Gastrointestinal upset from a cold virus...

[tex]

You have to be patient, and allow your intestines the time they need to heal.

Tex

[AGM]

Thank for keeping me sane.

[AGM]

Another couple of questions...

So, it seems I have forgotten how to stick to stage one. Yesterday we went out and the food I took didn't keep me full for long enough and on returning home, in desperation (as no food was prepared and I didn't have any bananas), I ate two of the rice flour tortillas I had made with some peanut butter on one and peanut butter and a tiny bit of jam (jelly) on another. Not surprisingly things were worse today (after being much better yesterday). Though I was actually surprised. Can such a small amount of something do that? I had also taken half a Loperamide the day before yesterday and only one quarter yesterday, so I think that played a role with things being better yesterday than today, as it helped slow things down.

And....you mentioned in another post that remission is fragile. The fact I am here again shows me it really is, but what I am wondering is....does the fact a virus triggered me back into a flare and almost where I started mean that there were things I wasn't doing right in my remission? Or is it simply that remission, particularly in the early months, is indeed so fragile that a virus alone can do such a thing?

Thanks,

Alice

[tex]

Yes, very small amounts of certain foods can cause problems for us if we're sensitive to them.

Re: Remission being fragile. A virus often will tend to cause a relapse of symptoms, for many of us. But If we've had a year or more of good healing, most of us can rebound quickly. Especially if we revert to a simple, safe, diet quickly enough when the symptoms begin. Frequent diet slip-ups, however, will prevent good long-term healing from taking place, and this will tend to maintain a rather fragile remission status in most cases.

Tex

[AGM]

Thanks Tex for your quick reply.

Gosh, I need to be stricter then. Is there ever a time when 'slip ups' get less dangerous and one's body can handle a few treats here and there? I suppose after the 2-5yrs of healing.

I now wish I had gone to my very safe foods right from the first cold symptoms. I did to an extent, but not obviously as strictly as I needed to. I was in denial, thinking it wasn't a flare and it would pass.

Alice

[tex]

Yes, in order to keep microscopic colitis in indefinite remission, we have to be very strict with our diet, and carefully avoid all the food sensitivities that affect us. After a couple of years of careful diet compliance, most MC patients will be able to get away with a few accidental exposures, or even an occasional dietary indiscretion, without a major setback. But repeatedly ignoring our dietary requirements will usually cause an extended flare that's difficult to break. We can literally be back at square one before we realize what's happening.

Tex

[AGM]

Omg, I hope I'm not at square one again!!!

I suppose I'm not, as I'm only going once a day and I don't have any abdominal pain. Things just aren't bulking up as I'd expected. A tsp morning and night of psyllium husks helped do that last time and this time that's not helping at all. It makes me question if it is actually harming instead, despite having taken it all these months.

I suppose I also never had things I'm sensitive to (gluten, dairy, fibre etc), but then again I have never done any tests to know what sensitivities I have beyond the obvious. My only digressions in the past few months have been probably too much sugar on ocassion and too regular alcohol on occasion too. I suppose that is enough to prime the gut for a flare though.

[AGM]

I am feeling so utterly discouraged and upset at the moment. Things just aren't improving like I thought they would, or as quickly as they did last time. I have been on safe foods for a couple of weeks now and everything is still fluctuating between very soft and blobby to semi-formed and a bit longer, but still incredibly soft. This morning it was just all stringy again and I just don't understand why. I have slipped a few times, but this week didn't except for one small piece of dark chocolate made with only a vegan few ingredients. Is just that enough to worsen things today? Oh and I did make some walnut milk yesterday and had a glass, so it could be that.

Last time everything improved incredibly quickly and I had formed, bulkier BMs almost immediately, though I still had lots of abdominal pain. This time I have no pain, but I seem to be incredibly sensitive to fat. Last night I also had roast veggies and despite living off them last time, I am suspecting they have too much oil for me this time, as for a few days I had soups and things improved slightly, but not much. I am going to buy an air fryer so that I can do roast veggies with limited oil. But seriously....why is this not improving?! It is really stressing me out. I thought it wouldn't take long at all this time, I really did and I was doing so so well before I got the dam cold virus that triggered this flare. I'm feeling really deflated and worrying that this time nothing will work! I am also finding it more difficult to stick to my foods and even forgetting exactly how I cooked last time. I thought I was doing everything the same!!!

[tex]

Hi Alice,

Flares are sometimes more difficult to control than our initial onset of the disease. I'm not sure how the pandemic is progressing in Australia these days , but it's still a huge stress trigger in many parts of the world. And stress driven flares are some of the hardest to resolve for most of us. Stress levels are cumulative. With the constant background stress level caused by the pandemic, it doesn't take much to push us into a flare, and keep us there. Stress relief and relaxation techniques have never been more important than they are these days, especially for those of us who have an autoimmune disease.

Re: walnuts: published medical research shows that walnuts have powerful Inflammation suppressing qualities. The research showed that in rats, a diet with a significant amount of walnuts not only prevented colitis, but actually stopped it and healed the intestinal damage.

I'm feeling really deflated and worrying that this time nothing will work!

This is exactly the type of stress that can easily frustrate any attempts to regain remission. We can't control our thoughts 100 percent of the time, but we can certainly control them during certain periods, by using relaxation and stress relief techniques.

Tex

[AGM]

Thank you for your reply Wayne.

Luckily here in Australia life is pretty much covid-free, so that isn't a major stress, though there is underlying tension and sadness there as my husband's family is overseas and the time since seeing them last keeps growing and we don't know when we'll be able to see them again, as we're not allowed to just leave Australia that easily right now. You have to seek permission etc and then you might not be able to get back!

