Recently Diagnosed LC - Symptoms Subsided - Don't Know Why?

Redrockgal · Post by **Redrockgal** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 4:07 pm

Hello, I was just diagnosed last Friday and am very thankful for this forum! I have read numerous threads and have gained much info, encouragement and insight. My WD started exactly on 4/22 and I initially thought that it was from food poisoning or using well water while camping, especially as my SO came down with nausea and unsettled colon with no D. But after I had numerous stool tests and a Colonpscopy last week, I have LC. When the WD started, I went on the BRAT diet and eventually added in eggs, fish, chicken and ground turkey and zucchini or asparagus tips. The D continued until I made some recent changes as follows:
- last Thursday I discontinued taking a BP med, Losartan, as I read it is high risk for MC
- on Friday I began taking Align probiotic. I had been taking Culturelle for the week before
- on Saturday morning I almost had a Norman but I had D later in the day
- Saturday afternoon I began taking Actifed (antihistamine) for my allergies
- on Sunday I discontinued eggs. This was my best day by far as I felt things getting back to normal. Had two BMs.
Today, Monday, is also a good day so far!

I shouldn't be questioning this, but now I'm not sure what I am doing right. I'm thinking that the Losartan may be the culprit. I still take Simvastatin as well. I have been taking PPIs (Omeprazole) for several years and am slowly tapering it as well, but still take it every other day.
Could this be just an end of a flare that could rear its ugly head again?

Post by **tex** » Mon Jun 03, 2019 6:36 pm

Hi,

Welcome to the group. You're asking some very tough questions. Here are my thoughts:

You're making so many changes (at basically the same time), that it's tough to pinpoint what may be helping. Regarding the medications you've been taking, the most likely suspect is the PPIs. Your improvements may be due to decreasing the dose. But that's just a guess, because we're all different in our vulnerability (sensitivity) to various potential triggers. Years of taking PPIs may have carried you to the edge, and the digestive issue you had while camping may have pushed you over the cliff. But in some cases, if a drug initially induced our MC, then stopping that drug (before we develop a leaky gut and all the food sensitivities that are caused by it) can bring remission without any need for diet changes. Unfortunately, not many of us are that lucky.

Regarding flares, we're all vulnerable to a flare at any time if do something wrong and/or we're exposed to one of our triggers.

Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.

Tex

Redrockgal · Post by **Redrockgal** » Sun Jun 09, 2019 9:28 am

I wasn't so lucky after all. The remission lasted exactly one week and now the D has returned. I've kept a food diary and didn't eat anything different. I have been eating eggs, gluten and soy as they didn't trigger my symptoms during my week of remission and I hadn't yet cut them out of my diet during my flareup. I had my magnesium level checked via blood test and it is at 2.0mg/dl which is within the standard range and I'm taking Align probiotics. Is this typical behavior of LC?

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Sun Jun 09, 2019 10:26 am

Hi Redrock,

Welcome!

This disease is punctuated by ups and downs.

Consider eliminate the gluten (100%); eliminate the soy (100%) and possibly eliminate the eggs for now.
Of these three categories eggs are the safest but if you have WD eliminate the eggs.

Consider eliminate the Align and any other oral supplements until you get solid stool. When we have WD
we are wasting our money on oral supplements....they go right through us.

Go on Gabes suggested stage 1 diet. Link is at top under suggested eating plan.

PS. Mom has late stage alzheimers. I managed to get her off of Omeprazole. I eliminated the acid causing foods
and we did a 6-8 month taper. She was on the liquid Omeprazole so I think it made the taper a bit easier. She was
on a high dose of Omeprazole and had been on it for probably 25 years.

PPIs are linked to osteoporosis and also to possibly causing dementia/alzheimers.

Post by **tex** » Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:09 pm

Brandy wrote:She was on a high dose of Omeprazole and had been on it for probably 25 years.

Wow! You're clearly a world-class authority on getting patients off PPIs. Kudos to you.

