Hi Chris,
Antibiotics are notorious for triggering MC flares. The only antibiotics that don't regularly cause a flare are the fluoroquinolones (including Cipro), but the problem with the fluoroquinolones is that they have a lot of serious side effect risks, so it's tough to win with antibiotics when you have MC.
Check the label on the Colestipol. If it contains a form of lactose that may be the cause of the adverse symptoms.
The brain fog is very common with MC flares. According to research it's associated with gluten sensitivity, but it appears that during a flare, peptides from other partially-digested foods to which we are sensitive can also cross the blood-brain barrier to cause brain fog. It will usually fade away as our gut inflammation resolves and our digestive system begins to heal. As far as I'm aware, that symptom isn't associated with histamine/mast cell problems, at least not directly.
A common cause of brain fog however is magnesium deficiency, and most IBD patients tend to become even more magnesium deficient during a flare because of the dehydration and malabsorption problems. A magnesium deficiency can cause a significant increase in the rate of conversion of histame into histamine, so it's possible that this may be the mechanism by which magnesium causes brain fog, but that has not been documented by medical research, to the best of my knowledge.
Yes, the American Gastroenterological Association Institute recommends budesonide as the first line of treatment for MC. They also now recognize the option of extended use for treating MC. In December, when they issued new guidelines, they included this recommendation:
5. For patients whose symptoms relapse when a budesonide treatment regimen is completed, the guidelines recommend continued treatment with budesonide in order to maintain clinical remission.
Many members here find it necessary to eat a bland recovery diet in order to allow budesonide to work. Everyone is different, but the bottom line is that budesonide seems to work much more effectively in some cases than others. The key to healing though is eating plenty of safe protein. Rice is by far the safest grain.
Tex
