Complete Treatment of a Case of Medically Refractory Ulcerative Colitis with Adoption of the Health Triangle Methods for Lifestyle Modification

Abstract

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory disease affecting the mucosa in the colon. Despite significant progress and expansion of the therapeutic armamentarium for UC, there are currently no curative medications available and some cases require colectomy. In this communication, we report the case of a 38 years old male patients with a five-year history of UC who had involvement of the entire colon and was medically refractory. The patient had received treatment with steroids, mesalazine, infliximab, and adalimumab, but failed to achieve remission in the process. He had non-remitting symptoms with endoscopic and histologic evidence of severe disease, and experienced episodes of significant lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Ultimately, the patient was advised to undergo colectomy, but he refused; instead, he adopted a lifestyle modification approach—the health triangle method. In short, this approach emphasizes three aspects of nutrition, use of herbal medicines, and interventions (called aamal-e-yadavi in Traditional Iranian Medicine) like oiling, cupping, and phlebotomy (hejamat). These interventions can improve the cellular energy balance and truly cure the autoimmune disease if adopted over the long term. After three years, the patient reported substantial improvement in symptoms, and the colonoscopy and histology showed evidence of remission. This case indicated the potential efficacy and safety of complementary and alternative approaches in patients with UC; however, the health triangle method needs to be investigated in randomized controlled trials.