Tex

Redrockgal · Post by **Redrockgal** » Mon Jun 10, 2019 4:35 pm

Thanks Tex and Brandy. Your help is greatly appreciated! I'm back to the elimination diet and Gabe's Stage 1 plan. I'll probably get the Enterolabs test after I have some home improvement (roof & painting) completed. Fortunately, the flare is a mild one.

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Wed Jun 12, 2019 4:31 pm

Tex,

It helped that she was on the liquid scrip because we could do tiny step downs. I also eliminated the obvious from her diet,
chocolate, tomatoes, tomatoe sauce, onions and green peppers.

She was on the 40 mg dose. Her brain is functioning better now. She can talk in sentences.

Post by **tex** » Wed Jun 12, 2019 5:11 pm

She had to be really magnesium deficient after all those years on a PPI. As you're probably aware I suspect that Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and probably neurodegenerative diseases in general) are caused by a long-term deficiency of magnesium, probably concurrent with a vitamin D deficiency. From pages 44–46 in my magnesium book:

Could Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease be symptoms of a chronic magnesium deficiency?
The Michael J Fox Foundation, points out that almost 80 % of Parkinson's patients have constipation. And the constipation usually begins several years before the Parkinson's symptoms begin to show up (Dolhun, 2014, December 08).42 As we have already seen in previous discussions in this book, constipation is a very common symptom of magnesium deficiency.

Furthermore, the Michael J Fox Foundation also points out that a certain protein that's found in clumps in the brains of all Parkinson's disease patients can also be found in certain other locations in the body outside of the brain, including the enteric nervous system. This protein is known as alpha-synuclein). The enteric nervous system is made up of the nerves that control the digestive system, and it's sometimes referred to as the second brain (Dolhun, 2014, December 08). The question of interest here is whether alpha-synuclein might develop in the gut first, and then spread to the brain where it eventually causes motor symptoms.

We know from published research that Parkinson's patients have lower vitamin D levels than people who don't have Parkinson's, (Kwon et al., 2016).43 We also know magnesium has been shown to prevent the clumping of alpha-synuclein (Golts et al., 2002).44 That suggests that a chronic magnesium deficiency might allow a buildup of clumps of alpha-synuclein.

A similar situation exists with Alzheimer's disease, with neurofibrillary tangles known as tau in the brain of Alzheimer's patients (Guo et al., 2013).45 So far no one has published proof that magnesium resolves neurofibrillary tangles, but some neurologists have already begun experimenting with using magnesium to treat Alzheimer's patients (Jones, 2013, May 27).46 My point here is that Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases may not actually be diseases so much as they might be symptoms of decades of ignoring a magnesium deficiency.

Remember — vitamin D and magnesium work together to protect the immune system and keep it working properly. We discussed on page two of chapter one that adequate magnesium is necessary in order to activate vitamin D so that the immune system can use it to defend the body against all types of adverse events. Perhaps some form of magnesium threonate may eventually be shown to be advantageous for treating or preventing neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

References from that quote:

42. Dolhun, R. (2014, December 08). Gut check on Parkinson's: New findings on bacteria levels. Retrieved from https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/ ... ria-levels

43. Kwon, K. Y., Jo, K. D., Lee, M. K., Oh, M, Kim, E. N., Park, J.,. . . . Jang, W. (2016). Low serum vitamin D levels may contribute to gastric dysmotility in de novo Parkinson's disease. Neurodegenerative Diseases, 16(3-4),199-205. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26735311

44. Golts, N., Snyder, H., Frasier, M., Theisler, C., Choi, P., & Wolozin, B. (2002). Magnesium inhibits spontaneous and iron-induced aggregation of alpha-synuclein. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 277(18), 16116–16123. Retrieved from http://www.jbc.org/content/277/18/16116.long

45. Guo, J. L., Covell, D. J., Daniels, J. P., Iba, M., Stieber, A., Zhang, B., & Lee, V. M. (2013). Distinct α-synuclein strains differentially promote tau inclusions in neurons. Cell Journal, 154(1),103–117. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3820001/

