About me

I have had an interest in medicine and nutrition since I was a teenager, as I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) at the age of 15 at the most advanced stage and nearly died at many times.

 

At 14, after a year of complaining of stomach pains and nausea, I consulted my pediatrician in vain, who first believed in gastroenteritis, then in lactose and gluten intolerance. However, all the tests carried out came out negative and the gluten and lactose exclusion diets did not help me. I then despair of finally being able to put a name to the evil that gnaws at me. I feel that something is wrong and that my body is trying to send me a message that I don't understand. All the warning signs are red.

 

As a child, I ate very poorly, mainly pasta, pastries, red meats and dairy products. I was skinny and deficient and constantly constipated. Vegetables and fruits were not part of my diet. I was weak, under constant weight, I fell ill all the time and constantly took antibiotics, which got the better of my intestinal microbiota, which had fallen into deep dysbiosis.

 

The story of my UC begins the summer of my 15th birthday, for my birthday. What a beautiful gift to discover after painful stomach cramps a bloodbath in the toilet. I didn't know what was happening to me. Was it my period? Hemorrhoids? I had never had one and had no idea what it looked like. Why so much pain? Bloody mucus?

 

I had my periods for a year and these were particularly painful. To the point of often fainting from pain. What if it was my period? No, impossible from behind. So I naturally put this bleeding on the account of hemorrhoids. We are in 1994, I do not have a computer, the internet is reserved for the privileged and cell phones are not common. It is therefore difficult for me to have access to a sensible explanation, so embarrassed I suffer in silence and dare not tell anyone.

 

After several days of bleeding, severely anemic and weakened, I talk to my nurse father who takes me urgently to see a gastroenterologist. The diagnosis falls: UC at the most advanced stage (pancolitis). I lost a lot of blood, my colon and my rectum are totally ulcerated and the prognosis is not good. 

 

During almost a year of intensive treatment, high doses of cortisone, regular hospitalizations to rest my bowel, and parenteral nutrition, I went from failure to failure. Fatigue was setting in, the side effects of cortisone too. I was getting thinner and thinner, my face was becoming lunar, my body could no longer hold any food, I was going to the toilet more than 20 times a day. I was severely anemic (in addition to my thalassemia) and vitamin deficiencies. Result: hospitalizations followed one another without improvement in my condition.

 

I should have been hospitalized in paediatrics, but my disease was not yet known there at that time. We were still talking about sickness of the elderly. Four operations later and after almost a full year of going to and from the hospital, I had to relearn how to live and feed myself with a restricted digestive system. Indeed, I ended up with a toxic megacolon that required the complete removal of my colon and my rectum (total coloproctectomy) and I had lost my gallbladder following a postoperative infection (cholecystitis acute alithiasis).

 

I was then one of the youngest patients operated in Switzerland for a difficult surgical assembly, which required several operations a few months apart. This disease was rare at that time and few surgeons already knew how to perform the reconstruction of an S-pouch (reservoir) after a total coloproctectomy. First I lived with an ileostomy, then with this new organ created with my small intestine. My S-pouch which now replaces my colon and my rectum and partly assumes their functions.

 

Fortunately, my last intervention is going well and I quickly go home. Many difficulties follow, I no longer retain water or food, my small intestine is still very porous. I have to be very careful with everything I eat. I have to drink a lot, up to 6 liters a day when it's hot to make up for my fluid losses and avoid dehydration. I continue to go to the hospital regularly because of malnutrition and dehydration. I eat and drink plenty, but I can hardly remember anything.

 

Then comes parenteral nutrition in addition to a solid diet. They try to make me fat at all costs because my weight is critical. I can no longer afford to lose weight without jeopardizing my life, I then reach 37 kgs for 1m70. I regained 5 kgs during my stay in the hospital and then I managed to start to take over. I still go more than 15 times a day to the bathroom, but I no longer bleed. I then go regularly to my hematologist to check my blood values, my dosage of vitamins, iron and make sure that my liver and my kidneys are fine and that I am not lacking in sodium or potassium.

