Still trying to diagnosis myself
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Still trying to diagnosis myself
I get indigestion a lot if I have a big meal, acid meal, BBQ or hot sauce, fatty meal, drink too much soda or eat something fried. I told me doctor and he prescribed PPH, which I ended up getting diarrhea and lower stomach cramps. Looking back at my health history over the past two years, I have had diarrhea roughly 13 different times, about nine of these times I was on some type PPH. I was diagnosed with MC (doctor stated it was suspension of MC, not sure what that means in doctor lingo) but I don’t get d or c. After reading tex's book, it made me think, is it possible that I just have a slow gallbladder (my gallbladder was test on the slow side) which causes my bloating feeling and indigestion, and the PPHs I took gave my MC. The book stated that when the drugs are removed, the MC is usually minimized or healed.
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MaggieRedwings
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I agree with Leah. If I tried to eat the meals/goods you listed, my system would be repulsed and D would be immediate. I think you need to look at diet and eliminate some of the questionable foods and go from there. Have you tried GF, SF, etc. ?
Maggie
Maggie
Maggie Scarpone
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I have been Gf for almost twelve months, but my symptoms are basically the same before or after. On a few occasions I added Gluten (after 6 months of avoidance) in on a rare meal and saw no difference. Due to my lack of D or C, just really gas and bloating and some nausea, is it likely my mc diagnosis was temporary and due to the PPH I was taken for acid indigestion (I recall reading that in Tex’s book). My original diagnosis of MC, stated that it was suspicious with microscopic colitis. My new doctor said that means they could not rule it out one way or another (all that money and training and that’s the best they can do, lol). My new doctor wants to do another colonoscopy as he did not do the original one.
My hope is that I have been off PPH for two months and if that did cause my mc it may have gone away. BTW my Entrolab results showed Gluten at a level of 10. With that said my biggest issues are with fatty and spicy food. After of that I guess my question is how likely is it to have just temporary mc caused by PPH? I know for a fact that they cause me to have diarrhea.
My hope is that I have been off PPH for two months and if that did cause my mc it may have gone away. BTW my Entrolab results showed Gluten at a level of 10. With that said my biggest issues are with fatty and spicy food. After of that I guess my question is how likely is it to have just temporary mc caused by PPH? I know for a fact that they cause me to have diarrhea.
Re: Still trying to diagnosis myself
Good morning, For many years I had SEVERE GERD with a debilitating cough caused by the constant backwash of bile in my esophogus. I threw my back out coughing on a few occasions. People would offer me emergency assistance, which I didn't need. My vocal chords were so singed from bile that they would flutter and close. I had trouble speaking at times and my cough sounded like a gasping medical emergency. I was eventually prescribed proton pump inhibitors. They didn't help very well at all so my doctor told me to take more! I took more but I was still coughing, gasping, and gagging. I have also had spastic intestines for about as long as I can remember.Doug wrote:I get indigestion a lot if I have a big meal, acid meal, BBQ or hot sauce, fatty meal, drink too much soda or eat something fried. I told me doctor and he prescribed PPH, which I ended up getting diarrhea and lower stomach cramps. Looking back at my health history over the past two years, I have had diarrhea roughly 13 different times, about nine of these times I was on some type PPH. I was diagnosed with MC (doctor stated it was suspension of MC, not sure what that means in doctor lingo) but I don’t get d or c. After reading tex's book, it made me think, is it possible that I just have a slow gallbladder (my gallbladder was test on the slow side) which causes my bloating feeling and indigestion, and the PPHs I took gave my MC. The book stated that when the drugs are removed, the MC is usually minimized or healed.
About three years ago I did a very strict elimination diet and learned that gluten, dairy, soy and nuts were a problem. I also had a "maybe or maybe not" column on my list that included eggs and chicken. From that point on, I "avoided" some and lessened my use of others. That is not at all similar to elimination!
If I knew years ago what I know now, my life would have been much easier. Elimination of common foods is difficult but it is far less of a problem that being sick all of the time!!
By all means, get another colonoscopy! My MC was "patchy" and it seems that is very common. I hope you found a GI person who takes many biopsies.
Fix it as soon as you can and regain your health! I wish you an easy road
Doug,
Yes, it's possible that if a PPI caused your MC, then avoiding PPIs might be sufficient to keep you in remission. That's assuming that you are in remission now. If you are still having symptoms, then something in your diet is causing the inflammation that results in those symptoms.
The main point here is that obviously something is causing you to have significant digestive problems, and the problem is not due to the phase of the moon. Digestive problems are caused by the foods that are in our diet, so in order to prevent the digestive issues from recurring, we have to exclude from our diet the foods that are causing the problems. Without intervention, digestive problems tend to get worse, not better.
