I have had what can only be described a few episodes in the past couple of years that were spread out thus not linking them together. This May when I had back to back episodes symptoms over a 10 hour period having symptoms of feeling very cold at times, some nausea, stomach cramps, no sleep and then back to back bowl movements (not diarrhea). Went to the ER had numerous tests and blood work done. ER doctor said it could be IBS or possible Crohn’s disease. I was proscribed Dycyclomine and Hydrocodone. With these two drugs and Penicillin taking for a tooth issue, I had incredible stomach cramps and was up for 48 hours straight. At the height if this I really thought I was going to die. My new GI doctor told me to go off all meds and lactose, and he did an upper GI in early June, he was able to rule out H-Pylori and any ulcers, he did find some stomach distress. Also in June I had numerous test, a body scan with iodine, a Gallbladder test and a stomach emptying test. All that was found was my Gallbladder is a little slow (30) 35-70 normal. From July to November I was mostly healthy I had two incidents of text book IBS only, and felt bloated 2 to 3 times a week that tums and some grapes usually helped. I had a colonoscopy done in late November, Doc rules out ultra-colitis, diverticulitis and due to a biopsy he told me I have microscopic colitis. He told me to take 2 x 3 per day of Pepto Bismal. On Dec 9, I was up to whole night, was cold for hours had two bowl movements (no diarrhea) no stomach cramps, but could not sleep and had to urinate every hour. Dec 13, 16, 18, and 22 had a bloating feeling, but went away after a couple of hours. Dec 24 I was cold the whole night, had stomach cramps, nausea, urinated like 10 times thought out the night and then had two bowl movements around 6 am (semi soft, not diarrhea),
Basically I do not have diarrhea, but get stomach cramps, can’t sleep, very frequent urination (once an hour), get very cold, nausea when I lay down only.
Thanks for reading this…. Do I have microscopic colitis.
Trying to verify I have Micro Colitis Please help
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Hi Doug,
Sorry to hear you're in such distress. That's a ton of tests you had done but I suppose they wanted to rule out the basics first. Did your doc tell you which kind of MC you have? I would say if you had a colonoscopy and a dx of MC then you have it. I don't have any insight to the sleep and frequent urination but there are others here that will have some good comments. Has the pepto helped at all?
I've been dealing with collagenous colitis for about five years now and have made the most progress within the past year all due to the help of the many wonderful people here.
What is ultra-colitis?
Sorry to hear you're in such distress. That's a ton of tests you had done but I suppose they wanted to rule out the basics first. Did your doc tell you which kind of MC you have? I would say if you had a colonoscopy and a dx of MC then you have it. I don't have any insight to the sleep and frequent urination but there are others here that will have some good comments. Has the pepto helped at all?
I've been dealing with collagenous colitis for about five years now and have made the most progress within the past year all due to the help of the many wonderful people here.
What is ultra-colitis?
Hi Doug,
Welcome to the board. GI specialists are notorious for failing to diagnose MC when the patient actually has it, but trust me, if your doctor diagnosed it — you have it. There is no such thing as a false positive MC diagnosis.
You are one of many who have MC without D. Many doctors are not even aware that this subgroup of patients exist, because MC is described in the medical literature as marked by secretory diarrhea. Some have constipation only (no D), and some (such as myself) have alternating D and C.
The cramps suggest slow motility, rather than the rapid motility that most of us have. That's why the narcotic increased the cramp problem (slow motility causes cramps).
IMO, (I'm not aware of any medical research that verifies this, that's why I specify that it is my opinion only), for some patients, MC causes interstitial cystitis (or a reasonable facsimile), and this is the cause of your frequent need to uriunate. Your bladder is inflamed. This is not the same as a UTI. I had the same problem back when I was reacting. My guess is that if your doctor were to take biopsy samples from the walls of your bladder, and have them analyzed by a pathologist, he would find that the lining of your bladder has the same type of lymphocytic infiltration that the pathologist found in the biopsy samples from your colon. (Lymphocytic infiltration in the mucosal lining of the colon is a diagnostic marker of lymphocytic colitis, of course.)
I sometimes had the same issues with chills and fever, also. You didn't specify your age, but if you are middle-aged or beyond, diverticulitis can also be associated with MC, (even though it may not have been active when your colon was biopsied), and this can increase the odds of having chills and fever during reactions. Most GI docs probably aren't aware of this, but recent research shows that diverticulitis involves the same type of inflammation that marks MC, namely lymphocytic infiltration. That makes it very likely that the two conditions are linked.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex (Wayne)
Welcome to the board. GI specialists are notorious for failing to diagnose MC when the patient actually has it, but trust me, if your doctor diagnosed it — you have it. There is no such thing as a false positive MC diagnosis.
