New to Budesonide treatment + psyllium + hemorrhoid

[tex]

I did read some posts about Psyllium helping.

Remember, the "helping" is usually just adding bulk to the stool. It definitely does not reduce inflammation — it usually adds to the inflammation.

I have been using Almond Milk for a long time but I'm wondering if I need SOME calcium. I'm just in a quandary as to what to do now.

Most brands of almond milk contain at least as much calcium as cow's milk. I've never taken a calcium supplement. As long as I take vitamin D, I worry more about absorbing too much calcium than absorbing too little.

I had to drink a bottle of Magnesium Citrate the morning of my test. Five minutes later I suddenly felt terrible and almost passed out. I sat down and it did go away quickly but it scared me. I will ask the GI doctor about that. I didn't feel well most of the week. I could have just forgotten about the whole episode but the 20 polyps really upset me. 14 of them were precancerous.

You might be allergic to one of the inactive ingredients in that prep solution, or it might have caused a shock to your intestines that triggered a dip in your blood pressure for some reason. Magnesium lowers blood pressure, but normally not that drastically.

Yes, definitely discuss that with your doctor. He or she can prescribe a different prep next time. At any rate, it's good that your doctor is staying on top of the polyp situation by scheduling another colonoscopy so soon. That will allow them to catch any polyps that were so small that they might have missed them last time.

Tex

[Jeanie]

Thanks muchTex!! My doctor wanted to find me a new GI Doctor but I feel that I do better here!

Jean

[Jeanie]

Tex, this really is a mystery to me. I have just looked up about cause and treatment for polyps. One article says that a multivitamin containing 400 IU of Vit D was associated with reducing polyp risk aby about 25%. It also suggested getting 645 IU of D plus aspirin plus 4 grams of cereal fiber a day helped some also. I keep a record of the Daily Meds I take. Looking up Nov 2011 I was taking 2000IU of Vit D daily. Now I am taking 5000 IU of D3 and have been for a long time. That is in addition to 2000 IU contained in my multivitamin. But you see in May 2011 I had only one small polyp.

This is a quote from your response on Dec 10th. "I doubt that the vitamin D you've been taking lately had time to help. The polyps were probably developing before then. Vitamin D can't destroy them if they are already growing, it can only help to prevent the formation of new ones." In 2015 I was taking 8000 IU of Vit D3. So now I am confused.

How do I balance the fiber along with my IBD? I am still in shock over the 20 polyps. (Would my Diabetes have an effect?) How can that be?


Jean

[tex]

Most research shows that fiber has no effect on polyps. I believe it takes several years for polyps to grow large enough to be seen during a colonoscopy. I'm not sure of the exact amount of time needed.

Yes, I'm pretty sure that diabetes might have a lot to do with it because insulin resistance will have a large effect on transporting nutrients out of the bloodstream and into the cells where it's needed. IOU, that vitamin D and magnesium might not have been helping you as much as it would if you didn't have diabetes. The way this works is explained in my Pancreatic Cancer book.

From page 20:

Could a chronic magnesium deficiency lead to the development of type 2 diabetes?
As we will see in the next chapter, it's well known that magnesium deficiency is correlated with insulin resistance, and it's a medical fact that many people who have type 2 diabetes have low blood magnesium levels. This connection is very likely the reason why diabetes is also closely associated with pancreatic cancer. Diabetes is listed in this book as a separate risk for the development of pancreatic cancer, but bear in mind that magnesium deficiency might possibly be the primary reason why diabetes is associated with PC.

And from page 25:

Magnesium and insulin are co-dependent.
One cannot function properly without the other. And this is a 2-way street in many regards. Not only does a magnesium deficiency cause insulin resistance in the cells of the body, and reduced insulin production by the pancreas, but there is a reciprocal effect. Insulin is responsible for the transport of nutrients to locations where they can either be immediately utilized or stored for future use. When the availability and effectiveness of insulin is compromised, extra magnesium in the blood cannot be properly stored, so most of it may be wasted, instead (Sircus, 2009).27

This can dramatically increase the odds that diabetes patients may develop a magnesium deficiency. And of course as the magnesium deficiency becomes worse, insulin resistance may increase and insulin production by the pancreas may decline even further.

But even stronger evidence of the association between magnesium deficiency and diabetes has been found by researchers. Research published by Hruby et al. (2014) found that higher magnesium intake reduces the risk of insulin resistance and the risk of progression from a prediabetic condition to diabetes.28 In that study, people who had the highest magnesium intake had only about half the risk (53 %) of metabolic interference or diabetes development compared with those who had the lowest magnesium intake. This information is especially important for those who have been told by their physicians that their blood test results indicate that they are at a stage known as prediabetes.

References 27 and 28 from the quote above:

27. Sircus, M. (2009, December 8). The Insulin Magnesium Story [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://drsircus.com/medicine/magnesium/ ... um-story-2

28. Hruby, A., Meigs, J. B., O’Donnell, C. J., Jacques, P. F., & McKeown, N. M. (2014). Higher Magnesium Intake Reduces Risk of Impaired Glucose and Insulin Metabolism and Progression From Prediabetes to Diabetes in Middle-Aged Americans. Diabetes Care, 37(2), 419-427. Retrieved from http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/37/2/419

Tex

[Jeanie]

Thank you so much Tex. I have to wonder why doctors aren't more involved with advising us to use things like magnesium rather than drugs for everything. Of course, I think I know why!! I was not aware of the need for magnesium and why do they come up with magnesium oxide rather than magnesium glycinate? I have had Diabetes 2 since around 2004. My colonoscopy was good in 2011. But such a dramatic change in 6 years! It's scary. I hope I'm on the right track now.

