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Every single day we get tons of emails from readers and some of them are so incredible it stops me in my tracks.  For example, back in August Don Makowski sent us this message:

“Hi Jordan. After 3 days on the intro diet I finally slept through the night without having to get up to go to the bathroom! I feel so hopeful now and want to thank you again for your book. I was about to give up on the SCD diet.” – Don

How cool is that?!

Before starting this diet, Don couldn’t sleep through the night without having to use the bathroom.  If that doesn’t show the power of food I don’t what else to say…

Anyways, we emailed back and forth a few more times over the next month and Don’s well on his way to taking control of his health.  In fact, he’s got an amazing story to tell and he was gracious enough to stand up and share it with us.

Don, you rock my friend – thanks for opening up and providing inspiration for others to give this diet a shot.  Without further ado, here’s Don:

“Hi, my name is Don Makowski and I have a story to tell”

I am 56 years old, a husband married to a wonderful woman for 36 years, a grandfather of 7 children, an engineer and a musician and I was living a carefree life until 2007 when I began to experience digestive problems. I had just released my first CD of original music under the name Dee Girard and was planning to do some shows in support of this disc.

“Early in the summer of 2007 I started to see blood in the toilet”

Over the course of a few years I noticed that I was going to the bathroom more and that my stools were less formed. Early in the summer of 2007 I started to see blood in the toilet. My wife and I had planned a vacation to Savannah so I didn’t say anything to her. I assumed I would be dying soon of cancer so I might as well enjoy this one last vacation!

Later in the summer the bleeding increased until it was dripping out. At that point I called my family doctor who made an appointment for me in approximately 2 weeks. I thought I might be dead by then and was surprised that they were so nonchalant about it. After seeing this doctor they made an appointment for me to see a GI doctor in about a month! Was nobody taking this seriously? My appointment was actually with a nurse practitioner and the main thing we talked about was getting a colonoscopy. This would be my first.

Several weeks later my diarrhea had gotten much worse and I was losing a lot of weight. I started out at about 220 lbs and now was at around 180. Preparing for the colonoscopy was a nightmare. The pain was excruciating and inducing diarrhea seemed like a bad idea. I already had diarrhea! While waiting for the results of the colonoscopy I continued to get worse and my GI doctor was of no help. I saw a holistic doctor who performed acupuncture on me and sold me some Chinese herbs and vegetable mixes at a cost of almost $300.

“At this point I could no longer work”

At this point I could no longer work. I spent the next couple weeks taking the drinks and eating the foods that the holistic doctor had sold me but saw no improvement whatsoever. Finally when I could hardly stand on my own I had my wife take me to the ER. I was admitted immediately and a barrage of tests was done. I was given pain medication, Prednisone, and other medications and hospitalized in intensive care for a week. It took me another 2 months to return to work.

At this point I thought the problem was solved and I could go back to living my life. Wrong! In the summer of 2008 I started having diarrhea again and soon after the bleeding started again. I had another colonoscopy and it was determined that I had ulcerative colitis. I was put on Asacol which did nothing. I was once again declining and terrified of the drugs that they were offering, Remicade, Humira, and Imuran.

“I thought I was cured”

That’s when I found Elaine Gottschalls’ book Breaking the Vicious Cycle. August 2008 I started the intro diet and saw major improvement over 2 weeks. I knew I was on to something. I continued on the diet and gained weight and steadily improved to the point that I thought I was cured. 2 years later in September of 2010 I experimented with a taco from Taco Bell. No problems. I then had bread. No problem. Next was pasta and still no change. I was giving myself a week between trying new things. Finally at Halloween I had some candy. Caramel filled chocolates that my son in law made. They were delicious but shortly after eating a couple of those I was seeing a reaction. I immediately went back on the diet but it was too late. The sugar caused the bacteria to explode inside causing severe diarrhea and soon bleeding. A couple weeks later I was back in the ER and spent 5 days there recuperating. I told the doctors that it was because I went off the diet but they didn’t believe it.

“That was a little over 3 weeks ago and I am off all medications”

Since then I had been trying to get off Prednisone but every time I would wean off I would start having problems. Finally I bought Jordan and Steves’ book SCD Lifestyle Surviving to Thriving. That was a little over 3 weeks ago and I am off all medications and gradually adding foods one at a time. I am seeing much success now and the reason is that I am phasing back into the diet. Previously I was diving into all the different SCD legal foods that I could eat before. That was a mistake and I am so grateful to Jordan and Steve for the direction they give in their book. It has made all the difference in the world to me. I was getting desperate again and now I have hope. Thanks Jordan and Steve! I hope to be writing music and performing again soon!

Don

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Thank you again Don, you’re an inspiration.  Keep producing kickass music and keep us posted on how you’re doing!

In good health,

- Jordan