Hello everyone, I haven't posted in a while, but have been checking in on the site periodically. It has been a horrible year so far with belly issues. I've had this condition for over seven years, and have only been in short lived remission twice since then. I was diagnosed with lymphocytic Colitis almost a year ago and have tried everything my GP has given me, I've tried multiple diets, all otc meds, and pre and pro biotics. Nothing has worked. In fact, some of the prescriptions I've been given have actually made it worse! Cutting out Gluten, Soy, Egg, lactose, etc. has not worked. Well, a long time ago I had read about a high dose pepto bismol treatment. You take 8 pepto tablets per day for 8 weeks. I take 2 at a time, four times a day. I've been doing it for three weeks now, and today I'm actually normal so far. I've felt and seen some changes over the past few days, not as much distention or urgency and it has been getting more solid. Today, however, I've had two absolutely normal bm's. Normal besides the dark black color, but that's from the pepto. For three weeks, I had black water coming out of me :) This is huge news because I've had anywhere from 10 to 20 watery bouts of diahrrea per day, and my belly was always "sour" feeling and gurgling and felt like it had tons of fluid in it. The only solid I've had in it were undigested chunks of food. Horrible, Horrible stuff. So, needless to say, I'm dancing around. I can only share this with people who understand, but I've been passing gas and I love it!!! I haven't been able to do that in so long because it always had fluid with it.
Anyway, I thought I would share this with you. I'm eating a normal diet, although I don't blatantly eat Gluten, meaning bread, pretzels, etc, but don't worry about it in anything else. The breads and pretzels I don't eat anymore just out of habit from doing the full Gluten diet, plus there just empty calories, so why not eat more good stuff :) I'm not on any meds., so all I'm doing is the Pepto and I do eat a metamucil wafer every day as well. Those of you who are having trouble may want to give this a try. I really wasn't even looking for remission, just some symptom relief, so this is a wonderful day. I know that it could be gone tomorrow, so I plan on enjoying it as much as I can. It feels so weird to be sitting here right now with absolutely no feeling in my belly. No pain, no distention, no gurgling, no twisting, no sour feeling! It seems my bowel is not irritable today ;)
I would be interested to hear from any of you who try this, so please post. I hope everyone has been doing well. Can you believe we're half way to Christmas again.
High dose Pepto Bismol
Moderators: Rosie, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Hi,
Yes, many of us have tried the Pepto treatment, and for some people it works well, but for many of us, we experience fairly serious neurological side effects, so we have to stop taking it. Dr. Fine developed the treatment about 12 or 14 years ago, but he no longer recommends it because so many people cannot complete the treatment because of the side effects, and the fact that if they do not adhere strictly to the diet, they will relapse soon after discontinuing the treatment, anyway. The treatment can only be used for roughly 8 weeks, because after that there is a significant risk of a toxic bismuth buildup in the body.
If you only eliminated lactose from your diet (instead of all dairy products), then that is probably why the diet didn't bring you remission. We have to eliminate all of the foods to which we are sensitive, and most of us are sensitive to not just the lactose in milk, but the casein, as well, and the casein is what causes the autoimmune reaction. Lactose only causes poor digestion for anyone who is lactose intolerant -- it cannot causes an autoimmune reaction.
Enjoy your remission, but unless you are far luckier than most of us, your symptoms will relapse within a few weeks after you complete the Pepto treatment, unless you have been stringently following a diet that avoids all of your food sensitivities.
Thanks for the update, and I hope you are one of the few lucky ones.
Tex
Yes, many of us have tried the Pepto treatment, and for some people it works well, but for many of us, we experience fairly serious neurological side effects, so we have to stop taking it. Dr. Fine developed the treatment about 12 or 14 years ago, but he no longer recommends it because so many people cannot complete the treatment because of the side effects, and the fact that if they do not adhere strictly to the diet, they will relapse soon after discontinuing the treatment, anyway. The treatment can only be used for roughly 8 weeks, because after that there is a significant risk of a toxic bismuth buildup in the body.
If you only eliminated lactose from your diet (instead of all dairy products), then that is probably why the diet didn't bring you remission. We have to eliminate all of the foods to which we are sensitive, and most of us are sensitive to not just the lactose in milk, but the casein, as well, and the casein is what causes the autoimmune reaction. Lactose only causes poor digestion for anyone who is lactose intolerant -- it cannot causes an autoimmune reaction.
Enjoy your remission, but unless you are far luckier than most of us, your symptoms will relapse within a few weeks after you complete the Pepto treatment, unless you have been stringently following a diet that avoids all of your food sensitivities.
Thanks for the update, and I hope you are one of the few lucky ones.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Christine.
- Gentoo Penguin
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- Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:15 pm
Rhymes
It must be wonderful to experience a respite from all you have been through. I hope you can really buckle down and figure out a diet that maintains your relief before your 8 weeks are up. I briefly tried the Pepto challenge and it worked well in a short time but my ears were ringing day and night and I was afraid I could do permanent damage if I continued. I can hear your joy! May it last.
chris
It must be wonderful to experience a respite from all you have been through. I hope you can really buckle down and figure out a diet that maintains your relief before your 8 weeks are up. I briefly tried the Pepto challenge and it worked well in a short time but my ears were ringing day and night and I was afraid I could do permanent damage if I continued. I can hear your joy! May it last.
chris
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lisa in lj
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:49 am
- Location: Texas
Hi Lisa,
NSAIDs don't necessarily trigger MC symptoms for everyone, (at least not initially), but for for everyone who has MC, and who reacts adversely to NSAIDs, they will also be very likely to react to bismuth subsalicylate and they will also probably react to all of the mesalamine-based drugs such as Asacol, Colazal, Pentasa, Lialda, etc., because mesalamine is also related to salicylic acid.
Tex
NSAIDs don't necessarily trigger MC symptoms for everyone, (at least not initially), but for for everyone who has MC, and who reacts adversely to NSAIDs, they will also be very likely to react to bismuth subsalicylate and they will also probably react to all of the mesalamine-based drugs such as Asacol, Colazal, Pentasa, Lialda, etc., because mesalamine is also related to salicylic acid.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.