Crohn’s Disease Complications

by Lewis Curtis
(Atlanta, Georgia)

During my senior year in High School I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. At that time, 1963, there were only two treatments available, Prednisone and surgery. Prednisone did not control the bleeding and after several months I had surgery, my colon was removed.

Since I did not have a colon my Ulcerative Colitis was pronounced as “cured.” Unfortunately, I developed secondary symptoms during a period of extreme stress 35 years later. The secondary symptoms were Pyroderma Gangrenosium (PG), literally a large open gangrenous wound on my abdomen, which encircled my ostomy stoma.

The local teaching hospital tried many treatments, Prednisone (80 mg a day for years), silver ion ointments, human growth hormone, Remicade and several chemotherapy drugs but was unwilling to perform surgery. The costs alone were astronomical - $100.00 a day at the pharmacy and $8,000 each month for the Remicade infusions. I met my deductible by January 15th each year.

After several years my Gastroenterologist referred me to the University of Chicago Hospitals where she had done her postdoctoral studies. At University of Chicago Hospitals they had much more experience with PG than my local teaching hospital had had. The Gastroenterologist said that I had been missed diagnosed in 1963 and that I actually had Crohn’s disease and that it had been in remission for over 40 years. He recommended doing surgery there. Surgery was performed in the Fall of 2004 and they did a wonderful job.

But when I returned home I learned that I had developed MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria) during my stay at Chicago. The only option was for my surgeon here in Atlanta to open the incision and let it heal from the inside out. The healing period was over a year long. Imagine if you can, having an open wound 8 inches by 8 inches and an inch deep on your belly. Several years later I developed abscesses near the surgical wound.

Because of the Crohn’s and years of Prednisone I heal very slowly (weeks or months as opposed to a few days for “normal” folk.) Deidre, my wife/nurse/best friend/partner, was talking to an old friend and mentioned my slow healing. Our friend, a nurse in another state, said that her husband,a MD, was using a new technology (Kangen Water®) with his diabetes patients and having wonderful and almost immediate results.

She lent us an Alkaline Water System to see how it would work. I never drank water. I had consumed 2 to 4 liters of Diet Coke a day for decades. I stopped the Diet Coke and it was agony. I drank my body weight in ounces of the highest pH water from the alkaline water machine and in three days my latest abscess had healed! Yes I had diarrhea and headaches, but I’d had diarrhea for forty-five years and chronic pain for decades. I am a trained research Physicist. I have a BS and MS from Vanderbilt University in Atomic Physics and I really didn’t understand how “water” could make such a difference. I knew it worked and since I am pragmatic by nature it was now time to find out why it worked. I researched the Internet (cheaper and faster than buying scientific journals) and now I am convinced that there is science behind the claims. My only complaint is that I did not have the 2.5 pH water at the onset of the PG in 1999.

"I am sure that I would have been able to avoid years of pain and saved Blue Cross/Blue Shield literally hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Rotator Cuff Injury

In the ‘70’s I was quite active, farming, cutting timber, building wood’s buggies, and teaching high school (the latter being the most dangerous of the four). I tore both rotator cuffs during this period. I had seen several High Schoolers who had had shoulder surgery and I was not impressed with their results, so I chose not to have surgery. I didn’t play tennis so not being able to lift my arms above shoulder height wasn’t a problem.

After having been on ionized water for several months, I decided to see if the water had had any effect on my shoulders. To my utter amazement I was able to lift my arms to a vertical position above my head without any pain. I now have mobility but no strength, as of yet, in my shoulders because the muscles have atrophied after 30 plus years of disuse.

Neuropathy In Feet

I had been on Alkaline Ionized Water for several months and was listening to one of Dr. Carpenter’s Thursday night calls when he mentioned neuropathies. You know that when you hurt you notice the pain, but when you don’t hurt anymore you tend to not notice. Well when I thought about it, I discovered (noticed) that I no longer had neuropathies in the soles of both of my feet. Those neuropathies had been treated with injections of cortisone between my toes by a Podiatrist. This was another unexpected result from drinking Ionized Alkaline Water.

Carpal Tunnel and Arthritis

For over a decade I have suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis in my fingers. Whenever I would type on my computer keyboard for over an hour I would not be able to use may hands the next day. The fingers would be swollen and painful to move. After being on the water for several months I found that I could type on my computer keyboard for hours and then do it again the next day without any pain. If I drink more than one Diet Coke in a day then the effect of the water is reversed and I hurt just like I did before Alkaline Ionized Water.

Arthritic Knees

Several years ago I went to see an orthopedic surgeon about pain in my knees. I had been taking 2 Extra Strength Tylenol and 2 Advil 4 times a day for a total of 10 pain pills a day. This medication was just enough to allow me to just get around. Climbing steps was still excruciating. The surgeon took x-rays and told me that there was no cartilage behind my kneecaps and that I would be back (implying that it would be for knee replacement surgery). After being on ionized water for several months I dropped all pain pills and now walk without any pain. Steps are still a chore but much less of a problem than before and getting easier each day I am on ionized water.

Gray Temples

Most of the gray at my temples has reverted back to its original light brown color after being on Kangen Water® for over a year.

Shingles

One morning I noticed that I had several red bumps on my cheek. I thought that it was just an allergic reaction to a bug bite. I bathed the area in 2.5pH electrolyzed water from our Ionized Water System to kill bacteria. The next day there were more red bumps on my cheek and extending into the hair line above my ear. Now they were beginning to hurt.

On the third day I was in a great deal of pain. When I opened my mouth my jaw hurt and I had an earache. Still thinking it was some kind of allergy I made a compress and bathed my cheek and hair in 2.5pH water. That provided temporary relief. I alternated wetting the compress with 2.5pH and 11.5pH water. Relief lasted for a little while after I removed the compress.

I dripped 11.5pH water into my ear which relieved an excruciating earache. For two days I continued to keep an 11.5pH compress on my cheek, ear and into my hairline. On the third day of this the pain was GONE! I still had some bumps but the pain was gone. Since then I have experienced some pain in jaw but it is controlled by splashing 5.5pH water onto that side of my head after I shower.

~Lewis Curtis~