This is a question for Tex and anyone else who may have heard of this, to me, extremely weird treatment to clean out your gut. A person I met today at a Christmas brunch told me to eat diatomaceous earth and it would cure ALL of my intestinal ills. This woman came across as very opinionated and closed minded when other issues were discussed and I didn't want to continue talking to her. So, has anyone here heard of eating diatomaceous earth? I saw lots of ads for it when I googled it but can't imagine intentionally eating dirt.
Sheila W
PS I have no desire to clean out my gut with anything. Just curious.
Diatomaceous earth
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Sheila
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Diatomaceous earth
To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.
A person who never made a mistake never tried something new. Einstein
A person who never made a mistake never tried something new. Einstein
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UkuleleLady
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As far as I know, it is a powder made from fossils which I've used to kill bugs in my garden.
I believe livestock owners do feed it to cattle/horses to treat them for either worms or parasites. It eats bug exoskeletons, IIRC.
If it would cure me of MC I'd be happy to swallow some :) But I've actually never heard of people eating it.
Would love to hear if Tex or others have something to say about it.
I believe livestock owners do feed it to cattle/horses to treat them for either worms or parasites. It eats bug exoskeletons, IIRC.
If it would cure me of MC I'd be happy to swallow some :) But I've actually never heard of people eating it.
Would love to hear if Tex or others have something to say about it.
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~The Dalai Lama
Hi Sheila,
Nancy is quite correct. It's a "natural" insecticide, made by finely grinding a type of fossilized, hard-shelled algae. We used to use it to treat food corn in storage (it's an organically-approved insecticide used to kill weevils and other insects that feed on stored grain). It isn't 100 % effective, because it kills insects by abrading their exoskeletons (as Nancy pointed out) as they move through it, and this scarifies their shells and causes them to desiccate and die of dehydration. We stopped using it because it's very hard on cleaning equipment, and it's so abrasive that it prevents certain types of cleaning equipment (especially gravity tables) from working correctly to separate good grain from damaged grain, rocks, dirt, and other types of impurities that might be present in the grain.
If you get it on your hands, it tends to dry out the skin very rapidly. Since it's USDA and FDA-approved for use on grains (including organically-certified food grains), it has to be "safe" for livestock and human consumption. I think it's also used as an absorbent for liquids, filler or insulating material, cat litter, and I've even heard of it being used in toothpaste (as a mild abrasive). Personally, I've never consider intentionally eating it, because I've always thought of it as somewhat related to ground glass.
That said, I've eaten blue corn that I grew, that we treated with diatomaceous earth when we put the corn into storage, after we cleaned it and sold it to a chip and tortilla processor, and they turned it into tortilla chips. The chips were delicious. Of course, that was back before my symptoms started. . . . Hmmmmm, you don't suppose . . . Naw, surely not.
Tex
Nancy is quite correct. It's a "natural" insecticide, made by finely grinding a type of fossilized, hard-shelled algae. We used to use it to treat food corn in storage (it's an organically-approved insecticide used to kill weevils and other insects that feed on stored grain). It isn't 100 % effective, because it kills insects by abrading their exoskeletons (as Nancy pointed out) as they move through it, and this scarifies their shells and causes them to desiccate and die of dehydration. We stopped using it because it's very hard on cleaning equipment, and it's so abrasive that it prevents certain types of cleaning equipment (especially gravity tables) from working correctly to separate good grain from damaged grain, rocks, dirt, and other types of impurities that might be present in the grain.
If you get it on your hands, it tends to dry out the skin very rapidly. Since it's USDA and FDA-approved for use on grains (including organically-certified food grains), it has to be "safe" for livestock and human consumption. I think it's also used as an absorbent for liquids, filler or insulating material, cat litter, and I've even heard of it being used in toothpaste (as a mild abrasive). Personally, I've never consider intentionally eating it, because I've always thought of it as somewhat related to ground glass.
