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.
Just out of curiosity, what prompted you to skip all the way to section II? Did you read the introduction/how to use the book?
Dunno? I read the table of contents, and jumped ahead because the title grabbed me. I'll be good and start at the beginning. Let me know when you publish the Cliff's Notes!
Are you sure that you're not getting traces of gluten on a somewhat regular basis?
My household is 90% gluten free now, so there is no cross-contamination at home. I do eat at restaurants on a weekly basis, but I've settled on mostly safe ones. I can always tell when I've been glutened - it's a different type of reaction with very characteristic D. I truly suspect other intolerances and an extremely leaky gut are making this skin issue worse, thus the MRT test. My gut permability test came back very abnormal, despite normal digestion and flora markers on a number of tests. So I'm taking L-glutamine in earnest now, twice a day.
My husband asked why I don't take prednisone for a few days, just to kill off the skin rash, and see how long it takes to come back afterwards. Bad idea? Would I expect an exagerated rebound reaction afterwards? I'm seriously to the point of almost turning to meds. I suppose I'll try the antihistamines again, although I swear the rash itched WORSE while I was on Allegra for 2 days. Sigh.
Tex
For someone who has not yet benefitted from your wisdom, the first few chapters are necessary. I thought they were a good review of much information I have learned here. I am reading the last part of the book carefully. Much more detail and worth careful consideration.
Christine
Zizzle wrote:I can always tell when I've been glutened - it's a different type of reaction with very characteristic D.
How often does that happen? You know the half-life if anti-gliadin antibodies is 120 days. IOW, after 4 months, even if you don't ingest one molecule of gluten, your antibody level will still be at least half of what it was to begin with. You don't have to be dosed very often to kick that antibody level back up there, and the result will be a relatively high average rate of antibody production over the long term. And as long as that is happening, it will be virtually impossible to see any improvement in the gut permeability problem. Resolution of a leaky gut requires extensive healing time (time without any gluten spikes).
It's difficult to say what the result of taking pred for a few days might be. Sometimes the shock effect can be significant and it can alter the response of the immune system for a longer period than expected.
Maybe you're allergic to Allegra.
Christine,
I agree. The first chapters are mostly a review of conventional thinking regarding MC, and the later chapters contain a lot of information that veers farther and farther away from the conventional way of looking at (and thinking about) these issues.
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.
Probably once every 2 months, and we're only talking suspected gluten from cross contamination, based on symptoms. It's been a LONG time since I accidentally ate a noticeable crumb of bread. I am very careful nowadays, probably as careful as your average motivated celiac. My diet is very low grain too -- only corn products and occasional rice and Udi's bread and granola. Strangely, the rash doesn't seem to react to MC flares. It seems to do what it wants, probably based on sun exposure, but there's been zero sun exposure on my buttocks!! Stress may be playing a role too.
Maybe you're allergic to Allegra.
The concept of being allergic to allergy medicine baffles me, but then again, I seem to have mild adverse reactions to nearly all medications, so there may be something there...
I'll try the Claritin read-tabs next, and for now, I'll slather on the prescription steroid cream.
Once every 2 months may be too often, but let's hope that's not the problem. Your symptoms seem to parallel the increase in pollen levels. They are really on the increase this week here locally, at least.
Severe cases usually require a combination of treatments. The fact that you don't seem to respond well to antihistamines is concerning. When patients don't respond to normal antihistamine treatments, some doctors prescribe dosages at double or triple the normal rate. Still, not all cases respond to antihistamines.
You've tried so many things that I've forgotten all the details. Have you tried cromolyn sodium? Or Histame?
I've forgotten — has Hashimoto's thyroiditis definitely been ruled out fairly recently (within the past year or 2)? Untreated Hashimoto's causes urticaria for some people.
Zizzle wrote:Stress may be playing a role too.
I agree. I have a hunch that it plays a huge role.
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.
I was only taking half of an Allegra, so maybe that's why I didn't notice any digetsive results. I think I was flaring from some poor food choices too. I'm relatively stable right now after 3 days of L-Glutamine morning and night, and avoiding potatoes, and several other reactive MRT foods. I've also started Jarrow dairy-free S. Boullardi with no ill effects (It's been a while since I took a Culturelle). I'm on day 2 of Clobetasol steroid cream over nearly 10% of my body. Maybe I'll have some systemic effects? Positive ones? The buttock is much less itchy today, but still angry and red. The patch on my chest and neck that's been there longer has not responded yet. The elbow rash has a tendency to spread, then dry up at the prior location. The stress of starting the school year has largely passed, so I hope to be in a holding pattern as far as stress goes.
I'm thinking I should give this new regimen a week, before throwing in an antihitamine (Claritin) or histame (I have not tried it yet). No D yet this morning!
I only tried cromolyn sodium from my daughter's unused nasay spray for a few weeks-- I was spraying it on my rash, and I think it seemed to help with the itching somewhat, or maybe I just convinced myself. It certainly didn't help clear the rash.
My thyroid has tested normal over 8 years, both antibodies and TSH. Most recently was in June - TSH, Free T3 and T4. I guess I need to stop barking up that tree...
Zizzle, have you looked at this website? www.stopthethyroidmadness.com There are many people there who didn't felt well in spite of "normal" TSH readings and later discovered it was a thyroid issue.
