I think I may have found something very important. For years, I have been mentioning to everyone I always thought my condition had to be related to an anti-depressant I took years ago. Well, if this is what I have, though I haven't been diagnosed yet, it would be my answer. My loose stools started about two to three years after taking Zoloft. I began having watery diarrhea following, then stopped taking the medicine a year or two later. I think I was on Zoloft for about 4 years in total.
I was browsing through the internet looking at microscopic colitis related information when I came across a form of this called lymphocytic colitis. Under this description where it says "causes", most of it said we don't know, but it did say that reports have come in with some relation to NSAIDs, particularly ZOLOFT! If this is the case, does anyone in this forum have this particular disease, and if so can you tell me more about it? I'm very spirited that I found this, and though I don't know what I have is this, I find it interesting that it said this. Thank you.
Zoloft and Microscopic Colitis
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solisspirit
- Adélie Penguin
- Posts: 75
- Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2013 5:22 am
- Location: USA
Zoloft is not an NSAID — it's an SSRI. There are currently approximately a dozen known types of microscopic colitis (including the most common forms, collagenous colitis and lymphocytic colitis). Any of them (they all have similar etiologies, symptoms, and treatments) can be caused (in some cases) by the use of antibiotics, NSAIDs, PPIs, SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclic antidepressants, bisphosphonates, statins, calcium blockers, and a few other medications.
The risk varies by environmental influences, genetics, and other individual characteristics, so there is no way to predict the statistical risk for any individual, for any particular medication. Some are much worse risks than others. I have listed them in approximately the order in which I personally believe they should be ranked, according to their potential risk, but that ranking is certainly not chiseled in stone — it's just based on my opinion.
Many members here can trace the origins of their MC back to the use of one or more of the medications in the above list.
Tex
The risk varies by environmental influences, genetics, and other individual characteristics, so there is no way to predict the statistical risk for any individual, for any particular medication. Some are much worse risks than others. I have listed them in approximately the order in which I personally believe they should be ranked, according to their potential risk, but that ranking is certainly not chiseled in stone — it's just based on my opinion.
Many members here can trace the origins of their MC back to the use of one or more of the medications in the above list.
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.
Hello Solisspirit, I've had gut problems for most of my life but my current issue of L.C. became evident after taking NSAIDS, PPIs and SSRIs. Within two hours of my first micro-dose of SSRI, I began having unrelenting, explosive watery diarrhea. I absolutely believe that medication was part of my problem.
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solisspirit
- Adélie Penguin
- Posts: 75
- Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2013 5:22 am
- Location: USA
My question is, is my GI going to know about MC and, if so, do I need to tell him to do a biopsy to check for it or is that going to come off like I think he doesn't know how to do his job? I think this happens a lot. But, its our bodies, and we've probably done way more research in a matter of years on this stuff than they ever did with regards to specialty problems.
Tex,
Can one long, 3 week, round of antibiotics do it? I was living in a rental while out house was being build in 2010. There was black mold around the fireplace, from it leaking for so many years. After about 4 (winter months) of living there I developed pre-pneumonia, and had so much infection coursing through me that my ear drum spontaneously ruptured! I have never been that sick in my life. I missed a month of teaching that year.
From there I had reoccurring yeast and sinus infections, none of which I had in my 50 years prior to living in that house. I must say that I did take a lot of ibuprofen in my day for menstrual cramps though.
Flash forward to the summer of 2012. After school ended for the year I was unusually tired all summer long until one day in early August, the D started, and never went away.
I know that a lot of people on this site have much more serious issues, but before the 'mold' house I hadn't taken an antibiotic in 20 years. I thought I had a good immune system from working with young children for so many years.
So, I just wondered if one long round of antibiotics may have been the catalyst for me?
Can one long, 3 week, round of antibiotics do it? I was living in a rental while out house was being build in 2010. There was black mold around the fireplace, from it leaking for so many years. After about 4 (winter months) of living there I developed pre-pneumonia, and had so much infection coursing through me that my ear drum spontaneously ruptured! I have never been that sick in my life. I missed a month of teaching that year.
From there I had reoccurring yeast and sinus infections, none of which I had in my 50 years prior to living in that house. I must say that I did take a lot of ibuprofen in my day for menstrual cramps though.
Flash forward to the summer of 2012. After school ended for the year I was unusually tired all summer long until one day in early August, the D started, and never went away.
I know that a lot of people on this site have much more serious issues, but before the 'mold' house I hadn't taken an antibiotic in 20 years. I thought I had a good immune system from working with young children for so many years.
So, I just wondered if one long round of antibiotics may have been the catalyst for me?
Linda :)
LC Oct. 2012
MTHFR gene mutation and many more....
LC Oct. 2012
MTHFR gene mutation and many more....
solisspirit,
That's a tricky situation, because most specialists definitely resent patients who they feel are trying to tell them how to do their job, and gastroenterologists seem to be especially touchy about diseases that they are either unfamiliar with, or don't have much luck treating successfully (such as MC).
Still, the only way to diagnose MC is by examining under a microscope, biopsies taken during a colonoscopy exam, so you need to find a way to make him feel that it is his idea to do it, if possible. If he doesn't seem to be heading in that direction, you might mention that you have a friend (in another city) who was diagnosed with microscopic colitis, and your symptoms seem to be very similar.
And you're right about the time that most of them have devoted to learning about this disease. In most cases, MC is barely mentioned in medical school, sort of as an afterthought. Surely a little more time is devoted to learning about the disease before a doctor becomes certified as a GI specialist, but it's not likely that they spend more than a few hours learning about it. By contrast, most members of this discussion board who actively read and/or post for at least several months or more, probably devote a minimum of many dozens of hours, and many of them spend hundreds of hours learning about the disease. I'm sure that I've spent thousands of hours researching the disease, over the years, and so have many other members who have been active here for many years. Yet GI specialists view themselves as experts, and they tend to think of us as totally uninformed.
Tex
That's a tricky situation, because most specialists definitely resent patients who they feel are trying to tell them how to do their job, and gastroenterologists seem to be especially touchy about diseases that they are either unfamiliar with, or don't have much luck treating successfully (such as MC).
Still, the only way to diagnose MC is by examining under a microscope, biopsies taken during a colonoscopy exam, so you need to find a way to make him feel that it is his idea to do it, if possible. If he doesn't seem to be heading in that direction, you might mention that you have a friend (in another city) who was diagnosed with microscopic colitis, and your symptoms seem to be very similar.
And you're right about the time that most of them have devoted to learning about this disease. In most cases, MC is barely mentioned in medical school, sort of as an afterthought. Surely a little more time is devoted to learning about the disease before a doctor becomes certified as a GI specialist, but it's not likely that they spend more than a few hours learning about it. By contrast, most members of this discussion board who actively read and/or post for at least several months or more, probably devote a minimum of many dozens of hours, and many of them spend hundreds of hours learning about the disease. I'm sure that I've spent thousands of hours researching the disease, over the years, and so have many other members who have been active here for many years. Yet GI specialists view themselves as experts, and they tend to think of us as totally uninformed.
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.