Too much to wrap my head around

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tex
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Post by tex »

There are multiple issues with fasting.

First, our immune system uses a lot of energy fighting the inflammation. We have to eat significant amounts of protein regularly just to keep the status of the gut (and our general health) from deteriorating further.

Second, most MC patients have secretory diarrhea when the disease is fully active. Normally, the colon removes and recycles water and electrolytes from the lumen (the interior of the intestine). But when secretory D is active, the process is reversed and water and electrolytes are infused into the lumen of the colon. That's why the volume of D can be so high with MC. And secretory D will not stop just because there is no food in the digestive system. It will continue until the body runs completely out of water, and of course that's a dangerous level of dehydration.

That said, some members of the forum have used intermittent fasting in order to be able to go out to run errands or make short trips. And others have tried it as a treatment aid. It's possible though that the reason why it worked for them (to reduce the urgency) was because they were having (regular) osmotic D rather than secretory D because their MC was at a lower level of activation at the time. But that's strictly speculation because I have no way of knowing the actual details.

Here's a link to a post on the topic (not associated with MC):

Intermittent Fasting

And yes, intermittent fasting is part of a paeo lifestyle (at least it was part of the original paleo lifestyle, back in paleo times).

New Paleo Book by Loren Cordain

It's also mentioned in some threads, such as these, where it was used as part of an MC treatment program:

Success with intermittent fasting....

Juicing

I hope that some of this is helpful.

Tex
:cowboy:

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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