Wow! Thanks for all the interest guys. It's great to hear all your views and ideas.

I've taken your suggestion and set up a discussion group. Click on the following and click on 'Join this group'.

http://groups.google.com/group/hpit

Here's an update on how I'm going. There's been a bit of up and down since my last post. I was going great and continued to do so during the middle two weeks of February while I was away travelling. Though while away I did not stick to my usual diet, allowing some wheat, beer and sweets from time to time. Once I returned I started experiencing gas and some bowel loosening. It took a good month before I got things to settle down again. More recently I've gone through a couple of cycles of not being strict with my diet in social situations, followed by my bowels worsening, to then bringing things back under control again through diet. I've found the most effective way to bring things back under control has been to almost totally eliminate any carbohydrate foods and eating moderately. So mostly meat and eggs. Also taking some probiotics seems to help. I have also noticed I have lost about 5kgs recently (not good for a skinny guy), so will keep an eye on that.

A few weeks ago my dermatologist referred me to another specialist as my skin has not responded to the treatment of Imuran. I decided that in the interim to stop all drugs as I wanted to get a baseline as to what I was like without them. I was on 100mg of Imuran and two capsules of Salofalk per day. I figure if I start getting much worse I'll go back on them. I may be more sensitive, but I am so far able to keep things under control. So for now I want to continue a little more.

In response to all your comments. I agree that the HPI treatment has not been a cure for me. But as one of you pointed out, it's the difference between multiple uncomfortable visits to the bathroom and one or two comfortable visits. To me that has easily been worth it. The best being that the first thing I do in the morning now is NOT rush to the toilet. Able to take train trips without discomfort. I feel so, so much better for it. Yes, I'd rather a cure, but this is quite ok, I can live life comfortably. So what if I can't eat everything, probably not good for me anyways!

All the best :-)