Sorry for TMI. But I was diagnosed with LC this past week. I am hoping to control symptoms with diet, and have been for the last three weeks (knowing gluten was my problem). On a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being worst, I would rate my diarrhea interrupting my life as a 1 after removing gluten. My question is: I have been seeing a major increase today in mucus in my stools. Could this be fat malabsorption? It is very scary for me to see, as it makes up most of my stool. Do any of you have the same symptom? I will feel better knowing this symptom goes along with LC and it is normal from time to time. I am Catholic, and I did receive Holy Communion yesterday (gluten), so this could possibly be the cause of increased diarrhea and mucus as well. Just never reacted that fast before. Usually I d not react to gluten until 20-24 hours later.
I am desperate for answers as this is scary to see. Thank you so much!
I have LC. Did you have very mucusy stools??
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
-
ChattyMommy
- Little Blue Penguin
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 6:09 pm
Hi, CM,
Not TMI for anyone here. If you can say D interrupts your life on a scale of 1, I'd say you're doing pretty well.
I had mucous-y stools for a good long while after my initial LC DX. I just assumed it to be a sign of continued inflammation. Even now, two years later, it comes and goes, despite my dietary changes. I don't focus on it.
Not TMI for anyone here. If you can say D interrupts your life on a scale of 1, I'd say you're doing pretty well.
I had mucous-y stools for a good long while after my initial LC DX. I just assumed it to be a sign of continued inflammation. Even now, two years later, it comes and goes, despite my dietary changes. I don't focus on it.
Suze
-
ChattyMommy
- Little Blue Penguin
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 6:09 pm
Thank you so much! It makes me feel so much better to know that what I am seeing is somewhat normal! I don't know why it is so scary to me, it just is. I would rather have diarrhea more, rather than see that!! Also encouraged to know that the diet seems to be working (that as long as I am feeling good and see mucus, I am still on the right track!).
Luckily this was caught early, after about 4 months of chronic diarrhea. I have a family history of polyps, so a colonoscopy was done to rule out anything and LC was found. So I think that is part of the reason I am feeling so well so soon after cutting out gluten. I rarely have the stomach cramps, but then, I don't eat gluten!
Luckily this was caught early, after about 4 months of chronic diarrhea. I have a family history of polyps, so a colonoscopy was done to rule out anything and LC was found. So I think that is part of the reason I am feeling so well so soon after cutting out gluten. I rarely have the stomach cramps, but then, I don't eat gluten!
Yes, most churches, Catholic and Protestant are making an effort to have G-F wafers with communion. Ask your priest about it, as even that amount makes a huge difference. Because gluten intolerance is fast approaching epidemic proportions, churches simply have to accommodate!
Jane
Diagnosed with Lymphocytic Colitis 12/19/12
"When it gets dark enough,you can see the stars."
Charles A. Beard
Diagnosed with Lymphocytic Colitis 12/19/12
"When it gets dark enough,you can see the stars."
Charles A. Beard
Hi Chatty,
Welcome to our internet family. Yes, as you've already been told, the mucus comes with the turf, so it's something that we expect to see when/if our MC is active. When the digestive tract is inflamed, the inner lining (the mucosa) produces copious amounts of mucin. When mixed with water, the mucin forms mucus, which helps to protect the delicate lining of the GI tract from any agents in the fecal stream that might be causing or contributing to the inflammation. When you no longer notice any mucus, you will know that your intestines are healing.
Fat malabsorption can be detected as an oily-looking film on the surface of the water in the bowl, after a bowel movement.
Experience shows that after we remove gluten from our diet, and the antibody level begins to diminish, our immune system remains on high alert, and it seems to respond more aggressively than previously, when exposed to gluten. This explains why your reaction seemed to be faster, and more severe. Over time, as the antibody levels subside further, and your intestines begin to heal, reactions due to accidental exposure to gluten will tend to be much less severe, and the duration will be shorter. But while we are in the recovery stage, our immune system is usually ultra-sensitive.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
Welcome to our internet family. Yes, as you've already been told, the mucus comes with the turf, so it's something that we expect to see when/if our MC is active. When the digestive tract is inflamed, the inner lining (the mucosa) produces copious amounts of mucin. When mixed with water, the mucin forms mucus, which helps to protect the delicate lining of the GI tract from any agents in the fecal stream that might be causing or contributing to the inflammation. When you no longer notice any mucus, you will know that your intestines are healing.