The kids are stressing me out a lot, with my eldest adjusting to his first year in school and the twins are 3, which says it all! Lol My husband is usually stressed due to work too, so I guess there is a lot of stress and overwhelm.

I do Tapping daily and journalling too, but I need to prioritise sleeping early and also having more time to myself. I think you're on the mark with stress impeding healing.

When you say flares are often more difficult to get under control than the initial onset, do you have any idea why? And in being more difficult, does that mean, one has to change what they do, or it is just that one needs much more patience, as it may take longer? Or is every case different.

Re the walnuts, that is why I decided to make some milk and try them, after reading the post you made about that study. Any advice going forward on this? I just used walnuts, filtered water and a bit of cinnamon, which I have with my stewed apple, so I know it is safe. Perhaps I should start with less, as I had about 200ml in a cup and I felt ok, but I did notice on the two days I've had it, it felt quite acidic on my stomach, triggering ever so slight heartburn and belly ache. That made me look up intolerance to walnuts and apparently a lot of people do react to them, mainly the fibre in them, but also just in general and they can cause stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, particularly in people with IBS, so I am thinking it may be something I need to try again later on once I am a bit more stable.

Any idea why I may be even more susceptible to fat intake this time around? I believe it may have something to do with the virus I had that triggered this flare, as it caused the same symptoms in BMs in my husband and daughter and my husband is still dealing with it, fluctuating from C to mush and he doesn't have LC! It feels like I'm still healing from whatever that was and on top of that my kids had hand foot and mouth disease two weeks ago and I think I probably got it too, as I had a sore throat for a few days and have felt extra tired, which probably isn't helping anything.

[AGM]

I think I have an answer to my walnut milk question...definitely best to avoid for now, as very high in fat. I'm not sure what percentage of walnuts in the milk this is based on, but 1 cup has 11g of fat, as opposed to 2.5g in almond milk and I wouldn't even have a whole cup of almond milk these days!! Based on this morning's sludgy BM, walnut milk is a definite no!!! Gosh, this trial and error is hard.

[tex]

Well, you're probably right that walnuts should be avoided until after you've been in remission for a while, at least, because they are indeed high in fat and fiber content.

The reason I said that repeat flares are often more difficult to resolve than our initial onset of the disease is because after we've been through this at least once, we sort of feel that we know what we're doing and we seem to be more prone to overlook little details that may be a problem, simply because we're creatures of habit. For example, we appear to be less likely to detect problems with a food or drink that we consume every day. The first time, we might consider it to be a suspect. But the second time through, we're much less likely to even suspect it. This is sort of a corollary of the old saying that there's nothing more dangerous than a little education. When we think we know what were doing, we're more likely to make invalid assumptions, and that can cook our goose when were trying to resolve an MC flare.

Another issue, in your case, is that your remission in between was so short-lived that you didn't have much time for your intestines to heal, so the damage to them may have increased over what it was initially, which will require more healing time to resolve. But the biggest issue in your situation is probably the fact that taking care of young children is a full-time job, and when our MC is active, holding down a full-time job is really more than we can handle. We have to use so much of our energy on the job, that we don't have enough energy left over to allow adequate healing. Healing our intestines requires a lot of energy every day, especially at night, while we're sleeping. I'm just guessing, but it seems logical that the more energy we use for other purposes, the slower our intestines will heal.

Tex

[AGM]

Thank you Tex,

Yes, I think stress may be the main thing right now. I am planning on seeing if I can take 3weeks off work, so that I can have three days a week without kids to just relax and rest, as I am so so tired. After the walnut milk debacle I am sticking to my safe foods and on Day 3 now, but still not seeing an improvement. BMs are formed, but oatmeal consistency, so not great. I seem to be stuck at this stage and have been for weeks, aside from a couple of days with firmer BMs about 2 weeks ago.

I feel like all the soups and liquid might be contributing to this - too much liquid going through? Or not enough fibre? Or is it simply the inflammation causing the colon not to absorb enough liquid?

I also have a sore throat and the twins have runny noses again and are coughing, so I think I may be fighting a virus, which I imagine can throw a spanner in the works too.

I know I shouldn't focus on day to day changes, but I find it really hard not to and I just want to feel better again. I'm even toying with the idea of trying Budesonide, although I am only going once a day, so feel that probably isn't necessary. Then again, I am taking 1/2 a loperamide daily and that could be improving things a bit (masking them), so perhaps everything is actually worse than I think. Actually, I took one full tablet for weeks at my initial onset, so perhaps I should go back to one. Not because it helps healing, but it certainly helps my frame of mind, as I relax when things aren't as loose. As long as it doesn't trick me into thinking I'm further along the healing journey than I really am, which I think is what may have happened last year. I probably started introducing things too quickly. I always just think of events, like Christmas and this August I turn 40 and I would love to be able to have a slice of cake!!

Ok, I am rambling.

[tex]

Many viruses cause intestinal inflammation.

Budesonide will mask your symptoms (assuming it works properly), so that it will make you feel better while you're healing, but it won't speed up your intestinal healing. Since it would boost your cortisol level, it would give you more energy, also. Some patients use it, and like it. While others don't.

By August, you should certainly be able to enjoy a few slices of gluten-free birthday cake.

Tex

[AGM]

Thank you!!

Any idea why things might be stalled at semi-formed, but quite soft still? Or is this common, to just plod along like this, without improving visibly, but also without getting worse and being actual D?