Hello you all,
I hope it's not a problem that I just opened a new topic..if yes, i'm sorry. As you would have noticed, i'm new here..and actually i'm also new with MC. Yesterday my Dr called me, had a coloscopie 2 weeks ago, and he told me that I do have Microscopic Colitis. Pretty good to handle with some medicine and that was everything he told me. After finishing my trip to the pharmacie where they told me that i'd to take the entocort at least for a year..i've started to think that 'to handle' maybe didn't mean exactly what I thought that it meant.
After reading this forum (which is really helpfull:)) I do know a lot more about this all...but actually, I also have some questions. Cause if I read all your story's en symptoms, i'm not really sure if i do have exactly the same...but maybe i didnt read enough and are my symptoms also normal for MC?
Ok..3 years ago i've been to Africa for the first time, lived there for 6 months and had malaria, typhus and all that kind of diseases you can imagine when you live there;). Back home I didn't recover that well..stumach pain, lot of D, and a lot more of that kind of symptoms which are normal when you're just back from a country like Ghana. It didnt go away, had a lot of tests but they couldnt find anyting. Strange thing is that all that time i didnt had D all day..and it was also not that watery as I read here. Did had this problems all the time, but was still able to work, sport and travel. So, last summer i've been to Asia, same trouble again. Lot of D, more than i do have back home. One month later i'd to travel to Ghana again (for two months) where the really bad D came back in two weeks...till the end of my stay. After a antibiotic it started to get a bit better, but not good enough. All this time I thought that i probably did have n parasite or something..but when i was back in Holland and the stumach pain and D didnt go away I went to my Dr. to have some test again. They found n bacterie (for which i was allready treathned in Ghana) but that was all. D was going of and on so I asked for an coloscopy...
But then..when I red on the internet about MC, the main symptom is watery D, which i dont have all the time. Stumach pain yes, a lot of gas and fever as well and actually, i've to go to toilet like 7 times a day..but sometimes its also just a normal stool (with fluim, if thats the good word).
So..do you know this is possible with MC? Or is having D all day long so connected to MC that my symptoms are not fitting in the diagnosis (I'm also just 23 years old..which is pretty young for MC, insn't?)
Or..is it maybe possible that just my way of eating that i allready have for n year (small amount of gluten, no diary (sometimes a bit yoghurt or goatcheese) a lot of vegtables, fruit and a really less processed food) did took the worst D away but not the fever and the 7-times-going-to-toilet-thing?
Ok..i know nobody's the same and that its verry hard to say something about diagnosis..but I was just wondering if somebody maybe can tell me more about my questions..and if my symptoms (or do I have to say, lack of symptoms;)) are normal for MC. (
Sorry for this long story..and also for the probably not correct-spelled words and bad English grammar. My plan is to read this whole forum..so after that it will probably be much better;)!
Do have an good evening:)!
Mariska
Hi:)
Moderators: Rosie, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Hi Mariska,
Welcome to the board. Opening a new topic is the best choice, so you are doing fine. Most doctors were trained to believe that MC is always associated with watery D, but that is not the case in the real world. Many of us have alternating D and C (constipation), and some of us only have constipation. In my own case, I had alternating D and C when I was still reacting. And in between, I would have normal bowel movements. So the symptoms of this disease can vary a great deal, but most doctors are only familiar with the classic form, with watery D.
Most GI docs also believe that pain is not a symptoms of MC, but most of us here have found by experience that pain is often a serious problem with MC, and the food sensitivities that are associated with the disease usually cause gas and bloating. Most of us are sensitive to gluten and all dairy products, but the classic celiac blood tests that the doctors use will not detect the type of gluten sensitivity that we have. Those tests will only detect fully-developed celiac disease. That's why it usually takes doctors over 9 years to diagnose celiac disease, from the time that symptoms first begin, until the intestinal damage becomes severe enough to trigger a positive test result for a diagnosis.
When I was reacting, I had about the same number of trips to the bathroom as you are having. Some have fewer trips, and some people have as many as 40 or 50 trips to the bathroom on a bad day. The mucus (fluim) that you mentioned is very common with MC. It is due to the inflammation in our intestines. The intestines produce increased amounts of mucus in an attempt to protect their lining from the inflammation.
MC can strike at any age. Our youngest member was two and a half years of age when she was diagnosed. She is now probably 6 or 7 years old, and doing fine, by using diet changes as her only treatment.