That said, I've eaten blue corn that I grew, that we treated with diatomaceous earth when we put the corn into storage, after we cleaned it and sold it to a chip and tortilla processor, and they turned it into tortilla chips. The chips were delicious. Of course, that was back before my symptoms started. . . . Hmmmmm, you don't suppose . . . Naw, surely not.
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.
The Naturopath who did my Fecal Transplant suggested I take Activated Charcoal to help rid my gut of the Cdiff pathogens.... big mistake! Those little bits of charcoal tore up my gut as they passed through and I had incredibly painful cramps and sever diarrhea.... he had a lot of patients who had great success with this.... however, none of them had MC.
I think diatomaceous earth would have the same effect on one's gut. I get nervous around those opinionated, closed minded folks....
sunny
I think diatomaceous earth would have the same effect on one's gut. I get nervous around those opinionated, closed minded folks....
sunny
"It is very difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. "
Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
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Sheila
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Thanks, Tex and Nancy. Back in the 1970s when I had a very large vegetable garden up North, I remember buying and using diatomaceous earth for "something". Can't remember what. The garden was organic and it was sometimes difficult to keep the buggers out. I like the ground glass analogy and will keep it in mind next time I see this irritating woman. Back in the day, we assumed the food we ate wasn't harmful to our health. Little did we know.
I've been taking budesinide every third day for a couple of months and think I'm ready to take it down to every fourth day. With a settled diet, no more stupid experimenting, and the realization that this is about as good as it's going to get, I'm pretty confident I can wean off budesinide and just rely on diet to keep the D away. Of course, I have no guarantee that stress won't rear it's ugly head at any time. I know when times are stressful, my diet has to be bare bones and non-irritating. If worse comes to worse, there is immodium.
Thanks again.
Sheila W
I've been taking budesinide every third day for a couple of months and think I'm ready to take it down to every fourth day. With a settled diet, no more stupid experimenting, and the realization that this is about as good as it's going to get, I'm pretty confident I can wean off budesinide and just rely on diet to keep the D away. Of course, I have no guarantee that stress won't rear it's ugly head at any time. I know when times are stressful, my diet has to be bare bones and non-irritating. If worse comes to worse, there is immodium.
Thanks again.
Sheila W
To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.
A person who never made a mistake never tried something new. Einstein
A person who never made a mistake never tried something new. Einstein
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UkuleleLady
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- Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 4:45 pm
- Location: Texas
Hi Sheila,
I'm pretty much in the same boat with realizing this is about as good as it will be. I've been off entocort for almost two months and doing fairly well with the diet. I haven't used immodium yet but I keep pepto around.
Good luck on your next taper. And with dealing with that pushy lady!
Nancy
I'm pretty much in the same boat with realizing this is about as good as it will be. I've been off entocort for almost two months and doing fairly well with the diet. I haven't used immodium yet but I keep pepto around.
Good luck on your next taper. And with dealing with that pushy lady!
Nancy
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~The Dalai Lama
Great news Sheila. Continued success with your taper down of budesinide.Sheila wrote:Thanks, Tex and Nancy. Back in the 1970s when I had a very large vegetable garden up North, I remember buying and using diatomaceous earth for "something". Can't remember what. The garden was organic and it was sometimes difficult to keep the buggers out. I like the ground glass analogy and will keep it in mind next time I see this irritating woman. Back in the day, we assumed the food we ate wasn't harmful to our health. Little did we know.
I've been taking budesinide every third day for a couple of months and think I'm ready to take it down to every fourth day. With a settled diet, no more stupid experimenting, and the realization that this is about as good as it's going to get, I'm pretty confident I can wean off budesinide and just rely on diet to keep the D away. Of course, I have no guarantee that stress won't rear it's ugly head at any time. I know when times are stressful, my diet has to be bare bones and non-irritating. If worse comes to worse, there is immodium.
Thanks again.
Sheila W