Hi Gang... hope you're all doing as well as possible with this challenging affliction. As long as we all keep trying to find what works for us, this disease WILL NOT defeat us (right???)
I have been eating ketogenically for about 6 months which means I've had no gluten, carbs or fruits. Wednesday I had ONE BITE of melon and a few hours later I was bloated (to the point I had to open my pants) and was in such severe pain I could barely walk. The next day, again, I had one bite of fruit (someone had brought in fruit salad to the office) and again, few hours later, my belly blew up and I was in severe pain.
I wracked my brain to think of what I did differently those two days and all I came up with was the fruit. It wasn't my first thought since it was literally only two chunks, one each day. But could that small amount cause that after I'd consumed none for so many months?
As stupid as it sounds, I just ate two large pieces now (since it's a weekend and I don't have to be anywhere) to test my theory and today I'm in pain but not as bad. So do we lose our tolerance and then start to build it again when we start ingesting the food? Do you think my theory that my 2 days of pain was caused by the tiny amount of fruit holds any truth?
And lastly, I now have to wonder if I should eat one small piece of fruit daily to keep my tolerance up because I don't want to accidentally ingest some someday and be buckled over.
Your thoughts?
Sue
Do our tolerances / intolerances change as we omit foods?
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Do our tolerances / intolerances change as we omit foods?
Sue
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Thanks, Gabe. I actually wasn't suspecting that it was MC related but whenever I want to learn something about the gut and our intestinal tracts, this is the place I come searching. Who knows more about that stuff that the people on here, right?Gabes-Apg wrote:Sue,
Thant is not necessarily a MC reaction. I have NON Mc friends that follow keto and the same thing happens to them when they have something too starchy or sugary.
So what you say makes sense because BEFORE I went keto I used to eat a small amount of fruit every day without issue. I figured it was the giving it up and then going back that caused the problem... so I guess in a sense it is keto-related. Think this is fructose intolerance? or just the re-introduction to fructose and the body reacting to the now "foreign" substance?
Sue
Sue
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Hi Sue,
Here's my two cents worth:
I believe that Gabes is on the right track about this issue. We lose our ability to produce certain enzymes in normal amounts when we develop MC. We continue to lose additional enzyme-production ability when we remove associated foods from our diet. So if we add a food back into our diet after a long period, we may have to start slowly and build up our enzyme-producing ability again. As MC patients, we may never be able to reach a normal enzyme-production level again, because that potential appears to be limited by the disease.
That said, after my digestive problems started, watermelon has always had the effect you described. Watermelon contains certain chemicals that most of us can't handle. As for the fruit, unless you are in a flare and can't tolerate citric acid, the problem you describe is probably caused by a deficiency of fructase, or whatever the enzyme that digests fructose is called, and you may just need to slowly recover your ability to produce it.
At least that's what I think, and I can assure you that my thoughts are probably worth no more than two cents.
Tex
Here's my two cents worth:
I believe that Gabes is on the right track about this issue. We lose our ability to produce certain enzymes in normal amounts when we develop MC. We continue to lose additional enzyme-production ability when we remove associated foods from our diet. So if we add a food back into our diet after a long period, we may have to start slowly and build up our enzyme-producing ability again. As MC patients, we may never be able to reach a normal enzyme-production level again, because that potential appears to be limited by the disease.
That said, after my digestive problems started, watermelon has always had the effect you described. Watermelon contains certain chemicals that most of us can't handle. As for the fruit, unless you are in a flare and can't tolerate citric acid, the problem you describe is probably caused by a deficiency of fructase, or whatever the enzyme that digests fructose is called, and you may just need to slowly recover your ability to produce it.
At least that's what I think, and I can assure you that my thoughts are probably worth no more than two cents.
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.
And I, my dear friend, can assure YOU that your thoughts, opinions, and insight are worth much more to me and everyone else here than apparently you'll ever realize. I always get so excited when I see that you replied to a question or post of mine, and I know that whether you are just sharing your thoughts or actually siting knowledge from medical references, that you are more than likely 99% on the right track. Your comment reminded me of an incident a few years ago when my husband came home with a watermelon. I hadn't given up fruit at that point and thought "Hell, it's mostly water and sugar, this can't hurt." BOY was I wrong. i was baffled as to why an innocent watermelon would cause so much distress. Sheesh!tex wrote:Hi Sue,
At least that's what I think, and I can assure you that my thoughts are probably worth no more than two cents.