Again, welcome to the board, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
Welcome to the board. Opening a new topic is the best choice, so you are doing fine. Most doctors were trained to believe that MC is always associated with watery D, but that is not the case in the real world. Many of us have alternating D and C (constipation), and some of us only have constipation. In my own case, I had alternating D and C when I was still reacting. And in between, I would have normal bowel movements. So the symptoms of this disease can vary a great deal, but most doctors are only familiar with the classic form, with watery D.
Most GI docs also believe that pain is not a symptoms of MC, but most of us here have found by experience that pain is often a serious problem with MC, and the food sensitivities that are associated with the disease usually cause gas and bloating. Most of us are sensitive to gluten and all dairy products, but the classic celiac blood tests that the doctors use will not detect the type of gluten sensitivity that we have. Those tests will only detect fully-developed celiac disease. That's why it usually takes doctors over 9 years to diagnose celiac disease, from the time that symptoms first begin, until the intestinal damage becomes severe enough to trigger a positive test result for a diagnosis.
When I was reacting, I had about the same number of trips to the bathroom as you are having. Some have fewer trips, and some people have as many as 40 or 50 trips to the bathroom on a bad day. The mucus (fluim) that you mentioned is very common with MC. It is due to the inflammation in our intestines. The intestines produce increased amounts of mucus in an attempt to protect their lining from the inflammation.
MC can strike at any age. Our youngest member was two and a half years of age when she was diagnosed. She is now probably 6 or 7 years old, and doing fine, by using diet changes as her only treatment.
Again, welcome to the board, and please feel free to ask anything.
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.
..thanks for your responses:)!
Tex:...Wow, you really know a lot about MC. Think I'm going to buy your book..which will be very interesting and making things more clear, I guess. Such a strange thing that the only thing you read about MC is a lot of D..and thats it. For now, after reading your stuff, I start to believe that the diagnossis they gave me maybe wasn't a mistake. So..I started with the gluten-dairy-free-food thing today..and also with the entocort, but I really hope to be able to stop taking that as soon as possible. Lot of wishfull-thinking..but who knows what that glutenfree diet can do:)!
And Gluten: The bacterie they found was Shigella (dysentrie). They gave me some Metronidazol (antibiotics) but back in Holland they still found some rests. (feces-stool test). Still believe its not totally gone because of the D with blood and I still have by times. Or is blood in your stool also an symptom of MC? Cause then that could also be the reason...I dont know. Only thing I DO know is that i'm definitly not going to take anymore antibiotics.
Again...thank you both for your reactions:)!
Mariska
Tex:...Wow, you really know a lot about MC. Think I'm going to buy your book..which will be very interesting and making things more clear, I guess. Such a strange thing that the only thing you read about MC is a lot of D..and thats it. For now, after reading your stuff, I start to believe that the diagnossis they gave me maybe wasn't a mistake. So..I started with the gluten-dairy-free-food thing today..and also with the entocort, but I really hope to be able to stop taking that as soon as possible. Lot of wishfull-thinking..but who knows what that glutenfree diet can do:)!
And Gluten: The bacterie they found was Shigella (dysentrie). They gave me some Metronidazol (antibiotics) but back in Holland they still found some rests. (feces-stool test). Still believe its not totally gone because of the D with blood and I still have by times. Or is blood in your stool also an symptom of MC? Cause then that could also be the reason...I dont know. Only thing I DO know is that i'm definitly not going to take anymore antibiotics.
Again...thank you both for your reactions:)!
Mariska
Mariska,
Blood in the stool is definitely not associated with MC, so you are correct that something else seems to be going on. However, a Shigella infection should resolve on it's own, without any antibiotic treatment, in about a week. Maybe they missed some other parasite, or they failed to test for all the possible types.
It's possible that the blood might be coming from hemorrhoids, because that is a very common problem with MC, (when the intestines are inflamed, the rectum and anus tend to become inflamed, also).
The book discusses all the details about the disease that doctors are aware of, and it covers many details that doctors are not aware of. It describes the known symptoms of the disease, and all the treatments, and it discusses the various things that can trigger a reaction. It should make a good reference.
You're very welcome,
Tex
Blood in the stool is definitely not associated with MC, so you are correct that something else seems to be going on. However, a Shigella infection should resolve on it's own, without any antibiotic treatment, in about a week. Maybe they missed some other parasite, or they failed to test for all the possible types.
It's possible that the blood might be coming from hemorrhoids, because that is a very common problem with MC, (when the intestines are inflamed, the rectum and anus tend to become inflamed, also).
The book discusses all the details about the disease that doctors are aware of, and it covers many details that doctors are not aware of. It describes the known symptoms of the disease, and all the treatments, and it discusses the various things that can trigger a reaction. It should make a good reference.
You're very welcome,
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.