Oh Leah, that's all I needed to hear...no melon!!!! Oh well, whatever it takes
Introduction
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Very nice to meet all of you, and I'm looking forward to sharing our information and journeys together.
Oh Leah, that's all I needed to hear...no melon!!!! Oh well, whatever it takes
Oh Leah, that's all I needed to hear...no melon!!!! Oh well, whatever it takes
Diagnosed with MC in June of 2011. Prescribed 0.375 grams of Apriso. Experienced remission within 3 weeks while still eating whatever I wanted. Flare up in May of 2013. Digesting all the information on this board and developing a food strategy.
Hi Jack and welcome to this enlightening website. I, too, am a newbie and have learned much more in the past few days on this site than from my gastro doctor. He says there is no "MC diet" and only wants to treat with drugs. I took Entocort (2 per day) when first diagnosed along with Colestipol. The Colestipol is a binder since I am among the approximate 20% who suffer from bile issues after having the gallbladder removed. This adds to my MC problem which was diagnosed 3 years ago. The Entocort did nothing for me except make my hair fall out and my blood sugar rise. I am also Type 1 diabetic for many years and steroids and diabetes don't mix well. I don't really think the GI doctor ever really looks at your overall health before he prescribes adverse medications. My new GI says that he doesn't treat MC with steroids since there are no ulcers involved and the Colestipol should control the poops. Well, guess what? It doesn't. I can't fathom the difference in a flare and my everyday life. I have the poops every single day of my life even though I do no dairy and am not gluten intolerent. My diet is very low fat as I have been following the diabetic diet guidelines for most of my life. I know that each person is different so I think you must follow what your body does and does not tolerate. It's a lifelong journey with no destination that I can see. I comfort myself with the fact that it can always be worse - I could have horrible pain from UC which I don't. Having lived 40 years as an insulin dependent diabetic seems to have taken a back seat to MC. This is the worst of the worst. I can control the diabetes but am finding it difficult to predict or control the MC. Listen to your doctor and do a lot of research on your own. We once thought doctors were Godlike but that day seems to have passed. There is a reason medicine is called a science - they are always learning and sometimes we are the guinea pigs. Take control and visit this website for answers you don't get from your doctor. Good luck and keep us posted.
Mimi
Mimi
Diagnosed with MC in 2010. Type 1 Diabetic for many years.
Mimi,
I was off all gluten for 18 months and nothing changed. But at that point I adopted an elimination diet that consisted of a minimal number of known safe basic foods (all cooked from scratch, daily), and in a couple of weeks, I was in remission. Food sensitivities can be very tricky to sort out sometimes, because if we are not avoiding all our food sensitivities at the same time, sometimes we cannot detect any difference.
Do your body a favor and spend 99 bucks to order an anti-gliadin antibody stool test from EnteroLab, in order to be sure. Your health for the rest of your life is at stake. I'm sure that there are probably at least a handful of people out there somewhere who have MC and who are not gluten-sensitive, but so far I cannot recall encountering anyone who fits that description.
Tex
I was off all gluten for 18 months and nothing changed. But at that point I adopted an elimination diet that consisted of a minimal number of known safe basic foods (all cooked from scratch, daily), and in a couple of weeks, I was in remission. Food sensitivities can be very tricky to sort out sometimes, because if we are not avoiding all our food sensitivities at the same time, sometimes we cannot detect any difference.
Do your body a favor and spend 99 bucks to order an anti-gliadin antibody stool test from EnteroLab, in order to be sure. Your health for the rest of your life is at stake. I'm sure that there are probably at least a handful of people out there somewhere who have MC and who are not gluten-sensitive, but so far I cannot recall encountering anyone who fits that description.
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.
Jack, I went gluten free as soon as I had my diagnosis just because 90+% of the people with MC and on this site have gluten intolerance. The odds are that I would too-- no reason that I would be any different. I also eliminated dairy at the same time. After several weeks on Entocort the gurgling was still around so I ditched soy and started doing much better. Off Entocort I found I reacted to eggs and the Enterolab tests confirmed all of this. By the time I had Enterolab's confirmation I had a 7-8 month head start on eliminating the food sensitivities.
Initially not only did I stick to a limited easy to digest diet, I also eliminated caffeine, acidic foods and drinks, fat, fiber, sugar and artificial sweeteners, and preservatives like sulfites and nitrates. Then I read here that we needed to check the labels of our vitamins for dyes and additives, gluten and soy too. Yes it was restrictive and sometimes overwhelming but well worth it. I found my case is not unusual at all. Most of us have had to do that.
I have to give my 2 cents on your Dr. wanting you to have another colonoscopy: what new information is likely to be gained? A confirmation that you have MC? Like you didn't know that already.
I agree with the others-- I think it's the test he wanted to do when he didn't know what else to do.
I did well on Entocort and took it for 4 months. In the meantime I tweaked my diet so that when I was off the Entocort I didn't flare. It worked. And it was something I learned on this site. Meds can be helpful in getting the symptoms managed but diet changes are the key to healing and long-term management. By sticking to my allergen diet I believe I am doing all I can to keep from triggering other autoimmune diseases (and there are many).
Welcome to the site. I am 90% back to normal thanks to the advice and caring of the people on this site (but still fine tuning every day).
Carol
Initially not only did I stick to a limited easy to digest diet, I also eliminated caffeine, acidic foods and drinks, fat, fiber, sugar and artificial sweeteners, and preservatives like sulfites and nitrates. Then I read here that we needed to check the labels of our vitamins for dyes and additives, gluten and soy too. Yes it was restrictive and sometimes overwhelming but well worth it. I found my case is not unusual at all. Most of us have had to do that.
I have to give my 2 cents on your Dr. wanting you to have another colonoscopy: what new information is likely to be gained? A confirmation that you have MC? Like you didn't know that already.
I agree with the others-- I think it's the test he wanted to do when he didn't know what else to do. I did well on Entocort and took it for 4 months. In the meantime I tweaked my diet so that when I was off the Entocort I didn't flare. It worked. And it was something I learned on this site. Meds can be helpful in getting the symptoms managed but diet changes are the key to healing and long-term management. By sticking to my allergen diet I believe I am doing all I can to keep from triggering other autoimmune diseases (and there are many).
Welcome to the site. I am 90% back to normal thanks to the advice and caring of the people on this site (but still fine tuning every day).
Carol
“.... people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou