Feel free to discuss any topic of general interest, so long as nothing you post here is likely to be interpreted as insulting, and/or inflammatory, nor clearly designed to provoke any individual or group. Please be considerate of others feelings, and they will be considerate of yours.
based on tex's comment in Jennys thread about pimples
Are you aware of research that shows that retinoic acid appears to promote the development of IBDs? Here's a quote from my book (I don't have time to reword it, so I'll post it as a quote):
Quote:
Recent research has shown that a metabolite of vitamin A, retinoic acid, together with interleukin-15 (IL-15) in the intestines of patients with celiac disease, may be responsible for generating the inflammation that results in celiac disease.7 Since the problem does not occur if IL-15 is absent, it has been proposed that developing ways to block IL-15 may be an effective approach for preventing and treating gluten sensitivity. Like retinoic acid, isotretinoin is a first-generation retinoid, and it is the active ingredient in the product Accutane and other medications used in the treatment in acne, which have been associated with the development of inflammatory bowel disease.
The medications that are meant to 'help' inflammation (Nsaids, acutane etc) are actually causing more inflammation to other cells elsewhere in the body?
the more i research inflammation, the more i realise that bandaid solutions, namely those that surpress or mask symptoms, are potentially doing more long term harm that good?
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
Gabes it does seem that way. I have read a few articles now about corticosteroids and how there are negative effects regarding the long term course of nflammation, that once stopped resulted in higher levels of inflammation than originally was noted. I don't have the references at hand, but will look those up later and post them here.
I did find it interesting that both Accutane and RetinA both designed to treat acne have been implicated in the development of IBDs. I can't wait until Tex's book come out.
I've been suggesting (theorizing) that there is a rebound effect on mast cell activity when a corticosteroid treatment is discontinued, but it never dawned on me that there might already be published evidence of that effect. If such research evidence already exists, that implies that the habit that GI docs have of prescribing short-term treatments of prednisone and/or Entocort is an iatrogenic practice. Why on earth would they do that? Obviously, they don't understand what they're doing. No wonder it's so difficult to wean off corticosteroids if each successive attempt just moves the bar higher.
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.
Oh, Tex, that is a fascinating thought - that taking corticosteroids could be causing some of the mast cell issues people are having. Since I don't have GI mast cell issues right now (I do have seasonal allergies and asthma, so I obviously have mast cell issues, but according to my biopsy re-stains I don't have mast cells in my colon), I'm thinking I should stay off the Entocort if possible - the last thing I want is more complications.
The reason why I believe that mast cells are involved is because corticosteroids apparently reduce inflammation by suppressing mast cell numbers. Once the drug is discontinued, mast cells are going to rebuild, but apparently they tend to overshoot in the process (that's my theory, anyway). This correlates with the way that PPIs and probably other drugs cause a rebound effect.
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.
Why on earth would they do that? Obviously, they don't understand what they're doing. No wonder it's so difficult to wean off corticosteroids if each successive attempt just moves the bar higher. 
