Kalyn Alwin - Crohn's Disease

For those of you who don't what Crohn’s disease is, it is a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestines.  Symptoms include abdominal pain, fever & diarrhea.  A person with Crohn’s is always checking to see where the nearest bathroom is.  When having a flare up a person can go to the bathroom up to 60 times a day.  Sometimes the swelling & healing process produces a thickening of the walls of the intestine & thereby narrowing the intestine so an obstruction can easily happen. Irritable Bowel Syndrome, another intestinal disease, usually only affects the first layer or two of intestine. Crohn’s can put holes thru your intestines, resulting in leaky gut syndrome.  Crohn’s can be managed but not cured.  If you cut out the diseased portion of the intestine it can move to another part of the intestine.

When I was 24 years old, about to get married, I had my first panic attack.  The stress was overwhelming & soon I was having bowel trouble.  I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Disease, put on medication & did fine for years. I was later diagnosed with Crohn’s disease as it got worse.

When I was 30 years old, I was pregnant with my daughter and it actually got better.  Your brain produces a chemical to help your body cope with the disease at that time.

I also joined Shaklee, took the vitamins & protein, but not consistently.

Slowly, probably due to poor diet, stress & not getting enough sleep, or vitamins, the Crohn’s got worse.  I was referred to many different gastroenterologists.  I have been to Mayo Clinic in Rochester also.  For me, RUSH University downtown Chicago has turned out to be the best. 

To say the pain is horrible is an understatement.  It was nearly impossible to work.  I had a lot of sick days & there was no relief no matter what I did.  It felt like a knife was being twisted in my belly.  My poor daughter basically didn't have a mom as I was laying on the couch in agony quite a bit. I popped vicodin and any other drug I could get my hands on. It took everything I had just to make dinner.  I remember having to go to Walmart, looking around at everyone else who walked around so easily. I was so jealous because I was hanging onto the cart in so much pain.  I have been on many medications, probably why I have lost some of my memory.  The last medicine I was on was Remicade, which is a very powerful intravenous anti-inflammatory made out of mouse protein. YUCK!  You have to lay there several hours at the hospital every 6 weeks, and it costs $6-8K every time.  It worked but only for awhile.  My doctor kept telling me I needed surgery & I refused for 2 years. I had surgery in May of 2008 because I couldn’t stand the pain any longer.

I had lost 40 lbs. I went from 160-118 lbs. I was put in the hospital with a pic line, which is a feeding tube in your arm up towards your heart, to fatten me up for the surgery.  I had 2 abscesses that had drain tubes and a bag to collect the infection from the abscesses in my intestines.

I had great results from the surgery, but my doctor still had me on Remicade because he said it was only a matter of time before the Crohn’s symptoms return.  When my insurance ran out I could not afford the treatment any longer.

I started taking Shaklee religiously.  I do take $200-300 worth of vitamins every month.  I have not had any flare ups or any pain since I have been taking Shaklee faithfully.  I eat whatever I want. I believe God & Shaklee are keeping my disease in remission.  Now I am slightly overweight and Cinch is helping me lose that weight. 

How can I not tell others about this wonderful company, that has great products that work, that possibly can prevent other people from future medical problems like cancer, heart disease, diabetes & stroke.

Shaklee has changed my life. I’m on a great team with Lorraine Ulrich, Louise Rees, Cathy Hauck, Sue Olsen, my mom (Mary Cauwels) & Lori DeDina. I now tell others about Shaklee all the time.  It used to bother me when I got a “no”, but now I don’t care.  It’s just closer to a “yes”.

I thought I couldn’t do Shaklee as a business because I’m shy and I don’t like to talk to people. Little by little, by being in the company of successful Shaklee people, listening to cds, getting on webinars, I’m changing.  Gary Burke said “Don’t wish Shaklee was easier, wish you were better.”  Shaklee is helping me become a better person.  I’m also impressed watching all of you become better people. God Bless Shaklee.

These are the Shaklee products I take for Crohn’s:

1 Vitalizer Strip, 2 Garlic, 6 Omegaguard (Dr. Carsten Schmidt advised me to take 6), 1 180 Shake, 1 tsp. Vivix, 12 Alfalfa, 1 VitaD3, 1 iron+C (Crohn’s patients usually have low iron)