Tex
So if I started having just a few ounces of fruit every day to keep some of those digestive enzymes around, would I be doing anything negative to my healing process? Right now I am on one Entocort every OTHER day and started a low dose of 6MP about 3 weeks ago, so in another month or so I may just give up the Entocort and see what happens.
Sue
Sue
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Hi Sue,
Thanks for the vote of confidence. As far as I'm aware, eating a small amount of anything that you want to retain the ability to digest is the best way to retain that capacity in the long run — unless you happen to be sensitive to that food. While it's unlikely, unfortunately it's not impossible to develop a food sensitivity over time. Three years ago I became sensitive to soy (which was confirmed by an EnteroLab score of 20 units). About eight or nine years prior to that, an EnteroLab test result for soy was negative. But remember that we can only be sensitive (produce antibodies) to proteins, not sugars.
So theoretically at least, we can't be sensitive to fruit sugar, and I don't believe that fruits contain any significant amount of proteins, let alone reactive proteins. But of course every time we state a simple fact such as "we can only be sensitive to proteins, not sugars", there is at least one exception — and that exception in this case is galactose-alpha-1,3,-galactose (referred to as simply alpha-gal), the carbohydrate responsible for mammalian meat allergy. But that allergy is fairly rare, and it's due to sensitization caused by a tick bite.
Glad you look forward to my answers. I look forward to your questions because you tend to raise some original, interesting questions.
Tex
Thanks for the vote of confidence. As far as I'm aware, eating a small amount of anything that you want to retain the ability to digest is the best way to retain that capacity in the long run — unless you happen to be sensitive to that food. While it's unlikely, unfortunately it's not impossible to develop a food sensitivity over time. Three years ago I became sensitive to soy (which was confirmed by an EnteroLab score of 20 units). About eight or nine years prior to that, an EnteroLab test result for soy was negative. But remember that we can only be sensitive (produce antibodies) to proteins, not sugars.
So theoretically at least, we can't be sensitive to fruit sugar, and I don't believe that fruits contain any significant amount of proteins, let alone reactive proteins. But of course every time we state a simple fact such as "we can only be sensitive to proteins, not sugars", there is at least one exception — and that exception in this case is galactose-alpha-1,3,-galactose (referred to as simply alpha-gal), the carbohydrate responsible for mammalian meat allergy. But that allergy is fairly rare, and it's due to sensitization caused by a tick bite.
Glad you look forward to my answers. I look forward to your questions because you tend to raise some original, interesting questions.
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.
OK, so first order of business is to get rid of these stomach pains I've had for the past four days. They were definitely worse on the three of the four days I had a bite of fruit so I'm hoping in a few days with no fruit my digestive tract will revert back to where it was a week ago. THEN, I will find a bland fruit to have a small amount of on a daily basis, perahps with my lunch, since I"m always looking for some sort of "dessert" with lunch.
Next order of business is to see if this lower back pain I've had for 3 weeks is a result of the 6MP (mercaptopurine) drug I started taking. I don't think so, but since one of the "Call your doctor if you have any of these symptoms . . ." is lower back pain, I called him about it and he ordered blood work and a back x-ray.
The journey continues. Every time I figure out how to manage one ailment, another, one pops up. I've pretty much accepted that it's my fate in this lifetime to keep getting and fixing the more unique issues that can afflict a human, and I really picked a doozy with collagenous colitis, didn't I? Hell, at least I'm in good company.
Sue
Next order of business is to see if this lower back pain I've had for 3 weeks is a result of the 6MP (mercaptopurine) drug I started taking. I don't think so, but since one of the "Call your doctor if you have any of these symptoms . . ." is lower back pain, I called him about it and he ordered blood work and a back x-ray.
The journey continues. Every time I figure out how to manage one ailment, another, one pops up. I've pretty much accepted that it's my fate in this lifetime to keep getting and fixing the more unique issues that can afflict a human, and I really picked a doozy with collagenous colitis, didn't I? Hell, at least I'm in good company.
Sue
Sue
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!
Diagnosed November 2004, Used Asacol and Lialda, sometimes worked, sometimes made it worse. Entocort always works but hate it. Remission only lasts 3-6 months and then back on Entocort. Enterolab test July 2017, now gluten free. Time will tell!