairy-free diet and the herbs.

It's been a couple of weeks now without dairy.  I have started using Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread in place of butter (and I love butter.  I could eat butter as is.), almond milk instead of regular milk and have checked the labels on products to make sure there is no milk or casein in the ingredients.  I even removed the cheese from the pizza I ate at my brother-in-law's house the other day.  That was hard. 

But I have given up milk before---maybe not this strict, but there was a time when I didn't have milk products.  And I never had results like this.

So it looks like the herbs may be what is making me feel better.

About five years ago, I controlled my Crohn's symptoms through the use of a high-fiber diet.  I ate about a cup of bran every morning.  For someone with Crohn's, the bran bulks up the stools and makes movements less frequent.  However, according to my gastroenterologist, the Crohn's was still there---and getting worse, actually.  The bran was just covering that up.  The last thing I want is to go into another colonoscopy only to be told that things have gotten worse.  I may be feeling better, but the colon doesn't lie.

My fear is that this is what the herbs may be doing.   But then again, isn't that what all drugs do?  Since the cause of Crohn's is not known, the various drugs used to treat Crohn's merely cover up the symptoms by reducing some of the inflammation.  But the root of the Crohn's is still there.  Somewhere.

The jury is still out on this one.  In the meantime, I continue to wait.

And I will continue taking the herbs.


***Update***

Nature called a little after 6 am today.