Fat malabsorption can be detected as an oily-looking film on the surface of the water in the bowl, after a bowel movement.
Experience shows that after we remove gluten from our diet, and the antibody level begins to diminish, our immune system remains on high alert, and it seems to respond more aggressively than previously, when exposed to gluten. This explains why your reaction seemed to be faster, and more severe. Over time, as the antibody levels subside further, and your intestines begin to heal, reactions due to accidental exposure to gluten will tend to be much less severe, and the duration will be shorter. But while we are in the recovery stage, our immune system is usually ultra-sensitive.
Again, welcome aboard, 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.
-
ChattyMommy
- Little Blue Penguin
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 6:09 pm
Thank you Tex. So much of this is making sense now. The mucus had gone away and I hadn't seen much in the past two weeks. Then, Bam! More than I had ever seen before. I do tie it now to the gluten on Saturday evening.
I talked briefly to the nurse this morning as I can't get in to see my GI doc until Wednesday. She left me feeling hopeful about controlling my LC with diet alone. After reading so many posts about everyone and their symptoms, I realize how lucky I am to have found out so quickly what this is and the success I have had with removing only gluten!
I talked briefly to the nurse this morning as I can't get in to see my GI doc until Wednesday. She left me feeling hopeful about controlling my LC with diet alone. After reading so many posts about everyone and their symptoms, I realize how lucky I am to have found out so quickly what this is and the success I have had with removing only gluten!
-
ChattyMommy
- Little Blue Penguin
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 6:09 pm
One more question regarding small amounts of gluten after I have healed: is this okay to do so (such as receiving Communion once a week)? Or is it best to avoid gluten at all costs? Is LC the same as celiac in that I will do damage? or is LC purely symptomatic in that if I ingest a little gluten then I will only know it by diarrhea and lower GI symptoms?
What do you all do when you are "in remission"? Are there circumstances where you will ingest small amounts, or do you avoid it at all costs? I do know that gluten free hosts are available at my church. Just trying to weight whether or not I should inquire as to receive these gluten free hosts on a weekly basis, or just abstain when my LC is acting up. Hope that makes sense.
What do you all do when you are "in remission"? Are there circumstances where you will ingest small amounts, or do you avoid it at all costs? I do know that gluten free hosts are available at my church. Just trying to weight whether or not I should inquire as to receive these gluten free hosts on a weekly basis, or just abstain when my LC is acting up. Hope that makes sense.
The half-life of anti-gliadin antibodies (gluten antibodies) is 120 days. A week is only about one-seventeenth of that. Therefore if we regenerate new inflammation every week, for all practical purposes, we have not actually cut gluten out of our diet — we have only converted to a low-gluten diet, and the inflammation will continue to add to the residual damage in the lining of our intestines.
We have to stop thinking about gluten reactions as short-term events, because they are not — they are most definitely long-term events, and the damage to our body accrues slowly but surely. After we eliminate gluten from our diet, healing occurs the same way, slowly but surely. Healing takes years, not months (as most doctors believe), and for older patients (non-pediatric patients), some of the damage will probably never heal.
Believe it or not, we are just as sensitive to gluten as the average celiac, even though most of us will always test negative to the classic celiac blood tests. Some of us are much more sensitive to gluten than the average celiac. As I point out in my book, despite the failure of most doctors to realize this, research shows that both celiac disease and MC cause physical damage to both the large and small intestine.
The clinical symptoms associated with both celiac disease and MC have no correlation with the severity of intestinal damage (again, this is substantiated by research data), so our physical symptoms are not an accurate measure of the damage that we are accruing in our intestines.
Without 100% avoidance of gluten at all times, our intestines will never heal, and even if our clinical symptoms should stop, our immune system will remain on high alert (because of the continuing relatively high antibody levels), so that we will always be at risk of going into an extended flare anytime we are exposed to gluten.