You are one of many who have MC without D. Many doctors are not even aware that this subgroup of patients exist, because MC is described in the medical literature as marked by secretory diarrhea. Some have constipation only (no D), and some (such as myself) have alternating D and C.
The cramps suggest slow motility, rather than the rapid motility that most of us have. That's why the narcotic increased the cramp problem (slow motility causes cramps).
IMO, (I'm not aware of any medical research that verifies this, that's why I specify that it is my opinion only), for some patients, MC causes interstitial cystitis (or a reasonable facsimile), and this is the cause of your frequent need to uriunate. Your bladder is inflamed. This is not the same as a UTI. I had the same problem back when I was reacting. My guess is that if your doctor were to take biopsy samples from the walls of your bladder, and have them analyzed by a pathologist, he would find that the lining of your bladder has the same type of lymphocytic infiltration that the pathologist found in the biopsy samples from your colon. (Lymphocytic infiltration in the mucosal lining of the colon is a diagnostic marker of lymphocytic colitis, of course.)
I sometimes had the same issues with chills and fever, also. You didn't specify your age, but if you are middle-aged or beyond, diverticulitis can also be associated with MC, (even though it may not have been active when your colon was biopsied), and this can increase the odds of having chills and fever during reactions. Most GI docs probably aren't aware of this, but recent research shows that diverticulitis involves the same type of inflammation that marks MC, namely lymphocytic infiltration. That makes it very likely that the two conditions are linked.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex (Wayne)
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.
Ahh- ok that makes sense.
Come to think of it, my mother had a very nasty battle with diverticulitis years ago and ended up having part of her colon removed. I remember she suffered from chills all the time. I thought she was nuts wearing thermal underwear in the middle of summer. A couple years ago when my MC was at its worst I also wore long underwear in July. I did not wear a short sleeved shirt at all that year. The nut must not fall too far from the tree.
Come to think of it, my mother had a very nasty battle with diverticulitis years ago and ended up having part of her colon removed. I remember she suffered from chills all the time. I thought she was nuts wearing thermal underwear in the middle of summer. A couple years ago when my MC was at its worst I also wore long underwear in July. I did not wear a short sleeved shirt at all that year. The nut must not fall too far from the tree.
Thankyou all for the information.
BTW I am 47 years old.
The only treatment metioned to me by the doctor is Bismal. This had no positive effects. I have read that many people have had positive results form Budesinde, but is very expensive.
For me after the initial distress in late may, I had a period of three months or so with just a bloating feeling sometimes, not always. Usually I wake up in good health, and later in the day I get a few cramps or a bloating feeling. Could this be a reaction to Gluten?
I do have so many questions but will read through as many posts as I can to get more information and limit my curosity to the things I can not locate.
Once again thank you all for your help
BTW I am 47 years old.
The only treatment metioned to me by the doctor is Bismal. This had no positive effects. I have read that many people have had positive results form Budesinde, but is very expensive.
For me after the initial distress in late may, I had a period of three months or so with just a bloating feeling sometimes, not always. Usually I wake up in good health, and later in the day I get a few cramps or a bloating feeling. Could this be a reaction to Gluten?
I do have so many questions but will read through as many posts as I can to get more information and limit my curosity to the things I can not locate.
Once again thank you all for your help
Hi Doug,
Yes, gas, bloating, and/or cramps are symptoms of gluten sensitivity.
How much Pepto-Bismol did you take? The recommended treatment regimen for treating MC is 8 capsules or tablets, or the liquid equivalent, per day. However, if you do not have diarrhea as a symptoms, I doubt that the Pepto would help much — in fact, it could make the cramps worse, because for someone who does not have D, it can cause constipation. The same applies to budesonide — those who do not have D are likely to develop constipation from taking it.
As far as I am aware, the only practical treatment for people who have MC without D, is to totally avoid the foods that are causing the symptoms.
Tex
Yes, gas, bloating, and/or cramps are symptoms of gluten sensitivity.
How much Pepto-Bismol did you take? The recommended treatment regimen for treating MC is 8 capsules or tablets, or the liquid equivalent, per day. However, if you do not have diarrhea as a symptoms, I doubt that the Pepto would help much — in fact, it could make the cramps worse, because for someone who does not have D, it can cause constipation. The same applies to budesonide — those who do not have D are likely to develop constipation from taking it.
As far as I am aware, the only practical treatment for people who have MC without D, is to totally avoid the foods that are causing the symptoms.
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.