Thank you all for all of the information you share! It has helped me to understand this condition. I was diagnosed with Collagenous Colitis 8 years ago and still have not got it under control! I was on budesonide for the past 1 1/2 years and it was the only time I wasn't suffering with WD in all these years. I finally weaned off of it one month ago and as soon as I did all the symptoms came right back (maybe even worse then before). I know it has to be food sensitivities so I finally sent for Enterolab testing (A1,C1 test panels). My results aren't that high (I'm assuming because I've only been off medication for a month). I really need to adjust my diet to see if that controls my symptoms because I don't want to go on the Budesonide again! Because of the low numbers on casein would you suggest to stay away from Milk products and also the foods in the 1+ categories?
My Enterolab Results:
Comprehensive Gluten/Antigenic Food Sensitivity Stool Panel
Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 31 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA 11 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 17 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-soy IgA 14 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 11 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Food to which there was no significant immunological reactivity:
Rice
Beef
Chicken
Pork
Cashew
White potato
Food to which there was some immunological reactivity (1+):
Corn
Tuna
Almond
Walnut
Food to which there was moderate immunological reactivity (2+):
Oat
Food to which there was significant and/or the most immunological reactivity (3+):
None
Thank you for all your help!!
Enterolab Results Question For Long Time Sufferer!
Moderators: Rosie, JFR, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Hi Rhonda,
Welcome to our Internet family. To be honest, after you took budesonide for a year and a half, and only waited a month to do the EnteroLab tests, I'm kind of surprised that anything would show a positive result other than gluten. Your antibody levels must have been relatively high when you started taking the budesonide. The lab advises waiting about 6 months after a budesonide treatment has been ended. Your test results would have surely been much higher if you had waited longer. If you had never taken budesonide, those 1+ foods would have probably been in the 2+ category. And it's not impossible that they might have been in the 3+ category.
That even raises the possibility that some (or all) of the foods that showed no reactivity might have been in the 1+ category or higher. If I were in your situation I would definitely keep an eye on beef and chicken, and keep a food and reaction journal to help track down problems. So yes, you probably should avoid all of the 1+ foods, especially since you can easily do without those and the oats, and still have plenty of food choices available. You can always test the 1+ foods back into your diet one at a time, later, to see if you may be able to tolerate them after you have been in remission for a while.
The problem with leaving suspect foods in your diet while you are trying to recover, if any of those foods should prevent you from reaching remission you would naturally assume that the diet doesn't work after all, and then you would have no recourse. And even if you didn't lose faith in using diet changes to control your MC symptoms you wouldn't know which food was the problem, and if you never figured out which one it was, and cut it out of your diet, you might never reach remission.
IOW, we can't be too cautious when we are trying to recover, because any minor mistake can prevent us from reaching remission. We have to do everything right to get the disease under control, especially if we want to do it in as short a time as possible. And after all, why wouldn't anyone want to reach remission as soon as possible?
A simple, bland, diet that excludes all of the foods that cause your immune system to produce antibodies, and minimizes all foods that tend to irritate the gut (such as fiber and sugar) is the fastest, surest way to remission, so that you can get on with your life.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything. And I hope that some of this is helpful.
Tex
Welcome to our Internet family. To be honest, after you took budesonide for a year and a half, and only waited a month to do the EnteroLab tests, I'm kind of surprised that anything would show a positive result other than gluten. Your antibody levels must have been relatively high when you started taking the budesonide. The lab advises waiting about 6 months after a budesonide treatment has been ended. Your test results would have surely been much higher if you had waited longer. If you had never taken budesonide, those 1+ foods would have probably been in the 2+ category. And it's not impossible that they might have been in the 3+ category.
That even raises the possibility that some (or all) of the foods that showed no reactivity might have been in the 1+ category or higher. If I were in your situation I would definitely keep an eye on beef and chicken, and keep a food and reaction journal to help track down problems. So yes, you probably should avoid all of the 1+ foods, especially since you can easily do without those and the oats, and still have plenty of food choices available. You can always test the 1+ foods back into your diet one at a time, later, to see if you may be able to tolerate them after you have been in remission for a while.
The problem with leaving suspect foods in your diet while you are trying to recover, if any of those foods should prevent you from reaching remission you would naturally assume that the diet doesn't work after all, and then you would have no recourse. And even if you didn't lose faith in using diet changes to control your MC symptoms you wouldn't know which food was the problem, and if you never figured out which one it was, and cut it out of your diet, you might never reach remission.
IOW, we can't be too cautious when we are trying to recover, because any minor mistake can prevent us from reaching remission. We have to do everything right to get the disease under control, especially if we want to do it in as short a time as possible. And after all, why wouldn't anyone want to reach remission as soon as possible?
A simple, bland, diet that excludes all of the foods that cause your immune system to produce antibodies, and minimizes all foods that tend to irritate the gut (such as fiber and sugar) is the fastest, surest way to remission, so that you can get on with your life.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything. And I hope that some of this is helpful.
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.
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Gabes-Apg
- Emperor Penguin
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- Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:12 pm
- Location: Hunter Valley NSW Australia
Rhonda
welcome!
even though the dairy result is not high, dairy is a highly inflammatory ingredient, and would make reactions to other ingredients worse.
if you want to avoid going on the budenside again I would remove gluten, dairy, soy, eggs. stick with a bland, well cooked, low fibre, low inflammation eating plan.
Home made bone broth makes a great basis for stoups and stews for this eating plan, and is filled with loads of gut healing nutrients. (commercial forms do not have the important gut healing ingredients - has to be home made)
For now I would avoid processed gluten free products as they can either a) contain alot of soy and/or sugar and b) use flour types that you will still react to.
if you read some of the success stories posts, and posts in the main message board, you will see that this type of eating plan does work.
hope this helps
welcome!
even though the dairy result is not high, dairy is a highly inflammatory ingredient, and would make reactions to other ingredients worse.
if you want to avoid going on the budenside again I would remove gluten, dairy, soy, eggs. stick with a bland, well cooked, low fibre, low inflammation eating plan.
you have some safe proteins, maybe have a couple of vegetables like carrot or sweet potato with the rice.Food to which there was no significant immunological reactivity:
Rice
Beef
Chicken
Pork
Cashew
White potato
Home made bone broth makes a great basis for stoups and stews for this eating plan, and is filled with loads of gut healing nutrients. (commercial forms do not have the important gut healing ingredients - has to be home made)
For now I would avoid processed gluten free products as they can either a) contain alot of soy and/or sugar and b) use flour types that you will still react to.
if you read some of the success stories posts, and posts in the main message board, you will see that this type of eating plan does work.
hope this helps
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama