So when I came up with the idea for this blog, one of the people who I wanted to get in contact with is Mike McCready, the lead guitarist for Pearl Jam. I've always like Pearl Jam, I guess it's ingrained guys who grew up in the 90's.
In 1993 I would have been in grade 7 or 8, and one day I found a grey unmarked cassette tape. It was mix tape that someone had made, and dropped in the school, and being curious I kept it and played it when I got home. From what I recall there were only two songs that stood out*, Cannonball by the Breeders and Daughter by Pearl Jam. I'm not sure if it's the song itself or because that song was my first taste, but to this day it is my favourite song by Pearl Jam.
Now beyond being in Pearl Jam, there is a specific reason that I wanted to hear from Mike, and that is because he has Crohn's Disease, the meaner brother of Ulcerative Colitis. The main difference between the two is UC is specifically contained in the colon, whereas Crohn's can attack anywhere in the digestive tract.
Mike has been using a couple of methods to control Crohn's, through medication and by following the Specific Carb Diet. Unfortunately SCD didn't really do much for me, but there are lots of people that has helped, (there is a chance that I didn't give it long enough). The diet is very strict in terms of what you can eat, take a look at the legal/illegal list.
So I sent an e-mail to his management company and ask them to pass it on, which they did and the next day I had a response.
Mike wrote:
"Jason, First of all have you tried Humira? It might be something to look into before surgery. I am obviously not a doctor, but there are many options out there. I would suggest something that will make you feel good about your body. Maybe fish with rice and a vegetable? Take care, Mike
Yes it's short, but I've noticed a trend when I've asked people for suggestions. They seem to fall into three groups**.
The first recommends that generally have the term "the hottest you can find" attached to the description. The idea behind that has been to make my colon "pay" for the last couple of years.
The second very often recommends something extravagant. either it's decadent, complicated or very unhealthy.
The third group seems to recommend something that is healthy in some way, either physically nourishing or nourishing to the soul.
The majority of people I've talked to with Crohn's give suggestions that fall into the third category. I'm not sure if it's because of the strained relationship that Crohn's patients have with food, but it seems very likely. Most of those suggestions involve some sort of food that they themselves can't eat. Having a salad comes up a lot. Salads as healthy as they may seem are big no no for a lot of people with IBD. There will be another post in the near future where I share those suggestions.
Now Humira, the medication Mike is on, was something that I was looking into, but like Remicade it is an expensive medication. To get on Remicade I had to apply for Gov't assistance to help pay for it. Unfortunately in Ontario, the provincial gov't thinks that surgery is a far better option than Humira, as such they will not help pay for Humira for people with Ulcerative Colitis, so unless I win the lottery I'm out of luck.
Normally I'd try to give a set of links on how you can cyberstalk the person who helped out with a suggestion, but I can't seem to find much of an online presence for Mike. So in addition to the link for the Pearl Jam site, I'm providing links to a few other sites that you should look into supporting.
The official Pearl Jam site is here.
I also recommend checking out the following links:
Advocacy For Patients With Chronic Illness
The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada
The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America
The National Association for Crohn's and Colitis (UK)
*The reason can say only two stood out, is because here we are 17 years later, and I can only remember those two songs.
**There is actually a fourth group, and they are people who have had the same surgery I'm going to have. That response seems to be "It doesn't matter, once you have the surgery you'll be able to eat whatever you want".
Jason
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