46. Jones, R. (2013, May 27). Magnesium supplement to treat alzheimer’s disease. Knowing Neurons. [Web log message]. Retrieved from https://knowingneurons.com/2013/05/27/m ... s-disease/

Here's another quote, this one is from page 37:

Magnesium threonate (magnesium L-threonate) is not a conventional magnesium supplement. Research shows that it can cross the blood/brain barrier to affect pain perception in the brain. Previous clinical studies have shown that chronic pain causes short-term memory (STM) deficits in approximately two-thirds of patients. Wang et al., (2013) showed (on an animal model) that magnesium L-threonate is capable of preventing and restoring short term memory deficits due to chronic neuropathic pain.34

34. Wang, J., Liu, Y., Zhou, L. J., Wu, Y., Li, F., Shen, K. F., & Liu, X. G. (2013). Magnesium L-threonate prevents and restores memory deficits associated with neuropathic pain by inhibition of TNF-α. Pain Physician Journal, 16(5), E563–575. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24077207

Have you ever tried giving her a magnesium threonate supplement to see if it might benefit her memory and/or cognizance?

Tex

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:58 am

Hi Tex,

I've had her on the mag glycinate, 400 mg for a number of years thanks to the folks on the forum. She sleeps like a charm and
is "regular".

I guess it is good I'm taking mag and D also!

I suspect long term use of ppi and long term use of benzo predisposed Mom to memory issues. She's
been off of the benzo for a number of years now.

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:01 am

Hi Tex,

Have not tried the magnesium threaonate. Will keep that in mind for my next long term visit.

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:04 am

Very interesting https://www.lifeextension.com/Magazine/ ... ng/Page-01

Kari · Post by **Kari** » Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:55 am

Hi Redrockgal,

Welcome to the group - hope you'll be able to find some helpful tips here. Dealing with this disease is plenty frustrating, and it takes time to figure out what will help, so patience is an invaluable ingredient. It also seems that each of us has to find our own way to healing, as what works for one does not necessarily work for someone else. I wish you the best of luck and apologize for not being able to give you more specific, helpful advise.

Tex - I bought Doctor's Best High Absorption Magnesium a while back, but haven't used it since I had a bad reaction. The bottle states that it is from "magnesium lysinate glycinate chelate". So my question is if this is the wrong kind of magnesium? If it is, could you tell me specifically what to buy? I have been using topical magnesium for a couple of years now. It works well, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I could benefit from getting more. Thanks in advance.

Love,
Kari

Post by **tex** » Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:43 pm

Hi Kari,

That's what the label specifies on the bottle that I'm using. But apparently something in the formulation rubs your system the wrong way. I'm not sure what to suggest. Are you sure the reaction was from the magnesium? I really don't know if any of the many other formulations would be any safer, but they might be. I wonder how magnesium orotate would work, for example. It's still well-absorbed, but it contains less than a third as much elemental magnesium.

Love,

Tex

Kari · Post by **Kari** » Thu Jun 13, 2019 5:20 pm

Thank you for your quick response Tex - I will give it another try. In general, I don't do well with anything in pill form, but I suppose my reaction could have been from something else.

Love,
Kari

Post by **tex** » Thu Jun 13, 2019 6:22 pm

Maybe your stomach doesn't like concentrated doses. I don't know about the other useful (disregarding magnesium oxide) magnesium types, but magnesium threonate is available as a powder that can be mixed with water (and it supposedly has a good taste). You might have to open and dump capsules, but that would be one option, and it would be easy to regulate the dose (since we know how much is in each capsule). I believe there's less elemental magnesium in magnesium threonate, compared with magnesium glycinate, but I have a hunch that it may still be more potent since it's capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier. The label dose is three capsules, which contain 144 mg of elemental magnesium in total. It's claimed to have less of a laxative effect than other forms of magnesium.

Love,

Tex