On the other hand, if we are conscientious and meticulous with our diet, our intestines can heal, and after a year or two, if we are accidentally exposed to a small amount of gluten it will probably only cause a minor reaction, for a short period of time. By contrast, if we never allow the damage to heal, that same exposure to gluten will probably cause a major reaction for a much longer period of time. The difference is determined primarily by current antibody levels.
Remember that due to the long half-life of gluten antibodies, it usually takes at least a couple of years (or longer) for antibody levels to return to normal, after gluten is removed from the diet (EnteroLab tests can be used to confirm that), and that will only happen if gluten is meticulously avoided at all times.
If a GF option is available, IMO, selecting that option is a no-brainer, because the alternative sucks, especially in the long run. The long-term risk is that by perpetuating the inflammation, we will continue to be a prime candidate for developing additional autoimmune diseases. IMO, research evidence clearly shows that untreated or inadequately-treated gluten sensitivity is at the root of the development of virtually all autoimmune-type diseases.
I hope this addresses your concerns.
Tex
We have to stop thinking about gluten reactions as short-term events, because they are not — they are most definitely long-term events, and the damage to our body accrues slowly but surely. After we eliminate gluten from our diet, healing occurs the same way, slowly but surely. Healing takes years, not months (as most doctors believe), and for older patients (non-pediatric patients), some of the damage will probably never heal.
Believe it or not, we are just as sensitive to gluten as the average celiac, even though most of us will always test negative to the classic celiac blood tests. Some of us are much more sensitive to gluten than the average celiac. As I point out in my book, despite the failure of most doctors to realize this, research shows that both celiac disease and MC cause physical damage to both the large and small intestine.
The clinical symptoms associated with both celiac disease and MC have no correlation with the severity of intestinal damage (again, this is substantiated by research data), so our physical symptoms are not an accurate measure of the damage that we are accruing in our intestines.
Without 100% avoidance of gluten at all times, our intestines will never heal, and even if our clinical symptoms should stop, our immune system will remain on high alert (because of the continuing relatively high antibody levels), so that we will always be at risk of going into an extended flare anytime we are exposed to gluten.
On the other hand, if we are conscientious and meticulous with our diet, our intestines can heal, and after a year or two, if we are accidentally exposed to a small amount of gluten it will probably only cause a minor reaction, for a short period of time. By contrast, if we never allow the damage to heal, that same exposure to gluten will probably cause a major reaction for a much longer period of time. The difference is determined primarily by current antibody levels.
Remember that due to the long half-life of gluten antibodies, it usually takes at least a couple of years (or longer) for antibody levels to return to normal, after gluten is removed from the diet (EnteroLab tests can be used to confirm that), and that will only happen if gluten is meticulously avoided at all times.
If a GF option is available, IMO, selecting that option is a no-brainer, because the alternative sucks, especially in the long run. The long-term risk is that by perpetuating the inflammation, we will continue to be a prime candidate for developing additional autoimmune diseases. IMO, research evidence clearly shows that untreated or inadequately-treated gluten sensitivity is at the root of the development of virtually all autoimmune-type diseases.
I hope this addresses your concerns.
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.
-
ChattyMommy
- Little Blue Penguin
- Posts: 25
- Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 6:09 pm
Thank you so much! I am astounded at the information I am learning and I am so glad I came across this forum. Your answer makes it a no-brainer for me too. No gluten, ever! I was under the incorrect assumption that LC does not cause damage, and that small amounts of whatever it is that is causing it would do no harm in the long run after I "heal". The issue of long-term damage has been my concern all along - the diet itself does not scare me - I would eat dirt the rest of my life if I knew it would keep me healthy. It was that unknown, long-term damage to my intestines
I feel like this is not something that my doctor would have told me. I guess I should give him the benefit of the doubt until I meet with him. But regardless of what he says I have my answer. I am very appreciative of all of your information!
I feel like this is not something that my doctor would have told me. I guess I should give him the benefit of the doubt until I meet with him. But regardless of what he says I have my answer. I am very appreciative of all of your information!