Monte’s blue gray eyes will give a hard stare as he tells his story. In a way, it’s almost like hearing a story with the wrong character playing the role, as Monte, the former chewing-tobacco swallower, talks about his conversion to a meatless, dairy and gluten-free diet.
“I just felt like I had a knife sticking in my stomach and of course at night all the joint pain,” says Monte, referring to the severe symptoms of Crohn’s disease he started experiencing in 2003.
Before his Crohn’s progressed to this stage, Monte experienced low-grade fevers and hourly trips to the bathroom.
“To be honest with you, I was scared to death,” says Monte. “I thought I had colon cancer and I didn’t want to find out.”
According to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) website, Crohn's disease is a digestive disease that causes inflammation in the GI tract and most commonly affects the small intestine.
After about a month of experiencing severe abdominal pain, Monte’s partner, Linda Flaugher, decided she wasn’t going to allow Monte to ignore his symptoms.
“He was so muscular when I met him. He looked like a Chip and Dale guy,” says Linda about Monte, who used to water ski almost everyday.
As the disease took hold, Monte went from 190 lbs to 145 lbs. in one month.
Finally, on a Sunday afternoon in May, Linda says she knew she had to do something, as Monte
was lying in bed with a fever.
“I told him ‘I’m going to call an ambulance’ and he was just lying there and then I didn’t know what to do,” says Linda. “I called his best friend over and we took him to the hospital, but it was only because his friend said, ‘I’m going to make you go,’ that he went to the hospital.”
One hospital trip led to another and eventually Monte consulted a gastroenterologist, who ran tests and concluded he had Crohn’s disease at the age of 49.
“They told me there was no cure and they put me on medicine,” says Monte. “The doctor put me on a steroid and a medication and that stuff is unbelievable, as far as what it does to you, the side effects from all those drugs.”
After two years of being on medication, Monte was tired of the treatment.
“They tested my blood every month to make sure I didn’t have cancer. They watched my blood like a hawk and they wouldn’t give me my next 30 day prescription until I got that blood test,” says
Monte. “It seemed like all I did was go to the doctor.”
Monte says some of the symptoms from the disease were under control, but his joints still ached and he was experiencing frequent fevers from the medication. Plus, he still had other health concerns.
“The problem with pharmaceuticals is the stuff is not curing it, “ says Monte. “In reality, when you’re on the medicine like I was, not only will it harm your liver, there are still problems with your colon. The next thing you know, you’re in the hospital getting your colon taken out.”
As Monte’s concern about his reliance on medication grew, he met someone who gave him another option.
Monte says a customer came in and told him about Mark and Sherrie Sexton, a couple that operates a health retreat on the outskirts of Camdenton.
Monte decided to consult Mark, N.D., who practices naturopathic medicine.
Mark explained in an email that naturopathic medicine utilizes therapies found in our natural environment and works with nature to restore a person’s health rather than suppress symptoms. Natural therapies include nutritional counseling, herbology, homeopathy, Chinese medicine and more.
After consulting with Mark, he went on a strict dietary regimen. Everyday, 80-85 percent of what he ate had to be fruits and vegetables and he took various supplements, including 21 capsules of turmeric a day. Among a series of naturopathic treatments, Monte went on a 10-day fast during which he consumed only a gallon of lemon-water with maple syrup. The experience, Monte explained, was eye opening.
“After you make it to the third day, what you find out is that 90 percent of what you’re eating is nothing but a habit,” says Monte. He credits his success to Linda’s support and her joining him on the fast.
Monte says he put aside work hours at his truck repair shop and started visiting Mark everyday for about a month.
“The bad part is that no insurance covers (what I did),” says Monte. “They call it alternative medicine, but back in the old days that’s what they did, that was the medicine.”
After about six weeks, discipline and faith seemed to pay off. It appeared he had trumped Crohn’s disease and forgone surgery and medication.
When Monte started feeling confident his Crohn’s disease was gone, he admitted to swaying from his diet.
A year and a half later, Monte says his Crohn’s disease came back and this time it was more severe, leading to a nine-day hospitalization and a return to medication.
“Just a few weeks after I got back home I quit taking the medicine. I started doing the diet thing again and followed it to the T, doing what Mark told me to do,” says Monte.
After 3 months, Monte says his Crohn’s disease was gone and nowadays he follows the recommendations from Mark much more stringently.
While Monte’s story may sound almost too good to be true, in a way it’s not. Not everyone is willing to do what Monte did just to regain health, not even Monte himself at one point, who says he cheated here and there on his diet.
“I mean, it’s a lot of learning. I’ve got friends that told me they would’ve just died and they say there’s no way they’re gonna eat like that,” says Monte.
Also, Monte explained that Mark can only make recommendations for patients and it’s up to them to act on the advice.
Monte says having the support of his partner, Linda, 44, was a huge factor that helped lead to his change in lifestyle and his ability to stick to a strict regimen. Linda helps prepare Monte’s meals and eats the same food that he eats.
Nowadays, Monte and Linda try to juice vegetables together everyday and eat a nutritious, gluten-free diet, consisting of a lot of fruits and vegetables.
As a midwestern farm boy who grew up in Illinois, Monte still struggles to rid himself of his meat and potatoes background, but he has come a long way.
“It’s been over two years now with absolutely no Crohn’s symptoms whatsoever,” says Monte, who is now 54.
It took Monte getting Crohn’s disease to start eating right. As Monte sits on his deck and munches on fruits and vegetables, he explains that oftentimes it takes getting sick to change the way we live.
About Crohn’s Disease:
The most common symptoms are abdominal pain and chronic diarrhea, which leads to dehydration. It should be noted that each case is different.
About 700,000 people are estimated to have Crohn’s disease in the U.S.
Based on scientific research, the cause(s) of and the cure for Crohn’s disease is still unknown.
Current medical treatment aims to achieve the absence of symptoms and also maintain this absence by preventing flare-ups.
Two-thirds to three-quarters of patients with Crohn's disease will require surgery during their lifetime.
Source: The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America
Monte and Linda’s health tips:
Wash your vegetables in approximately ½ cup of peroxide if you have a sink full of vegetables, especially grapes.
If you can’t read or pronounce the ingredient listed on the label, rethink the option and look for a similar product with more familiar ingredients, especially if it is organic or all natural. Use this philosophy for skin and hair products as well.
Drink the juice of one lemon or lime with one glass of warm water first thing in the morning. Drink spring water or distilled water.
Drink as close to a gallon of water a day as possible. Carry a bottle or jug of water with you wherever you go.
Drink green tea instead of coffee.
Timeline:
2002 Monte repeatedly runs a low-grade fever and suspects something is wrong.
2003 Severe abdominal pain becomes a new symptom. Monte is diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and put on medication.
2005 Monte visits with Mark, starts changing his dietary habits and stops taking his medication.
2006 Monte experiences a relapse.
2008 Monte is free of Crohn’s disease.
Monte And Linda’s typical grocery list:Gluten-free bread
Gluten-free pizza crust mix
Organic cereal
Soy milk
Grapeseed oil mayonnaise
Organic raw almonds
Organic carrots
Organic green onions
Red bell peppers
Organic spring mix
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Bananas