 

There followed ten difficult years of hospital stays, strict diet without fiber, deficiencies, lack of energy and health problems. I then develop gastroesophageal reflux, asthma and chronic sinusitis, cataracts, I have repeated corneal ulcers. I was then regularly diagnosed with pouchitis, an inflammation of my pocket, I developed osteopenia and bacterial overgrowth (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth - SIBO). During examinations and biopsies, the gastroenterologist regularly finds ulcerations in my pocket and manifestations of UC-like disease in my new reconstructed organ with my small intestine. I who thought I was cured after my total coloproctectomy, I discovered in fact that the disease never completely disappeared. It just manifested differently in other parts of the body. I then had to learn to live with my autoimmune disease and find solutions to relieve my symptoms.

 

For the past 30 years, I have always refused to take immunosuppressant or biotherapy treatments (anti-TNFa / monoclonal antibodies) offered by my doctors, because in my opinion the potential side effects were too great and I am delighted to having made this decision. The nutrition professor who followed me more than 10 years ago told me:

“For you, it will be white rice and lean meat for life, and especially immunosuppressants! ". That day I decided he was wrong and that I would not go down that defeatist path. 

 

I then go to see a doctor with a different approach who directs me to a complete review of my diet. I am again testing dairy-free and gluten-free diets (both of which are pro-inflammatory). I am reintroducing certain digestible fruits and vegetables to my diet. I add dietary supplements like L-glutamine, omega 3, cod liver oil, I drink carrot juice, I consume egg yolks and organic veal liver for my vitamin A deficiencies and D and to fight against my anemia. I discover probiotics and the fascinating world of the intestinal microbiota. My analyzes are improving rapidly, I am filling in my deficiencies and finally starting to climb the slope and gain weight.

 

I then experimented with many digestive sparing diets, resorted to alternative therapies, read many books and did continuous research to finally find a balance that worked for me without having to take medication for my onset UC. then in complete remission. My fight against the disease then took a decisive turn which led me to recovery, despite certain irreversible sequelae due to the loss of my 3 organs. Since then, I have lived a normal life full of vitality and hopes that one day I will be able to help other patients find the way to recovery.

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Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), food intolerances and allergies are on the rise in industrialized countries, they are now developing particularly in children and young adults, this reflects the deterioration of our diet and our lifestyle, which ultimately leads to the deterioration of our intestinal microbiota which will be passed on to future generations. Contrary to what the majority of doctors still say, I am convinced that the nutrition and diversity of our intestinal microbiota play a fundamental role in the development of IBD and its relapses, but also in many other diseases. Nutrition used wisely serves to prevent these by establishing a strong microbiota that will strengthen your immune system and that of your children.

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3 years ago, I decided to study coaching and nutrition to improve my knowledge and validate my knowledge, because I think that if I had had this knowledge 30 years ago my life would have been very different and I probably wouldn't have lost my 3 organs.

 

Today, I want to inform and help the patients of Micis, and many others affected in their health following a long-lasting intestinal dysbiosis, to gain years of life by avoiding the long wanderings and errors that I have committed. for lack of information. I want to give them the knowledge they need to make their diet their best medicine and stop the false belief that only heavy drug treatment for life can lead to a normal life with IBD.

 

I would like to support all people who suffer from digestive problems (such as SIBO, SIFO or even Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) which nevertheless affects nearly 10% of the population!), neurological or psychological problems (autism, ADHD, Alzheimer's, depression and many others!), dermatological problems or food intolerances (such as gluten or lactose), which are constantly on the rise and which all have in common a intestinal dysbiosis.

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Taking care of your microbiota is taking care of your health! Whether it is prevention or support for medical treatment, diet and lifestyle are essential allies in navigating the path to recovery.

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Under no circumstances can my support replace medical monitoring, but I am convinced that it can act in addition to your treatments to relieve you and facilitate your recovery and your everyday life.

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Today, I am giving you the benefit of my 30 years of experience in the knowledge of the digestive system, the process of digestion and the best ways to take care of your microbiota.

 

I will share with you the conclusions of my research, both from the point of view of scientific studies and my own experiments. I will give you dietary advice and show you the benefits that can be derived from a total review of your diet and your lifestyle (such as restful sleep, physical activity or even stress management).

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If you want to know more, do not hesitate to contact me to discuss your situation, I will be happy to accompany you on the path to well-being.

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