A diagnosis of MC (even conditional MC) is never accidental. It's easy for a GI doc or a pathologist to fail to diagnose a case of MC by overlooking the markers, or misinterpreting them, and mistakenly reaching the conclusion that a patient does not have MC. Mistakes of that type happen every day.
I've never heard of the phrase "suspension of MC", so I assume that he probably said "suspicion of MC". The problem with that statement is, if the diagnostic markers are close enough that the pathologist would "suspect" MC, then you have MC. That type of MC (with a lymphocyte count that is elevated, but still below the diagnostic threshold for MC, is properly called paucicellular lymphocytic colitis, but your GI doc and the pathologist had probably never heard of it, so they couldn't diagnose it.
But if a pathologist diagnoses MC, then you can bet your bottom dollar that the diagnosis is correct, because it's virtually impossible to "accidentally" diagnose MC when MC does not exist. So if your new GI doc does another colonoscopy exam and doesn't find MC, it will not mean that you do not have MC. It will mean one of 3 things:
1. Your MC is in remission at the time of the exam.
2. Your new GI doc failed to take biopsy samples from inflamed areas of your colon. This is very easy to do, and it leads to many missed diagnoses.
3. Your new pathologist doesn't understand how to diagnose MC, especially the uncommon variations of the disease (there are at least a dozen different known types of MC).
Those of us who have only minor, or intermittent clinical symptoms often have a tough time getting past the "denial" stage, and they continue to cling to the false hope that the diagnosis was incorrect. But that's wishful thinking. And to add to the problem, many doctors consider such cases to be "mild", suggesting that they should be easy to treat. But that's incorrect, too. Yes, the symptoms might be less severe and/or less persistent, but they probably are not any easier to control than they would be in severe cases. All in all, the bottom line is that it can be more difficult to treat the "easy" cases, than the "difficult" or "severe" cases, because the signals can be more confusing, due to the reduced severity of the symptoms.
I wish I knew of an easy solution, but unfortunately, I don't. If PPIs were the only cause of your MC, then within a week after you discontinued taking the PPI, your symptoms should have resolved, and they should not have returned, unless you resumed taking a PPI.
Tex
Yes, it's possible that if a PPI caused your MC, then avoiding PPIs might be sufficient to keep you in remission. That's assuming that you are in remission now. If you are still having symptoms, then something in your diet is causing the inflammation that results in those symptoms.
The main point here is that obviously something is causing you to have significant digestive problems, and the problem is not due to the phase of the moon. Digestive problems are caused by the foods that are in our diet, so in order to prevent the digestive issues from recurring, we have to exclude from our diet the foods that are causing the problems. Without intervention, digestive problems tend to get worse, not better.
A diagnosis of MC (even conditional MC) is never accidental. It's easy for a GI doc or a pathologist to fail to diagnose a case of MC by overlooking the markers, or misinterpreting them, and mistakenly reaching the conclusion that a patient does not have MC. Mistakes of that type happen every day.
I've never heard of the phrase "suspension of MC", so I assume that he probably said "suspicion of MC". The problem with that statement is, if the diagnostic markers are close enough that the pathologist would "suspect" MC, then you have MC. That type of MC (with a lymphocyte count that is elevated, but still below the diagnostic threshold for MC, is properly called paucicellular lymphocytic colitis, but your GI doc and the pathologist had probably never heard of it, so they couldn't diagnose it.
But if a pathologist diagnoses MC, then you can bet your bottom dollar that the diagnosis is correct, because it's virtually impossible to "accidentally" diagnose MC when MC does not exist. So if your new GI doc does another colonoscopy exam and doesn't find MC, it will not mean that you do not have MC. It will mean one of 3 things:
1. Your MC is in remission at the time of the exam.
2. Your new GI doc failed to take biopsy samples from inflamed areas of your colon. This is very easy to do, and it leads to many missed diagnoses.
3. Your new pathologist doesn't understand how to diagnose MC, especially the uncommon variations of the disease (there are at least a dozen different known types of MC).
Those of us who have only minor, or intermittent clinical symptoms often have a tough time getting past the "denial" stage, and they continue to cling to the false hope that the diagnosis was incorrect. But that's wishful thinking. And to add to the problem, many doctors consider such cases to be "mild", suggesting that they should be easy to treat. But that's incorrect, too. Yes, the symptoms might be less severe and/or less persistent, but they probably are not any easier to control than they would be in severe cases. All in all, the bottom line is that it can be more difficult to treat the "easy" cases, than the "difficult" or "severe" cases, because the signals can be more confusing, due to the reduced severity of the symptoms.
