Victorien's Story: Nutrition as a Path to IBD Remission

Diagnoses and Progression

In 2006, Victorien Madsen first started developing symptoms a few months after the birth of her second child. Her symptoms started with a bloody stool without many other symptoms but developed progressively with more and more loose stools and daily stomach aches. 

While it started out as proctitis, it developed into ulcerative colitis (UC) within about six months. 

Having UC used to be a lot for her. She would either not eat or wouldn't go out. When it was at its worst, she was using the bathroom 20 times a day, fainting regularly, and her regular running had turned into a "public bathroom relay."

Searching for Another Solution

Like many patients, Victorien wasn’t offered the chance to meet with a dietician or include nutrition as part of her care. She desired to learn about nutrition following her diagnosis with the guidance of healthcare professionals to help implement it alongside medications – similar to many others with IBD. She was left on her own to learn about nutrition, making her feel isolated from the healthcare system, which she felt – and still feels – isn’t a good thing. 

Her journey with nutritional therapy has been, in her own words, "absolutely incredible." After two weeks, she was already having pretty normal bowel movements -- compared to 20 a day -- and after six weeks, she felt really good. After five months, she was in complete remission, confirmed by colonoscopy. Even though she was in remission she kept a low dose of medication which she was able to phase out over a period of two years. Since 2011 she has only had one short relapse, for which she returned to medication and strict diet and again was able to achieve remission within 3 months. Since then she has been in complete remission with diet as primary therapy. We like to point out that phasing out medication is not the goal of nutritional therapy and should only be done with the help and supervision of your care team if they agree that it is a responsible step. 

Nutritional therapy has had a profound impact on Victorien’s life in more ways than just that: "It makes me who I am today -- working as a volunteer full time at Nutritional Therapy for IBD and the Dutch organization Stichting Je Leefstijl als Medicijn) to share the knowledge with anyone who wants to listen."

Nutritional Therapy Wasn't a Challenge

Victorien has found nutritional therapy to be not much of a challenge, and more of a relief to have been able to do something herself to turn things around. She recognizes, however, that she is fortunate to always have the means -- money and time-wise -- to be able to cook what she needs. She's able to be open about why she eats this way -- still to this day following SCD about 90-95% -- and hardly ever finds resistance, even when going out for dinner or eating at a friends house. She's surrounded by people who understand and are happy to help or are welcoming to the dishes she brings along.

Her advice to patients and clinicians dealing with an IBD diagnosis? 

"Talk about nutrition at the first diagnosis! There might not be a one-size-fits-all all, but incorporating healthy foods and figuring out which dietary option fits your needs and lifestyle can help any patient improve their symptoms and their quality of life."