Need advice

[snowycrystal]

Hi guys..…Just wondering how many times a day do you guys have D on average?
Also, were your fecal calprotectin/CRP/ESR/white blood cell count/lymphocyte count (for those with LC) higher than normal?
My story:
I suffered with symptoms for 2 years and finally got a colonoscopy in Dec 2015. Because my colon LOOKED normal, no biopsies were taken and I was diagnosed with IBS. (I doubt my gastro know that the colon could still look normal even with MC because Crohn’s and UC is very very rare in my country, so it’s not well known)
Anyways, I’ve been experiencing a change of symptoms recently. In the past, I had attacks of D every morning after eating breakfast. Recently, my BMs are occurring past midnight everyday.
I’ve read that D that occurs in the night time is a red flag symptom of IBD but I’m not sure if my D will wake me up if I’m asleep because I only go to bed at 3 or 4am.
My BM is also in a very soft texture - like mashed avocados. It’s watery when I have a severe attack accompanied by stabbing pain on my left colon.
Besides that, I also suffer from mild acid reflux and joint pain. I frequently have mouth ulcers that forms continuously at different spots. 4 years ago, I was also constantly taking ibuprofen for about a year. My symptoms started half a year after I started taking ibuprofen but only worsen 2 years ago.
Based on these symptoms, do they sound like microscopic colitis? Is it worth the trouble and cost of getting another colonoscopy with biopsies to rule out/confirm my suspicion?
Thanks in advance

[tex]

Hi,

Welcome to our Internet family. We consider ourselves a family because no one truly understands this disease unless they actually have it.

The symptoms you describe are very typical of MC. The bad news is that if untreated, it often becomes very frequent episodes of watery D and in some cases nocturnal "accidents" can happen. Some patients wake up in time, some don't. But in most cases nocturnal accidents are rather rare. The good news is that the symptoms can be controlled without medications or any other medical intervention. Most of us here control/prevent symptoms by carefully avoiding certain foods in our diet, and of course we avoid all medications that can trigger the disease (including ibuprofen).

In the U. S., calprotectin tests are not very often used. They are sometimes use for Crohn's disease, but for MC the test level is usually only slightly elevated and rarely high enough to provide a definitive result. Sometimes white cell counts are elevated, but not always. The only definitive diagnostic criteria require the examination of biopsy samples under a microscope.

You can successfully treat and control the disease without an official diagnosis, but if you want a prescription for any of the drugs that GI specialists typically use to treat the disease then you would need an official diagnosis. The problem with treating MC with drugs is that when the treatment is stopped, the symptoms soon return. So the drug prescription must either be renewed, or the patient has to learn to just live with the symptoms, which we all know isn't much fun.

The acid reflux, joint pain, and mouth sores are also very common with MC. Taking plenty of vitamin D and avoiding the foods that are causing the inflammation associated with MC will allow you to control/prevent all of those symptoms, including the D. But it takes a while for the gut to heal after the diet changes are made.

We have quite a few members from Australia, and they can provide suggestions on how to find safe foods for your diet, and answer any other questions. You'll receive more responses if you post in the Main Message Forum.

I hope that some of this is helpful. Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

hi there
welcome to the group - and sympathies that you had to find us.

my suggestion is, whether you have MC or not, the diet and lifestyle changes we suggest work quite well for any IBD issue.
If you are willing, try the eating plan etc that we suggest for a few months. if after 3-4 months there is no improvement Or if things get worse in this period, then schedule colonoscopy and request biopsies.

I have just started a post with the outline of the low inflammation eating plan for the early stages of MC..
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22318

Also check out the posts in the main message board and in the how will MC affect my life areas - alot of what is discussed applies to all IBD's
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=76

hope this helps.