I wish I knew of an easy solution, but unfortunately, I don't. If PPIs were the only cause of your MC, then within a week after you discontinued taking the PPI, your symptoms should have resolved, and they should not have returned, unless you resumed taking a PPI.
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.
Doug, Only you can determine what foods make you feel bad. If you had a 10 on the Enterolab test for gluten, then it would seem that you are somewhat intolerant to it, but it might be that you would need to eat a lot of it consistently to get an obvious reaction. It's up to you whether you want to take that risk. I am similar in a way. I also don't react to gluten right away, but I also know that taking it out of my diet has helped me heal. It's tough on ANYONE'S gut.
I have a cousin that doesn't have a MC diagnosis, but suffers from massive gas and bloat. With me bugging her, she finally did the FODMAP elimination diet. Look it up. These foods are well known to ferment in the large intestine and cause gassy symptoms. After eliminating these foods, she felt "normal". She did that for 8 weeks and then tested each food back in ( 3 days for each) that she missed the most. She definitely got some answers and has the knowledge to live a comfortable life.
Good luck figuring it all out.
Leah
I have a cousin that doesn't have a MC diagnosis, but suffers from massive gas and bloat. With me bugging her, she finally did the FODMAP elimination diet. Look it up. These foods are well known to ferment in the large intestine and cause gassy symptoms. After eliminating these foods, she felt "normal". She did that for 8 weeks and then tested each food back in ( 3 days for each) that she missed the most. She definitely got some answers and has the knowledge to live a comfortable life.
Good luck figuring it all out.
Leah
Well I appreciate all the information and advice, and yes I meant suspicion of MC. My only thoughts are that I don’t really have symptoms that are exclusive of MC (no D or C) which is by far the main symptom. I have read hundreds of posts and that seem to be the one constant, other symptom exist of course. The cause of my bloating and indigestion could very well be MC, but it could also be a problem with my gallbladder or something else. Without a doubt I hope for a simple solution, denial is also a possibility. My Hida scan shows my gallbladder is slow (30) 35-70 is normal. This may be the cause of my stomach issues. It would explain the serve issues I get with fatty meats that Entrolab state were not an issue for me.
My new doctor stated he is very thorough and discovers 50% more pre-plops than other doctors, not sure how they can detect that though. Can an endoscope reveal anything of value?
My new doctor stated he is very thorough and discovers 50% more pre-plops than other doctors, not sure how they can detect that though. Can an endoscope reveal anything of value?
Actually, we have at least 2 or 3 other members who have always had normal BMs with MC. Symptoms in such cases are usually gas, bloating, indigestion, pain, etc. As best I can recall, they didn't have much luck trying to resolve their symptoms either (that's why I made the remark in a previous post, about this form of the disease not being any easier to treat).
Reduced gallbladder function is a common problem for many MC patients. Some members have even had their gallbladder removed (based on their doctor's recommendation), but those who kept their gallbladder, discovered that when they got their MC symptoms under control, their gallbladder was no longer a problem.
When you caught the sample for the EnteroLab test, were you eating at least normal amounts of fat? Or were you eating a reduced amount of fat, in order to minimize symptoms? The reason I ask is because the test is calibrated for normal fat consumption, so if someone consumes less than a normal amount, then the test would not be able to detect a malabsorption problem, because there wouldn't be enough fat in the diet for a normal response.
If "pre-plops" is a typo, or otherwise represents "pre-cancerous polyps", they will show up clearly during a colonoscopy exam (assuming they are large enough to be easily visible with the naked eye). If your doctors claim is actually true (that he finds 50 % more polyps than other doctors), then his services should be in demand for anyone who has a history (or a family history) of colon cancer. Hopefully he will be as good at diagnosing MC as he is at detecting polyps.
Tex
Reduced gallbladder function is a common problem for many MC patients. Some members have even had their gallbladder removed (based on their doctor's recommendation), but those who kept their gallbladder, discovered that when they got their MC symptoms under control, their gallbladder was no longer a problem.
When you caught the sample for the EnteroLab test, were you eating at least normal amounts of fat? Or were you eating a reduced amount of fat, in order to minimize symptoms? The reason I ask is because the test is calibrated for normal fat consumption, so if someone consumes less than a normal amount, then the test would not be able to detect a malabsorption problem, because there wouldn't be enough fat in the diet for a normal response.
If "pre-plops" is a typo, or otherwise represents "pre-cancerous polyps", they will show up clearly during a colonoscopy exam (assuming they are large enough to be easily visible with the naked eye). If your doctors claim is actually true (that he finds 50 % more polyps than other doctors), then his services should be in demand for anyone who has a history (or a family history) of colon cancer. Hopefully he will be as good at diagnosing MC as he is at detecting polyps.
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.