Jean

[tex]

You might have run low on vitamin D and/or magnesium at some point back in that time period, but it takes a while for the effects to show up. I apparently ran critically low on vitamin D, magnesium, and B-12 about 5 or 6 years after my digestive symptoms began, because my peripheral neuropathy didn't became apparent until sometime after I had already started taking supplements. The symptoms may have been present, but if they were, I was overlooking them.

Tex

[Gulfside]

That magnesium oxide was doing you very little good. We can only absorb between 2 and 3 % of magnesium oxide The rest may act more like a laxative than a supplement, because it stays in the intestines.

I'm convinced! got my Mag glycinate today but am wary of taking enough to set my (already busy) gut off. I take a migraine supplement that provides about 170 mg of Mag a day. I'd like to add 400 of the mag glycinate but I'm having loose stools already (with tenesmus. and a hemorrhoid. ) I'm chickening out at 200 which is a total of 370 mg. think that's enough?

Off topic, I had my thyroid ablated two months ago which sent me into hyperthyroid for a while and, of course, set off the colitis. Those symptoms are resolving but I still have loose stools at 2 or 3 times a day and I've lost 20 lbs. Not sure how I would tell thyroid from LC cause for diarrhea...

thanks for all you do.

[Jeanie]

I seem to be doing fairly good right now. At least a lot better. Most of the pills I take are supplements. It seems that when you have a lot of medical problems it gets rather complicated. I had a cardiologist tell me that she wasnt interested in talking about anything other than my heart. Come on now - I’m not just a heart, an arm, a leg, or a stomach. I’ve got many parts and they had better work together! Even though we need to list our meds for each doctor, I’m not sure how much attention they pay. Medical care of necessity has became very specialized. Yet it all has to work together.

Meanwhile, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Jean

[tex]

Jean,

My experience has been that they pay very little or no attention to the list of meds. They might look at it, but any interaction problem on the list is almost always overlooked or ignored. You can get much better advice from your pharmacist when you need to be careful about drug interactions (which is anytime you're taking two or more drugs).

One of the main problems with too many physicians these days is that they don't want to have to learn about all the body's systems. After learning some simple basics, it's much easier for them to proclaim themselves a specialist and then all they have to learn about is a small specialized area of medicine. I agree with you — it's a cop out.

Thanks, and Happy New Year to you.

Tex

[Jeanie]

Tex, I think we both nailed it. Just thinkin’. my mother died at 59 from a stroke. My dad at 73 from a stroke plus cardiac arrest. My brother was 69 and died of brain cancer. My cousin was 60 and died of the same kind of brain tumor. I am 86 and going square dancing tonight. I feel pretty fortunate! Blessings on all of you!

Jean

[tex]

Jean,

Good for you. You must be doing something right — no question about that.

Enjoy.

Tex

[Jeanie]

I have an appointment coming up at the Oncology clinic with someone regarding my DNA. They are puzzled about my 20 polyps in the last colonoscopy. Today I was thinking that I started the UVB treatments six years ago and my previous colonoscopy was six years ago. Could there be a connection. The treatments very slowly cleared up the rashes and lesions. But am I paying the price? Seems I’m waging more than one war! I don’t think my eating has changed significantly. I started gluten free 10 or 11 years ago and 6 years ago I was okay. It’s a mystery.

Jean

[tex]

Yes, there might be a connection (IMO) because the mucosal lining of the digestive tract is similar to the skin. It's exposed to the outside world (whatever you ingest) and it has to protect the body from foreign invasion just as the skin is a barrier against whatever it's exposed to. There's no medical research to back this up, but I suspect that it's possible for the action of UV light on the skin to affect the behavior of the mucosal lining of the gut. There is research to show that light activates T cells (lymphocytes) in the skin, so that might happen in the mucosal lining of the intestines as well.

Phan, T. X., Jaruga, B., Pingle, S. C., Bandyopadhyay, B. C., & Ahern, G. P. (2016). Intrinsic Photosensitivity Enhances Motility of T Lymphocytes. Scientific Reports, 6, 39479. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/articles/srep39479

Tex

[Jeanie]

Wow, Tex
Thank you so much. I’ve tried for hours to get some information at my dermatology clinic and I can’t even get in to see the doctor regarding a sore lesion that needs attention. That is in addition to this matter and now you have so promptly responded. That connection of the six year period sort of hit me between the eyes. I knew I could count on you. I’ve been asked who treats my MCC problem and people seem to think I need a gastro doctor but I don’t find my help there. It is here!

[Jeanie]

Tex,

I finally had the appointment with someone at the Oncology Clinic. She did not think that the UVB light could have been the cause. I also asked that of the Dermatology Clinic where I get my treatments. They don't seem to think so either. They didn't see how that UVB could affect the Colon. But now I had another thought. The reason I got on this forum was because of my Microscopic Collagenous Colitis. Although I wasn't diagnosed until 2006 (actually that was my FIRST colonoscopy) I most likely had it a lot longer. I have to wonder if there is a connection to that causing the Polyps. It scares me because I have to have another colonoscopy come this December (one year after the last one) I am still upset because my secondary insurance company says there was no reason for me to have the colonoscopy! Duh!! I finally paid it because it's not worth going to collection. Guess they didn't care about the amount of polyps, only that I'm over 75! If Medicare doesn't pay this next one, I'm cooked. It was frightfully expensive. But I surely don't want Colon Cancer! I'm so thankful that I did have that last one.

Jean